“This is my off day and I am wasting time and hanging out with my friend from high school. I am trying to get into PA school but there are not many spots and a lot of people apply. South Alabama had 1500 applications and they only take 40 people. I was one person away last year, tenth on the waiting list and they took the first nine. That was my first year to apply. This year I didn’t make the wait list. I have to keep trying. I applied and interviewed at Florida State and I should hear back any time now. I get a pit in my stomach each time I check my email. If I don’t get in, I don’t know what I will do next.”

“I moved to Birmingham seven months ago. I am a cardiovascular ICU nurse for babies, the ones that come out that are blue and need open-heart surgery. It is intense, but it saves lives and I love it. During the interview, I pulled up to the hospital I felt like there were rays shooting out of the top. One day I will go to graduate school and maybe try travel nursing. I don’t have kids and a husband, so I am free to travel and do that now.”