I may not have a lot of money, but at least I have dreams and determination. As I have always believed, there is a relative difference between Waiting In Vain and Waiting With Effort. I did not have the money to simply buy that ticket to med school, but I knew that for every victory, there will always be pain to endure.
.
Since I chose to pursue the two (Nursing and Medicine), it seemed like money flew out of me and my parents’ wallet. I did not regret letting my earnings go. It was an investment, and along with it comes risk. The “what if’s” were inevitable but they we definitely worth it.
LAYING DOWN MY ACES
I still couldn’t leave the MD dream just like that, so I tried to lay down all my aces to whatever path I may go. I had undergone post graduate training in two hospitals. I knew I can work fully on my Nursing applications, but the more I report to my duties, the more I am enticed to pursue Medicine. I actually reached a point wherein i was for contract signing already. But due to several factors, which also includes the same reason mentioned above, I couldn’t let myself to sign the contract. Something happened that month so I had to rethink and realign my priorities. I needed to earn.
THE MORE CHANCES OF WINNING
I started my Nursing career as soon as I passed the board on July 2013. Before or after graduate training, I would spend my time for IELTS and NCLEX-related matters like reviews, seminars, and the actual application processes itself. The IELTS exam took place on June 2014, while the NCLEX exam happened on October 2014. Thankfully, with all the hectic schedules and missed reviews, I still managed to pass both. And even up until then, I knew what I wanted to pursue.. Oh and did i mention that my parents still had to pay for these, because I wasn’t earning yet.
After NCLEX, I immediately reviewed for the Nov 2014 NMAT. I happened to ask my genius High School friends to help me refresh my physics and chemistry subjects. After taking the exam, I was still on the crossroads. But I declared it on myself on the summer of 2015 that I will pursue the path of Medicine if I got accepted in this med school in Manila which offers med scholarship to financially-challenged student aspirants.
WIDENING THE CHANCES
I have set my mind that i would exhaust all my efforts to try everything that i could just to win that MD golden ticket. (This meant a scholarship or sponsorship for me). From then on, I scouted for different colleges – FEU-NRMF, PLM, UERM, and OLFU. I processed every single requirement needed to apply to all of these colleges. Fees didn’t come cheap, and they ranged roughly from P1500 to P3190. This time though, it came from my own pocket, basically from my earnings as a private duty nurse.
ROLLING THE ROULETTE
As I have previously said, the Golden Ticket was what i was after. So for me, that meant that I tried to find sponsors, scholarships, and also made appeals to an Alumni Society of a certain school. I tried my luck. The road before entering med school for me was not easy compared to any other aspiring Physician. I literally was never idle. Imagine, at nights I work as a nurse associate in Pasay. After the shift, I take all the chances to squeeze time and go straight to exams or interviews for the colleges that I have mentioned. The exams I took were no piece of cake as well. I’m competing with several aspiring physicians, and the competition is no joke. I also had physics class as a supplemental subject requirement for one of the colleges, but gaining the units wasn’t a guarantee that I will get a slot. (I rarely attended these classes though. But I did have modules) With all of this, i was of course not alone. I always prayed to God, and He never failed to guide and support me with my endeavors.
BY HOOK OR BY CROOK…
I could no longer delay or have any additional detours. Not everyone is granted with the gift of time in this Earth. Looking back at my previous thoughts(blog) last year, I actually feel really blessed. There is a reason for everything. My constant belief of “by hook or by crook i will enroll this year” still proved to be effective. there is power in words. I believe that God helps those who helps themselves. and it also depends on how you make up your mind on how to pursue something.
THE GOLDEN TICKET
With all honesty, this came to me as a shocker. I applied to four different med schools seeking my Golden Ticket. And by now you already know my definition of a Golden ticket. To simplify things, I managed to get accepted to all four of them! What was peculiar about it was the way each institution gave me their approval, but I will not discuss that in detail for the mean time. There were instances that i got semi-rejected, and normally so, I felt blue, but I still pushed more until I could no longer control the situation. Simply speaking, I just went on with the flow. There were personal circumstances that I would rather not say here but I guess the timing was just perfect. I thought that it was really for me, and I was just tested.
DELAYED BY STORMS
What about the delays? there were times that I got so frustrated as to why it would take me this long because I had a timeline. God has a plan. It may not be the same as how we plan it, but it is definitely better. In the duration of the delay, was greatly immersed to different fields of interests. I had an opportunity to try things that I would not be able to try if I entered med school already.
START OF A NEW EXPEDITION
And with this, I thank God and pray for everyone who has helped me, financially and morally.
I pray that I would never lose sight of what truly is important; my rationale of getting myself into this;
that I may not forget how it really is to “LIVE”(big word) fully despite entering a field of full of sacrifice;
that i would just enjoy this undertaking;
that i would know how to shift gears and balance everything out.
Tomorrow, July 6, I’ll be starting my journey. Let us hope that it will bring me to my dream.
Just saw this while browsing,and i could not agree more.