Day 67 - Power Suit, Power Shoes

Did I mention my mom’s in the hospital? Yeah, On the flight home for this interview my brother calls to confirm my airport pick up and lets me know ‘she’s ok, but at the ER right now’. Oh ok, no biggie. Also my car hasn’t been started in months, so it’s dead. I think it’s a quick and easy fuse issue so I can handle it later, but the day before the big interview and mom in the hospital, it’s too much. A dear friend let me use her car while she was out of town for the weekend. Such an answer to prayer. It was a sweet ride too, with a GPS, back up camera and XM radio.

Anyway, I’m off the morning of the interview far too early. My check in time was 10:30am and I was in the parking lot at 8:30am. Parking is a beast on campus and I didn’t feel like fighting it. So I bought my parking pass and found a spot and read for an hour. Then I walk upstairs and follow the signs at am engulfed by 60 young applicants in pants suits. Every one of them, wearing a jacket. So funny, they looked like men. I opted for a pair of dress pants and loose emerald dress shirt that hung ruffled from the shoulder and conveniently hid my extra lbs around my middle and any perspiration that would have otherwise been too obvious. I applied a light covering of makeup and pinned my curled hair half way up. Professionally casual.

The most ‘not me’ aspect was the shoes. These bad boys took some practice too. Everyone else had their power suits, I had power pumps. Of course with the dress pants you could barely see them, but I knew. I could feel the “I am woman, hear me roar” vibes coming through my toes and heels up my calves into my knees. Or was it pain? IDK, but I felt nothing but confident with a small side salad of excited nervous/anxious.

They did a great job to ease the pressure of this make or break encounter. Current nursing students were on hand before and after check-in to calm our nerves. We were assigned groups of 4 applicants with 3 interviewers (2 faculty and 1 community member). I presented the most professional, relaxed version of myself that I could. That is all I had in me and all I wanted them to see. They score you on that interview and are in no other way involved in the admission process. That score is 50% of my consideration, entrance exam is 30%, GPA is 20%. Here’s hoping!