NYIT

Continuing in the steps towards official adulthood and having a grown-up career that doesn’t consist of passing out lunch boxes to Jazz fans, Eric embarked on a second trip to NYC in 2 weeks to interview at New York Institute of Technology, more concisely known as NYIT. After having just been to New York on the way home from Jamaica, Eric was anxious to head back to the Big Apple, this time on business. He flew out on the morning of Monday, December 8^th, with a layover in Chicago. This was Eric’s first time in Chicago and the busy O’Hare International Airport. For all the hype Chicago gets, the most interesting thing Eric saw there was a giant dinosaur skeleton that had a Santa hat on for the holidays. Now the thought of Chicago will conjure up images of dinosaur bones in addition to Michael Jordan cheating the Jazz out of NBA titles in 1997 and 1998.

That afternoon, it was off to New York. Along the way, there was an interesting flight attendant who noticed Eric had the new Samsung Galaxy S5 and wondered if he had his charger with him. He replied that he did and she wondered if she could borrow it because the battery on her own S5 was running low. Eric agreed and in exchange the flight attendant offered to buy him a drink. Not wanting to try alcohol for the first time and risk arriving too tipsy for the interview, Eric declined. She then offered one of those fancy snack pack meal things that cost like $10 and Eric was sold. He spent the rest of the flight eating fancy chips, salami, assorted cheeses, and tiny gummy bears. Who needs first class when you have tiny gummy bears?

New York was chilly upon arrival around 6:00 PM local time and Eric quickly hopped on a shuttle to get a rental car to drive to nearby Hicksville, where he’d be spending the night. Most people picturing New York think of Broadway shows and the Statue of Liberty. As the name suggests, there was none of that in Hicksville. What Hicksville did have, however, in addition to some very bland Italian food, was lots of rain. From the moment Eric checked in to the hotel to the time he got on a plane to come home the next afternoon, the sky rained its guts out in New York. It reportedly rained over 4 inches at the airport, which was believable after seeing all the mini lakes all over the freeway. Eric stayed in a little hotel room complete with mini fridge, a sink, and a random pile of change creepily awaiting him. After a far too short night’s sleep, Eric took his rental car to the NYIT campus early the next morning for the interview. The rental car was a great investment at $30, especially since each cab rides cost about $70 apiece and Eric can drive a car just as well as some mustached guy from Bangladesh (sorry if that sounds racist—I suppose not everyone from Bangladesh has a moustache).

The interview process was similar to the one at Midwestern, consisting of a program overview from the program director, a tour of the campus (which was brief due to the monsoon outside), and interviews with faculty. The difference with NYIT was that the interviews were one on one, not with random group of applicants together who appear friendly, but secretly want the other people to choke on their complimentary granola bars. Eric first interviewed with Dr. Jackson, the program director, who strangely reminded him of himself. Perhaps it was when he offered him a York peppermint patty which he insisted Eric eat during the interview as he plopped one in his own mouth for himself. After having written that his wife was “hard of hearing” and knew sign language on his personal statement, Eric was horrified as Dr. Jackson tried to ask him some simple sign language questions to start the interview. After explaining that Heather isn’t actually Deaf, and that he knows ASL about as well as he knows Chinese, the questioning resumed in English. After that interview, Eric interviewed with a female faculty member, who seemed to like him and found him at least mildly amusing. After the interview wrapped up, everyone ate tasty pizza and this Italian dessert with a fancy name which were basically glorified donut holes. Then it was back to the airport over the half-underwater freeway to fly home to an anxiously awaiting Heather. Along the way, it was cool to see exit signs for famous sporting locations like Bethpage, the Belmont, and Flushing Meadows. Eric did manage to encounter an actual celebrity while waiting at La Guardia for the return flight: Mr. Dennis Rodman. He was just as horrible in real life as he appears on TV. He refused to let anyone take pictures with him because he “don’t do dat,” but sneaky Eric still snuck a picture anyway.

After being told that a response on acceptance would come in about 2 months, we were thrilled to hear within 2 days that Eric had been accepted to NYIT! It is possible to get into PA school after all! We have until the day after Christmas to put down a $1500 deposit to reserve a spot, which we will probably do to ensure a spot in PA school while we wait for others to get back to us. Looks like the Morgans could end up in New York this fall. Hopefully there’s a warm spot to pitch a tent because housing there is super expensive. But who cares—we’re just thrilled to be in somewhere :)