Dr. & Dr. Kruman

It is official! We have BOTH been accepted to Midwestern University of Health Sciences and will be moving to Glendale, AZ this summer! We are both so excited and relieved! Knowing we were both able to get in at the same school is such a stress relief . Having worked in the Pre-Med office for the last two years, whenever married couples came in saying they were both applying, I thought they were crazy. I never knew I was going to be one of them!

We can't wait to keep creating a life we love together in Arizona!

 Bryce will be attending the Arizona School of Podiatric Medicine, where he will complete 4 years of school and then a surgical residency to become a foot and ankle surgeon with a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree (DPM). It will basically be medical school, all of his classes will be with the medical students as will his residency, but luckily he will become a surgeon a lot faster than most medical students (He will be done with school in 7 years)!

I will be attending the Arizona College of Optometry where I will be completing 4 years of school as well to earn my Optometric Doctor degree (OD). I'm still undecided if I will end up doing a residency, but I have a long time to figure that out. I would love to do something with vision rehabilitation therapy. All of my classes will be integrated with the dental students for the first two years and then the last two years will be in clinic. 

I get asked a lot if I'm going to school to get the degree or if I'm planning on working. Let's just think about that question for a moment and realize it is absolutely absurd; why would anyone put themselves through pursuing a medical education without planning on actually using it? Part of me wants to go around asking people that same question to see how they respond. But instead I will now step off my soap box and save that discussion for another time...

We are so so excited about Midwestern University! When we sought out to apply for schools, knowing we both wanted to become doctors, it quickly became a little bit overwhelming to look at logistically. The cost alone was a little scary. But then the thought of both of us having to be accepted in the same place made it even a little more tricky; there are only 9 Podiatry schools and 22 Optometry schools, which narrowed our options to THREE cities which would actually be reasonable (i.e. were within 45 minutes of each other, both schools were competitive, and costs were low). 

There were times when we would lay in bed thinking about the gravity of it all and wonder, "Is this really what we want to do?" "Is there anything else I might want to do more?" but eventually we came to realize, this is the work we feel called to do and so we moved forward with faith it would work out. 

We applied everywhere we could, just in case, but we knew we wanted to end up in either California, Arizona, or Philadelphia. Once we started to hear back from schools, it was a little bit scarier. We each had interviews at all of the schools we wanted, but they usually will accept students within a week of interviewing and then expect $1000 dollar deposit within about a month, so then we had to worry not only about getting in, but also about getting in at the same time!

Eventually, it came to the point where we realized Arizona was the only place that even felt right. Other options might have worked out okay, but none of them had everything we wanted like Midwestern. I interviewed back in September and was accepted two days later. Bryce interviewed exactly a month later, and just two weeks ago we found out he was in too! We didn't even have to interview anywhere else or pay for any other secondary applications, which was a huge blessing. 

When I think back over the last 4 years, all the sleepless nights, tears shed over failed tests hard classes, stresses over scholarships and applications, I'm filled with so much gratitude for everyone that has helped I see all the miracles that have come into my life and all the times where things just worked out when they might have seemed impossible. These tender mercies and mighty miracles show me just how important it is that we go and become a force for good in the world around us. The fact that we even met as the President and Vice President of a club for Pre-Health students alone shows me how much we need to do this. 

Our first picture together, at the opening social for the BYU Allied Health Club.

 We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for helping us to work things out perfectly for us, better than we could have ever planned it ourselves (which is saying a lot, because everyone know how much we LOVE planning). And of course, all of our friends and family and advisors who were helpful and patient with us throughout the whole process (like when we were up until 3am on family vacation working on applications for 8 hours straight which is what is happening in the photo below

Spending 8 hours writing up your life's work on a laptop can really fry your brain

There are a million other reasons why we're so happy with midwestern but what is comes down to is Midwestern really is the perfect place for us and we are so excited to be spending the next 4 years growing together there.

When we first started working towards this goal last spring, we would get really overwhelmed and stressed sometimes about everything working out, and it was frustrating that we didn't have any couples who had done it that we could talk to. So if you know any couples/individuals trying to do the same thing who need encouragement, send them our way! We would love to help. We haven't gotten very far just yet, but we know this journey is going to turn into the adventure of a life time! 

And here's a collage of bloopers from our front door photoshoot to end the post. Happy Sunday!