My Transition of Becoming an International Student Essay

My Transition of Becoming an International StudentWhen I first moved to the United States, I was initially overwhelmed.

  I had grown up in small country and had always enjoyed the support of my family and close friends. I felt relatively successful there, most especially after graduating high school and placing 3rd in my island on the CXC examinations. That satisfaction and feeling of success began to wane when I arrived to the states and my feelings of loneliness and fear had to be dealt with in order for me to flourish in college. I never lived on campus and this, of course, inhibited the stereotypical “college life” that is portrayed in the media.

However, I do not regret not living on campus as I reflect and realize that I was more diligent and less distracted during that time.  I made many great friends in school, but did not engage in an risky or irresponsible behavior as a young adult and have an appreciation for the hard work I put in as a new, initially fearful college girl.Much of the fear I felt was not of the newness and difference of my life, but revolved around the possibility of failure and the disappointment my parents would feel if I was not successful.  This was a powerful force that drove me to learn and conquer so much as I look back at my past at UM. I never failed a class. I never dropped a class, there were no withdrawals, no incompletes.

I have followed through on each and every of my endeavors. I guess the question that you might ask yourself is; is it better to have done things differently to have a better GPA due to withdrawals, incompletes and repeats or will someone see that was not ethical for me and understand that the I have constant determination and decided instead to stay enrolled, despite my initial difficulties?  It took some time to develop these capabilities of successes but I can firmly and undeniably say, I have it now. My graduate G.P.A. is now above a 3.7 and my only B’s were extremely close to A’s.  My Neuroanatomy grade stands as a B, but the my final numeric average was a 89%, 1% away from an A.

My physiology grade was also B, but terribly close to an A, as well . I know what I am capable of. Of course.

I can get an A in Neuroanatomy and Physiology and I can show you this if I am accepted.I have excelled in my graduate program, a program mimicking the first two years of medical school, by the way.  I am constantly improving in my academics.  I have learned through trial and error what it takes to succeed.  Much of what I have learned came from making mistakes and I cannot say that I regret this, because all of this adversity has made me a better person and, more importantly, a better student.

  Looking back at my previous education, it can be described in two words; difficult and complicated. At the University of Miami and overall in the United States, I was bombarded with rejection. Being an international student I was faced with this every day. I now am immune to the feeling of rejection. I have met many great people in my time in the US, but I also meet people who watch opportunities pass by; simple opportunities for advancement, opportunity given just for being a US citizen.

I realize that seeing others not living up to their potential has made me want to help others do this, through medicine.  I want to improve other people’s lives, because each and every person is important and worthy of their chance to succeed, be healthy, and happy. I have realized that I was meant to struggle and I was meant to take the rough path towards medicine. I needed this because in the end this is exactly what will make a better doctor; one of compassion and understanding.