To say that being a Crimson Doctor student is a dream come true would be kind of an understatement. Reliving this timeline gives me the strength to push through and remind myself that no matter how hard it gets, I wanted this so bad...November 2020
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| WMSU COM announcement sent to me by my Coteacher (thank you Mami) |
I took the NMAT back in 2019 as my former colleague informed me that Western Mindanao State University is preparing to offer their Doctor of Medicine program. It would be such an honor to study medicine in WMSU as a #ProudCrimsonAlumna (BS BIOLOGY Batch 2016). I eagerly messaged the contact number on the announcement made by WMSU College of Medicine to inquire about certain requirements like ITR of my parents, TOR etc. They informed me that as of the moment, WMSU doesn't have the permit yet so they just asked me to enlist.
I haven't heard from WMSU anymore after pre-enlisting. I figured I'd have to wait a little bit longer. And maybe retake the NMAT for the third time.
March 4, 2021
We lost everything in a house fire. I saved my laptop, few ID's and that was it. We had to work on rebuilding and starting over.
June 2021
I received an unexpected message from WMSU informing me that I may already access the link for their PreAdmission form. I had to think about this as it would mean resigning from my work and relying on my parents and family again. After a long talk with my mom, I knew I owed it to myself as I took up a pre-med course to be our family's first generation doctor. It was a simple form. I had to submit NMAT results, Transcript of Records and even describe myself in three sentences.
July 1 2021
WMSU CM (ever so gorgeous ms. Ariane) informed me that I am qualified to take the MCAT. Medical College Admission Test exclusively for incoming WMSU students. Due to COVID-19 regulations, there were a lot of issues faced especially on rescheduling and requirements. But we were finally given instructions on how to process our MCAT testing fee.
July 17, 2021
We took the MCAT. I don't know if expectation met reality but it was a challenging enough test. I hoped for the best as we were informed that only 50 of us would be considered to be part of the pioneering batch.
July 23, 2021
We had the interview. It was a *surprise* as in I didn't know what to expect. I spent 40 minutes fighting for my life and hoping the panel doctors would see that there's a doctor-like quality in me that they can work with. I was super nervous.
July 27, 2021
Days passed since the interview and I kept waiting for WMSU-CM to message but I heard nothing. Finally, I received a text asking me to check my email. And that was it. One of the happiest moments of my life. Have you ever wanted something so bad you could practically taste it? I have and I made it. The tuition made me hesitate though but they updated it to 60,000php for 1st year, 1st sem. Hopefully, we'd become scholars in the future.
August 6, 2021
I had to wait for my mom's loan in order to pay half to be enrolled. But this is it. I am really studying Doctor of Medicine in my beloved alma mater with two of my former high school classmates.
August 12, 2021
General LMS orientation for studying Medicine (Covid-19 edition) so it was going to be an interesting (and harder) experience especially for me since I had to move to the village (Sinubong) and the net connection there is kind of slow.
August 13, 2021
General Orientation. It was an exciting moment indeed and I couldn't wait for the classes to start.
August 16, 2021
First day of class!
September 16, 2021
It has been a month. It was a rollercoaster. I've already gone through stages of grief, questioned my decision and mostly slept. Time is now a super precious commodity. So when I felt like giving up, I had to type this out to remind myself that I wanted this. <3
