Where to Now?

I majored in employment practices and theories, yet I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I graduated. There were many different ideas and visions for what I could do: teacher, musician, corporate HR, lawyer, diplomat; I heard it all. I studied for the LSAT, GRE, and (a few years later) for the MCAT. But nothing really fit. In the year after I graduated from college, I felt pretty lost. It was easy to compare my inner disappointment that I didn’t have a career I wanted to pursue with my friends’ appearance of feeling fulfilled with their career choices.

I moved to the suburbs of Philadelphia last year to pursue coursework in the sciences. Unlike almost all of my classmates, I didn’t know if medicine was what I was interested in. I wanted to take the year to figure it out. I’ve been satisfied with my decision. I enjoyed the coursework, shadowed and interpreted for many doctors, and have overall felt at peace with my decision to put in all of the studying hours.

I couldn’t have done it without all of my studious, experienced, generous, career-changing, friends. There were a lot of late nights in the library, a lot of anxiety about exams, and a lot of unknowns. It meant the world to have a great group of people to work and laugh through all the concerns and fears with.

Not only did I become confident in pursuing medicine, this year has brought some other changes. I’ve made some great friends, learned all about different types of arrows that can be drawn, swam a continuous mile, and generated a 612% yield in organic chem lab.

My most meaningful experiences this year have all revolved around my volunteer work as a medical interpreter at a free medical health for Bhutanese refugees. It was a great way to stay connected to the Himalayan culture, make some new friends, retain my Nepali language skills, and learn about refugee healthcare inequalities.

It is hard to leave this great friend group and this routine that’s become comfortable. But I am ecstatic for what’s coming next:

I’ll be spending the summer in Nepal.

I’m going to medical school in August.