While you are about to graduate, everybody always asks you what your plans post graduation are? When it’s your turn to graduate you quickly realize why this questions should not be asked. Many of us think that getting a degree and being in college sets us up for success, but we have no idea the struggles and what comes after graduation.
In my case, I had just gotten back from traveling abroad, I spent 2 months volunteering in Morocco and almost 1 month backpacking Europe. I was living the college life even while traveling. I had scholarships to be able to do this and I did not have to worry about anything just what my next destination was going to be. Coming back to America was comforting, however I had no idea what I would encounter next.
I had not gotten accepted into Medical School, this was hard to accept even though it was something I was expecting because its such a hard journey you never really think it will happen. This first year “Adulting" has by far been one of the hardest years of my life. My parents had moved back to Colombia during college, but I did not feel it until I was all on my own after graduation. Most of my friends were complaining about having to move back home and figure out their life this next year. I had nowhere to go or call my home in the U.S. unless I wanted to risk it all and move to Colombia with my parents, but I knew for own future that couldn’t be it.
I felt like a failure because I had graduated with a degree and I had no career plans. I felt empty because I had no family around me to comfort me and support me during this difficult time. I felt lonely because I was used to having all my friends around campus and they had all left to pursue their careers. Some got jobs, some left to study abroad, some moved back home. The reality was that we were all experiencing this feeling of failure at the same time.
My only plan was to take the MCAT one last time and give medical school one last chance. I had done everything in my power to attend medical school, and if it was not happening that was because god had another plan for me.
I spent my summer after graduation preparing for this exam one last time. I gave it all I had and I still did not get the score that I was aiming for. I performed well in all my subjects except verbal. This was the reading comprehension part of the MCAT and to be honest was the most difficult part of any test I had ever taken. For some reason, my score never improved in this section. That’s when I realized MCAT was not for me and I decided not to let my entire life depend in this one test.I realized I had spent so much time and effort trying to beat this test and at the end it was not really making me happy. I started to think if Medical school was really what I wanted to do.
This year trying to figure out what to do with my life was the worst. I spent about $3,000 applying for both medical schools in the U.S, Physician Assistant programs, medical schools in the caribbean and even considering Masters programs to enhance my application for medical school. I was consumed by the entire process of completing applications for all these different professions. I was very hard on myself and got myself into this very stressful situation. I could not help it, I was driven to be accepted somewhere and eventually find my nitch in medicine, which is exactly what occurred. A whole new world opened for me and I am thankful for the struggle that I lived because it made me a much stronger person.