Well, I'm back from Ohio. It was a great trip. Tough to be away from the family, but a very useful and important trip. The reason I went up to OSU was to see what their Prosthodontic residency program was all about. Erin and I both decided that if we thought specialty school was right for our family that OSU would be the place we would most like to attend.
The trip started out with a bad start. I was suppose to fly out on Sunday afternoon right before church was suppose to start. Erin and I decided that we better attend another ward's meeting to ensure we were able to attend a Sacrament meeting. We did that and the ran home and got the last things I needed for the trip and headed to the airport. Erin dropped me off and then quickly headed down the road to attend our meetings. I stepped up to the Delta check in counter and was informed that "due to severe weather in Atlanta, my flight had been significantly delayed and I would have to catch the 7 AM flight the next morning." I wasn't too happy with that option, especially because that would cut out at least half a day at OSU out of the measly three that we had planned on. The other bad news was I had the cell phone and Erin was at church with no phone. I called all the people at church whom I knew had a phone, hoping that they would answer their phone while at church. After talking with a couple of people the missionaries were at the church and passed the message onto Erin in primary. Fortunately for me Josh came and got me so I didn't have to sit at the airport too long.
Once that was taken care of I made all the calls to Eric, in Columbus, and the pros program explaining what happened and I would most likely be there around noon the next day. They all were very understanding and helpful.
Monday came around and things went pretty well. I got to Cincinnati and our flight was delayed about 25 minutes due to lack of a pilot and flight crew?!? That was weird. Then finally I arrived in Columbus around noon. Kelly Anderson, Eric's wife, was wonderful and picked me up at the airport then dropped me off at OSU.
Once there I found my way to Dr. Holloway's office and met with her for a minute. She had meeting to attend so I went to lunch. At 1:00 PM I officially met with her and she explained the ins and outs of the program. She was very informative and helpful. I liked how organized and detailed she appeared, I figured I would fit in well with that type of organization. She then took me on a quick tour and then led me down to the pros resident's lab and conference room in the basement of the school. I then met about half of the residents and was able to talk with them while the worked on their lab work. There were 3 LDS residents out of the 9 spots. That was encouraging to me. All the resident were very friendly and seemed to be pretty good friends. Which is a good thing since they pretty much live together for 8 hours a day. They take 3 new residents each year. I was told that around 100 students apply for the three spots each year.
After the first day, I was a bit discouraged after talking to the residents and learning that the first year, mainly the first 6 months, of school is just like the sophomore year of dental school all over again. When I first heard that I was pretty bummed, I didn't like the 2nd year of dental school and I wasn't sure if I wanted to go through that again. After thinking about it a while I realized those 6 months would probably be with two other people that were as nice as the residents I met and would be at a school which seemed to have very helpful and nice teachers. Meaning that the fist year would be similar to the first year of dental school in Idaho; a small class and great teacher made that experience not too bad.
On Tuesday and Wednesday I has able to stay in clinic with the residents the whole day. I was very impressed with how much they knew and the work they were doing. It was exactly what I was hoping for. It was a lot of fun. The department chair, Dr. Swenson, was a great guy. He knows Dr. Nilsson from our school and I think that helped me out while I was there. Dr. Swenson kept pulling me aside to "pimp", in the words of the med students, me about treatment planning and such. I loved it! It was great to be put on the spot.
I think over all it was great experience. I at least know what to expect when I visit other schools for interviews. I felt that they liked me too. Dr. Swenson said I did a great job while I was there and some of the staff and residents hinted that I had a great chance to go there next year. I think I would go there if I was accepted. We'll just keep our fingers crossed.
I had a great time at the Anderson's. They were so nice and welcoming. I was amazed at how helpful they were. I owe them big time. They fed me and drove me around everyday. They showed me how great the city of Columbus is and I think they convinced me. They would be some great people to be around while we lived there.
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