From Medicine to Engineering: How I tuned in
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will. — Vince Lombardi Jr.
Like any other high school student, I had a dream. Well, not exactly a dream, but a foresight about tomorrow. I wanted to see myself as a doctor some day. It wasn’t out of herd mentality that I chose medicine as my intended arena of study that time. I had my own reasons of motivation as to why being a doctor would be the perfect future for me. Every time I visited my doctor, I would mentally tell her,” I will be you some day.”
But then, life happened. Despite all my efforts, despite sleepless nights trying to memorize the position of foramen of Monro or the function of kupffer cells or the disease caused by Entamoeba gingivalis, despite frequenting NAME during Saturdays to test myself and be disappointed by my airheadedness each time, despite trying with all my heart and all my head, I was utterly unsuccessful. Yes, I could have paid half of my parents’ entire life savings and simply carried on, but I couldn’t. It was out of question to keep my parents’ future at stake for my own.
So, when I had to let that dream go, and that too at the drop of a hat, I was devastated. I could not chow down the fact that the one thing I had so desperately dreamt about was now gone, forever. Yes, if I was so enthusiastic about it, I could have given it another shot the next year. To be true, I was so let down by myself that I simply did not have any hope. I had this fear inside me that echoed, “What if I repeat the same contemplation the next year, the following year and the year later?? What if I screw up yet again?” I had come across a lot of seniors who had crossed the same bridge of dilemma and every single one of them had suggested me to carry on without regrets. I did carry on, but have I let my regrets go? I don’t think so. Deep down, I still have an unfathomable desire to wear that white coat, hold those scissors and forceps, and learn how to save lives and save myself too in a way.
Pursuing engineering was a sudden capricious doorway for me. Being a bio student during high school had made me a complete scoffer of physics and maths. All the formula and derivations used to make me go ballistic. I was frantically scared about my future. But as days passed by, I realized that it wasn’t the subjects that were holding me back, it was my reluctance to accept the fact that this would be my future. I started to let my remorse go and enjoy my life at the college. I made some of the most helpful and understanding friends who’ve never let me feel like an alien in the new world of engineering. Let the future decide itself, but not a single day has passed by when I have regretted being an engineering undergrad.
Be it the daily 10-to-5 routine or the undeniable boredom of lectures, there are actually a lot of things to drive me up the wall. But then, the daily doses of laughter and refreshment with friends and the jovial and carefree lifestyle I’m getting to enjoy have been keeping me alive, quite literally! Sometimes, I feel awestruck to realize that engineering, which I thought was never my cup of tea, is actually my passion now. Time heals all, and that is true.
So, to all the undergrads who are feeling lost after relinquishing medical field and entering engineering and also to anyone in a dilemma about this field, all I’d like to say is that if you have the heart to learn and the competence to start anew, don’t back down worrying about the past. As William Faulkner says, You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore. So, keep an open mind to anything and everything, learn to find awe in every stuff you do and you won’t ever be disappointed. Make new friends, make new memories. Basically, have fun!!!
