Hope

No, not with a certain boy.
But with my oldest dream. And again, no, not becoming the president of the united states...

I attended a pre-health/pre-med conference today, from 9-4.
The greatest thing I got out of it was....
You Can Do it. And here are some things, some people, some information to help you toward that track.

I was honestly moved to tears when Issac Yang, a neurosurgeon at UCSF, told us that thing he wished he'd heard when he was an undergraduate were the words: YOU CAN DO IT!
The application for medschool is daunting, the competition fierce, the stress insurmountable. for me. and perhaps for other students as well. However, Issac gave me hope today.
He described how during his first year, he had a low G.P.A., was even failing a course, and then he started to get serious. And he is where is today-12 research publications under his belt, as a resident at UCSF! Albeit, he told he had some struggles along the way, like not getting into some medical schools.
I completely resonated with his story, for I was no stranger to failures, and was so moved by his honesty, his passion (even after that!) and inspired by his character, and all his feats.
He then talked about Michael Jordan who was, unbelievably, cut from his high school basketball team! If Jordan had agreed with his coach, called it quits, taken criticism at face value, he would never have gotten to be the greatest basketball player of all time.

'Success is going from failure to failure
without lack of enthusiasm.

Behind every person, is a magnitude of failures. But you don't see them.' And I certainly could not have imagined the failures that he had... it gave me great hope that if I still wanted to pursue something with all my heart, I could get as far as he had.


Another beautiful example that will forever stay with me was what he called the Roger Bannister Principle




Roger Bannister was the first person ever to run the mile in 4 minutes (1952).
Before that time, everyone said it was physically impossible, scientific tests were conducted to affirm that it would break the laws of physics, it had never been done and could never be done.
However, Roger Bannister disproved all of that when in 1952, he broke the world record with a 4 -minute mile. An impossible feat defeated.
And, in just the next year after, 12 more people broke the 4 minute mark after him. "Do you think the human species evolved in that time span to run faster?" Issac joked.
A mental barrier placed in our minds was broken. After seeing how it was possible, other people followed suit. How? Issac imagined people would have straight out asked Bannister how he trained, what he did, for tips and advice... "what type of wheaties are you eating in the morning?!" anything and everything to do it themselves too.
And that is why we need role models, mentors. "The quickest, fastest, best way to success is to find someone who has done what you want to do and emulate them. It's the way the best have always achieved success. Michael Jordan did it with Dr. J. Tiger Woods did it with Jack Nickalus, and I am sure tomorrow's best are emulating today's successful heroes."


Who will be my mentor, my role model, someone who I will closely watch and follow ?
This I will have to research, but I am deeply inspired by Michelle Obama, the courageous actions that she's taken in order to address the public health issue of obesity. http://www.letsmove.gov/
She's of course in the legislative side, the policy side of Public Health, so I'll need someone that I want to exactly emulate. step by step. !!!!

There are specifc steps I have to take of course:
for Med School:
-GPA
-MCAT
-Personal Statement
-Interviews
-Extracurricular / leadership

or 2-year MPH Program:
-Bachelor's degree
-G.P.A. 3.0 upper div courses
-GRE 50th % of above
-3 outstanding letters of recommendation
-Statement of purpose
-Personal history statement
-Experience, internship, job



Oh man, I'm looking over my notes from the event...
and honestly I am so excited. public health is a wonderful field~ there are a wide range of issues
i'm so glad that I'm immersed in this environment, the one where people pursue their dreams even seemingly beyond their body's or mental constraints.
when i hear their stories, what they did, where they are, it inspires me. I'm so glad for them. It gives me hope. :)
though I'm a pessimist, I'm trying to be an optimist.
I want to see hope ^^

i wanted to write so much other stuff
hahaha but i care about the subject and contents being correlated to each other
so much for it being my blog :) and a random array of thoughts
I CAN DO IT!!