Our Dental School Story

       

               

   

I have a million things to catch you all up on but don't know where to begin. So let me start and tell you our Dental School Story-

Paxton first applied to dental school June 2015, he got a good competitive score on the DAT and had an incredible application and we were very hopeful. He did not get 1 interview.  NOT ONE! WE WERE SO CONFUSED. We both had felt very strongly that this was the right career path for him and that we should apply this round. We were devastated. People that Paxton knew that had gotten even lower DAT scores and grades were getting interviews and we didn't. It just didn't make any sense. After a few months of waiting we never got any offers. So that whole next year him & I both worked full time and started saving up to retake the DAT and reapply the next year!

He retook the DAT May of 2016 and got an even BETTER score than before and we applied to (almost) the same 15 schools. After a few months the interview offers just kept on coming!! He was offered 9 interviews all over the US but most importantly he got interviews at both of our TOP 3 DENTAL SCHOOLS we wanted. We were so beyond blessed. It was so crazy to look back and think how the first year we got NONE and the next we had SO many options. Anyways. He ended up attending 5/9 interviews and felt good about all of them. 

I was able to go with I'm to his University of Utah Interview and as I was driving around SLC and exploring all the places around the dental school I had a VERY strong feeling we would be living there. It was weird but it felt like home and very familiar. I had thoughts of "I can't wait to move here" pop into my mind without even realizing it.

Anyways, a few months passed and on the 1st of December he got his 1st acceptance at LECOM in Bradenton Florida! He got waitlisted for the University of Utah, Roseman, and the IDEP program (his top choice). He probably checked his email a million times every single day that whole month of December, but we knew that Florida is where we would be moving because the chances of him getting off of the waitlist for the other schools were very slim.  We had like a million emotions going through us. I spent 3 therapy sessions crying about it. But eventually we both were excited for this new Florida adventure! He got into dental school and that was a dream come true.

One day in January I got home for lunch and Pax walked over and said "I got accepted to the University of Utah" I just looked at him because I couldn't really comprehend what he just said. "They just called me and offered me a spot at the U." I broke down crying and called my mom and she cried and I was so relieved and overjoyed! But we had a lot of big decisions to make. The whole previous month we had been looking at apartments in Florida, payed a huge deposit, and were so focused on preparing to move across the country. Probably the hardest decision of our life was trying to decide between the U and LECOM because there were so many pros and cons to both and were basically an even playing field. That was a rough week of constant going back and forth between choosing the U then choosing LECOM and all over again. We felt good about both and just didn't know what to choose. Eventually it came down to him liking the learning style at the U more and being closer to our families to have that support during these next long 4 years!

Sometimes I wonder why we didn't just hear back from the U at the beginning of December... Like if we were "supposed" to go and be there why didn't it just happen first thing? It  definitely would have saved us A TON of money and anxiety! But we eventually made it to this point so thats all that matters I guess!! 

So we moved to Utah at the end of June! Paxton started dental school the beginning of August and had his White Coat Ceremony! He definitely keeps very very busy with school but he is liking (most) of his classes and is an amazing student! I just have so much love for my hard working husband and am just a very proud wife! He has made really good friends in the program already and I just feel very at peace that this was where we were meant to be at this time and that it was no accident that we didn't hear back from any of the schools the first time we applied. 

xoxo

Bailey