Tuesday's Teeth: Cincinnati

Last week I went to Cincinnati to visit a pediatric residency program as an extern. Its like of like being an intern, but for a really short amount of time and you don't really do anything helpful for them. The whole point is that someone considering the program gets to visit and see how they like it, and in turn, the program can see if they like the extern. I'm really lucky that I got this externship, because Cincinnati is such an amazing program... and I'm glad I got to go before their program's application deadline.
Before I go any further, I should go ahead and admit this is kind of a cop out Tuesday's teeth... but this is what's on my mind, and its making it hard to discuss dental materials, as I had originally planned. (I know, how disappointing.)
Alright, all that being said, and moving on...
I was there just for a few days, and again, I was fortunate to meet residents that tolerated my awkward hovering and annoying questions. These residents? Amazing. I really, really liked them a lot. They were all really down to earth and normal. A lot of pediatric residents have a certain personality - like, super upbeat with kind of a Leave it to Beaver outlook on life. That's great and all, but I relate better to the kind of people  watch Bravo. (Does that make any sense, at all?) Well, anyway, these are Bravo people.
Well, these residents were extremely nice and friendly, but I don't know - somehow normal and relatable at the same time. They all get along really well too, which is such a good sign in a program. Its a really busy hospital based program, and these people work... but its not just that - they're so competent. This might seem like a given, but at this point of the year you have to figure that the first year residents are brand new, (they just started in mid-June,) and the second years have just barely started their second year. The people they used to ask for advice have graduated, and now they're the experienced ones... that the first years go to for advice...and they're really knowledgable about so much: certain rare syndromes and other health conditions their patients have, as well as the how-to's of pediatric dentistry, sedation, and running an OR case. I can't believe how independantly they can work as residents. I hope I'm like that someday.
So all in all, I loved Cincinnati. Its an extremely competitive program so I might not get an interview there, but I'm glad that I got to go ... no matter what.
That's my last externship - so now really, the wait is on to hear from programs. So you might remember that I also externed at Connecticut, and I also visited a couple of programs last year, including my alma mater, Baylor... which I also super loved. If I could hug an externship, I would have hugged my Baylor one.  Geez, hopefully these directors and residents don't think I'm totally weird.
I gave myself the deadline of today to apply to any additional programs, (and I'm not going to,) and since I probably won't hear anything for the month of September, I'm going to try to chill out and act like a normal person. I'm going to do my best not to check the student/doctor/forum whatever website to see who is getting interviews where and what rumors are swirling around about which programs. I'm extremely nervous, but I know that I've done the best I can do at this point to get in somewhere. I'll keep you all posted if I hear anything. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.