This past year was my favorite yet! There were so many big events and changes in my life. From starting and completing the infamous semester-long biochemistry class with Dr. Lieberman to getting into medical school. I had started out the year unsure of my future plans but as the year went on everything started to come into place. 

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One of my favorite parts of this semester was moving back to campus after a year of Covid-19. I had craved late-night food runs and conversations in the living room with my roommates. It felt great to have everyone back together again and to have additional support. However, after the first few months of moving in, I realized that I had been letting myself down. I had not been eating properly and had not focused on maintaining my body through exercise. Although it took me a few months to realize this, I'm glad that I had the support of my family to help me get back on track. After a long conversation with my parents, I made a thorough list of my short-term and long-term goals so that I could track my progress. I recently reviewed my goals and realized that I had not met all of my goals, however, I was extremely proud of my motivation and I'm glad that I had a mode to keep me on track. 

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In terms of academics, although this past year was challenging, I have found a good rhythm in balancing my academics and extracurriculars. Growing up, my dad would always tell me to study smart instead of hard and this was the first year I really followed his advice. Instead of spending hours at the library studying with large groups of people and getting distracted every 15 minutes, I found 1-2 study partners that I knew would keep me motivated and would stay on task. We would go through the material individually as the semester progressed and then review everything together a few days before each exam. I'm so glad that I was able to develop a study routine this year that I know will benefit me for the rest of my life. 

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In terms of honors, although I didn't start any new experiences this year I definitely continued my prior experiences. I had the opportunity of attending and presenting at an Immunology conference in Chicago with my research lab from RAMP. I presented on a new project that I had led from SURF last summer about atopic dermatitis and although it was slightly intimidating, it was an amazing learning experience and bonding moment with the rest of my lab. I also continued working on my self-designed honors experience which was a health literacy program for refugee students at Aiken High School. Although the program will start again this upcoming fall, we applied for a CCTST grant through Cincinnati Children's and were awarded $10,000 for our work. This money will have a huge impact on making the Health Literacy program more sustainable and accessible for students at CPS. 

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As I mentioned earlier, this year had the largest impact on setting my future in place. During the start of fall semester I had applied to an early assurance medical program at the University of Toledo which would guarantee me admission into their Medical School upon graduation. This program was extremely enticing because it had no MCAT requirement and it meant that I could have a spot in medical school a year early. However, during the application process I felt extremely unsure of my capabilities. In my mind, I had accounted for an extra year of college before applying to medical school and it felt daunting to be starting the process a year earlier than I had imagined. Thankfully, I had a tremendous amount of support from my family and friends throughout the application process as well as during the interviews. They helped me revise my essays, curate my activity list, and even perform mock interviews with me. I truly would not have been able to be a strong applicant without all of their support! To my surprise, after months of waiting after my interview, I found out that I had been accepted into the program! Although this acceptance has allowed me to bypass academic things such as the MCAT and all the costs associated with the formal medical school application process it has had the largest impact on my mental health. I have been able to attend important events that I previously would have had to miss such as my best friend's graduation and my cousin's wedding. I have also been able to spend time with my family and friends instead of worrying about an upcoming exam or the stressors of being a premed. For the first time in my life, I've been able to enjoy summer without working a full-time job! I'm so thankful for the blessing to be able to have this extra time in my life to take care of my body and my health and to fully reset before starting medical school. I would highly highly recommend this program to any pre-meds out there that are craving this extra time. 

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