It's only been six months since our last update yet so much has happened... I'm not even sure where to start. Well I guess I'll start where I left off... My last post was in May. Once we got back from our Mattawa trip, Spence started working hard on applying for dental school. He spent countless hours studying to take the Dental Admissions Test as well as working on his application. He took the DAT on June 6th. It literally took him all day. He came out with an above average score which we were thrilled about.
He then worked on putting together his application. If I had to guesstimate, I would say he spent over 100 hours with it all. He worked so hard making sure everything looked perfect. After we got it all sent off, the waiting game began. Finally at the beginning of October, we received an email from the University of Washington. It was requesting Spencer to fly out for an interview. We were so excited that we even heard back from one school. That weekend we went and bought a outfit that consists of a new suit, shoes, tie, white shirt and socks. "If you look good, you feel good and if you feel good, you do good." Not sure where I heard that growing up but I have always thought it to be true. We bought Spencer's plane ticket, rented a car and made plans with Spencer King's brother-in-law to stay the night at his apartment. He luckily lives two minutes away from campus. He was ready for Oct 23rd.
The morning of driving Spence to the airport, I remember being so nervous for him. We triple checked his bag to make sure he had everything then off he went. The first night he was there, he went out to eat with Bradley at a Thai Food restaurant. Once Spencer finished telling me that he was eating Thai food, I almost fell over. Spencer NEVER tries different foods, then to hear that he actually liked it? I was uber shocked! They went back to Bradley's and went to bed after because Spence had to be up early the next day.
The day of the interview... Spencer was running right on time however once he tried to cross the bridge that led to the University, he found out that the bridge was closed. He was lost, now running late and he couldn't figure out how to work his cell phone navigation. Lets just say I got a frantic call from Spencer complaining about the bridge being closed and I immediately began to panic! Of course I start running through different scenarios of how the morning could have gone different to prevent this but then I realized I wasn't helping. Once we hung up the phone I decided to quickly pray and ask for Spencer to have guidance on how to make it to his interview. I got a call five minutes before his interview and he was calling to let me know that he made it and was walking in the door. PHEW! Stressful morning already!!
Of course I kept looking at my phone all day waiting for even just a small text to clue me in on how he was doing... nothing! The first part the interview, he is actually given multiple mini interviews with several different dental school alumni. In those interviews, he was given an ethical, political or practical problem and he had two minutes to elaborate on the subject - no right or wrong answers. After two hours of different stations, they then provided lunch and a meet and greet for current dental school students to mingle with the applicants.
Spencer finally called me on his break after lunch and let me know that it was hard to read the interviewers but he felt very confident in his answers and wouldn't change what he said if he had the chance which is a great sign. I could tell that a bunch of weight was lifted off of his shoulders now that the interviews were over.
Spencer had a few hours to spare so he went and drove by the Space Needle and took a tour of the Seattle Seahawks stadium. I was so excited to pick him up from the airport! I hate being in separate cities!
Unfortunately we got a denial letter from Washington mid December but we are very grateful for the experience. We are grateful that he even got an interview at all. Looking at our future, we think we are going to apply for dental school one more year. Hopefully this next year we won't be as naive and maybe get a better score on the DAT. Overall, I am very proud of Spencer and his accomplishments he has made this year. Even if dental school doesn't work out, I know he will be successful in anything he puts his mind to because he is such a hard worker. I love you Spence!
