Skip around (Visited a school)

Well, I know at the end of my last post I said I'd start to write about my decision process, and what I've gone through to get here, but that's going to change.  This is fresh in my head, and I don't want to forget about it.  Yesterday, while driving home from Roanoke, I visited Shenandoah University. 

I was fairly nervous before the meeting.  It was the first time I had stepped onto a campus as a prospective DPT student.  I had been exchanging emails with one of the faculty members, and I figured it would be worth my time to stop in for a visit.

First of all, the location.  It was not a metropolis in any sense of the word.  Winchester is about an hour and a half west of Washington D.C., in northern Virginia.  There was a walking mall, with numerous outdoor cafe's and shops.  The neighborhoods seemed cozy.  There was an interesting mix of people around.  There were some odd middle aged men who were people watching on the stoop of a vacant shop, as well as young parents and elderly people walking the streets.  The faculty members I talked to said that Winchester was one of the safest places for a family (but then again people who are trying to sell something will paint it with rose colored glasses).

One thing I really liked about the location/program, was that people were active.  Multiple faculty members commented on how a lot of the people in the program would go on hiking/camping trips.  Also, some of the faculty members will join the activities, like softball or basketball.  That seems great.  I know that if this is going to be as hard as I think it is, I"m going to need to blow off some energy somehow, and what better way than a pickup basketball game with people in the program. 

Now for the actual program.  The program is structured around your cohort.  The cohort is together the entire time.  Class size is about 40.  One negative thing I ran into was it seemed like a small space.  There is one classroom for the first years, and then the second and third years share another classroom.  They weren't huge, but I guess everyone must be comfortable in the rooms together.  However, I'm not sure spending all day in one of those classes would be the greatest (and by one day I mean 8ish-5ish).  But from what I've gathered, its normal to be in class all day long. 

I'm not really sure what else to say about the program.  I think it helped me to get a better idea of what it is going to be like as a DPT student, but being my first visit, I have nothing to compare it to yet.  Hopefully as time goes on, I'll have more comparisons, and be able to get a better feel for where I fit in and where I don't.

Next time, I'll hopefully write some about my beginning struggles, and the other challenges I've faced so far. 

G