Olivia Mendez is a student who is finished with college, with bachelors in biology and is applying to graduate school. She is an A+ student and graduated from Queens College with a 4.0 GPA. She is a hard working student who is always into her studies and never gave up on her dream to be a pediatrician. She is the oldest daughter in her house and has to work and go to school to help her mother with the bills in the house. She is a serious but outgoing and a very well-mannered young woman. She has a nice curvaceous body with a skinny waist and full thighs. She has hazel green eyes and brown hair. She is 5’5” in height and has a caramel complexion. She usually ties up her curly, long hair in a ponytail and always dresses comfortably to go to school. She worked at TD Bank as a teller during the day and takes classes at night. She never had time to have fun because she was always busy and whenever she did not have work she would stay home studying. Occasionally, she would go out with her girlfriends to the movies, or out to eat. She was not a big clubber and didn’t drink, but loved to dance.
Olivia’s mother, Carmen Milagros DeJesus, is a single mom, with two girls, Olivia and Diana. She is a registered nurse during the day and a waitress at night and on weekends. She raised her girls all by herself because she divorced her husband when Diana was 2 years old. She was a hard working woman and a wonderful mom. She always seemed to struggle a little with money, but always had food on the table and sends her girls to college all on her own. They rented a small apartment in Queens, New York and they were happy with it. Carmen barely saw her girls once she got two jobs but always made sure they had their home cooked meal done for them. She cooks dinner in her break between her day and night job. Her life was working but she knew she had raised two good girls, who would help her when she needed their help. Carmen is skinny, and has brown curly hair with hazel eyes and is light skinned.
The Director of Columbia University Medical Graduate School, Dr. Adams is a white man with salt and pepper hair. He has blue eyes and is skinny and tall. He is very serious and cautious in choosing the best students for the graduate medical students at Columbia. He is looking for a GPA of 3.9 or more, an almost perfect GRE score and an exceptional interview. He comes from rich parents, and is a retired emergency room surgeon. He wants the students at Columbia to be as good as him or better, he has to pick a variety of students from different races and backgrounds.
Olivia gets her GRE score in the mail; she was only 10 points away from perfect.
She got accepted to several graduate universities; Columbia was one of them.
She got a scholarship for Columbia University, Cornell University or NYU.
She decides to go to Columbia University.
Olivia graduates with a 4.0 from Queens College.
She is called for an interview with Dr. Adams.
When she goes for the interview she is so nervous she messes it up and they say they will put her on a waiting list.
She goes home crying because it was too late to apply for the other universities after she turned them down.
She stays home for three days from work, crying, trying to figure out what to do.
She then remembers she had a great professor in Queens College who graduated from Columbia
University Medical School and thought maybe he could help her.
It turns out that Professor Sanchez gave her a recommendation and she got recommendations from five other professors.
She calls back for an interview with The Director of Columbia University Medical Graduate School and is lucky to get another meeting with him.
Olivia went back to Columbia University with her recommendations and a better interview this second time she got into Columbia University’s Medical Graduate school with a full scholarship.
It is a week after graduation, and Olivia was nervous about her interview with the director of Columbia University Medical Graduate School, Dr. Adams, which was later this afternoon. She woke up early and got her transcripts and everything together. She took a shower and dressed in the new clothes her mother had bought her yesterday. She wore a black blouse with a black pencil shirt, small black shiny heels and tied her hair up into a bun. She then put on some eye shadow and lipstick so she could look a little older, and not like she was a teenager, like she usually does. She put perfume on and headed out door. Outside it was cloudy and humid, so she ran back and got her umbrella.
I got there thirty minutes early, but I was pissed because it was raining outside and my heels were wet and my umbrella broke thanks to the wind. I got to Columbia University soaked. My skirt was wet and my heels made a noise when I walked cause of the water that was inside them, and my hair was starting to frizz up. So I ran to the bathroom and tried to fix my hair by putting some water, and tying it up again. Then I took off my shoes and tied to dry them a little bit in the hand dryer. After a while, I looked at my watch and notice that it had stopped and it still said I was a half an hour early. I thought to myself “Oh my god why me, am I LATE!!! How didn’t I notice my watch stopped working, I thought this shit was waterproof STUPID RAIN!!!” So I ran out of there and asked the security guard in the front what time it was? He said “10:05” I started freaking out “OMG I’m five minutes late!” I look for the paper in my purse and the paper got wet so I don’t know what room it says, so I ask the security guard again, so do you know where Dr. Adams’ office room is. He said “Why yes, it’s Room 630, you just have to go down the hall and up the stairs and then turn to your left.” I ran up down the hall and then as I was running up the stairs I trip and fall forward, because the stupid stairs were wet. Then I get to the six floor and start frantically looking for Room 630. I am looking and looking and don’t see it. I then ask a student who tells me, I have to walk to the other side of the building and it’s over there. So I go through a long passage way, and am practically running trying not to fall anymore, when I finally find it there is another student with him and another one sitting outside in a chair. I couldn’t believe I was late; I sat down on the chair to wait.
As Olivia waited for Dr. Adams to finish up with another student she fanned herself with her folder that carried all the important documents. She was slouching and was upset at herself for being late. She was a mess. Her hair was messed up again, and her heels were full of scratches, and when she crossed her leg and put her hands on her lap she noticed she cut herself in the knee when she fell, and was now bleeding a little bit. She asked the other guy who was waiting outside if he had a napkin and he did. She put it over her knee and pressed until the bleeding stopped. Dr. Adams then comes out and calls the other guy in, He asks her, “Who are you?” Olivia answers “I’m Olivia Mendez”. He says “Ah yes, okay since your late you have to wait until I take this gentleman before you, okay?!?!?” Olivia answers “No problem, take your time.”
I was waiting there for about thirty minutes more for the caucasian in front of me to speak with Dr. Adams. I was so tired, disappointed at myself, and extremely nervous. I didn’t even know what to say when I went inside, there is no excuse for being late, and I am never late, why out of all days was I late today? This is the worst day of my life. Then Dr. Adams finally came out of his office again and said “Ms. Mendez you could come in now.” I gathered all my stuff and followed him inside. I started to perspire again and my hands were shaking, I was so nervous I am sure you could see it on my face. Dr. Adams starts the interview by telling me that my lateness cost him some time and that if we ever meet for a second time, I should consider being there earlier if I was serious about attending Columba University. He went on lecturing me about the program and the classes and how lateness is unacceptable, but that he will let it slide today. I couldn’t even concentrate on what he was saying because I was so nervous and now felt like I was going to start crying. I was so MAD at myself. He then starts the interview and looks through my transcript, through my application, and my GRE score, and is very impressed with my grades. He said my grades definitely are at the level of what he was looking for in Columbia University. Then he asks me some more questions and I didn’t know how to answer some of them, my nerves were taking over my body. Then finally he ends the interview by telling me that I will be put on a waiting list, and I have to call in the beginning of July and come to another interview with the chair of the Medical School Department and see if he will let me in the program. I thanked him for meeting me, and as soon as I got to the stairs I started crying. I thought “What am I going to do now, will I be accepted or not?”
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Good framework for a story--seems to me it could use something more, plotwise. It seems right to be somewhat limited to a single goal (getting in, not getting in, getting sad, getting in). But isn't there a richness in, say, what the admission would mean to her? What if there was some family consequence to not getting in, something that would create conflict between the main character and her loved ones. Thus this plot (the Columbia plot) might parallel what's going on at home, where its ramifications will really be felt. Or something like this--it just seems to me that the stakes could be raised, so that the story is about more than just getting or not, but about the effects that might have.
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