Growing up I always knew I wanted to become a doctor. I always knew that I wanted to help sick people get better. Whenever people would ask me what I wanted to be I never failed to give them the same answer, a doctor. Throughout my childhood different things would catch my attention, but they would always come second to me becoming a doctor. At first I thought of becoming a Pediatrician, but I soon came to realize that I was not such a big kid person, so then I was back at not knowing exactly what kind of doctor I wanted to be.
When my sister was a little girl, she would always run into things. My mom would ask her why and she would always answer that it was because she could not see it. It sounded silly at the time because she would run into really big things. So one day my mom decided to take her to get her eyes checked and I went with her. That visit is what made me realize that I wanted to become an
Optometrist. When we arrived at the Optometrist office there was a pamphlet that described the anatomy of the eye and that really catalyzed my interest. After seeing how my sister would struggle to see without glasses and how being able to see well is such a big part of life I knew
that I wanted to help people see better, therefore I knew that Optometry was my choice of career.
I started my college path at
City College of San Francisco. When I first got there I started out with my general education classes and took courses that would help me get into courses required for Optometry school. After my first semester at CCSF, I became pregnant. This made me rethink my dreams of becoming an Optometrist because I thought it would be too many years of school and I wanted to do something quick because I wanted to be able to provide for my daughter as much as I could, so I decided to change my mind and do nursing instead. For the first 2 years at CCSF, I took courses that would lead me to pre-requisites for nursing school and I was determined that after nursing school I would continue with my education and become a nurse practitioner because I knew that I didn't want to settle at nursing.
When I started at CCSF, I was working at my Auntie's dental office. My Aunt always knew that I wanted to be a doctor and she was always very encouraging when it came to me becoming an Optometrist. When she found out that I had changed my mind and decided to become a nurse practitioner instead she was a little disappointed because she knew that it was not what I initially wanted to do and it wasn't what I had always thought of doing; However, she was always still very encouraging. After doing a lot of research on how long it would take in order to become a nurse practitioner, I found out that it was the same amount of time that I would take if I would do Optometry. So now the only reason that was holding me back to the idea of becoming a nurse practitioner was because I would work for 2 years as a nurse first and then apply to get my masters, which meant that I would start making good money quicker then I would if I would do Optometry. After thinking about this and having a couple of talks with my Auntie, I came to the realization that I should not choose a career just because of the money, but because it would be something that I enjoy doing. Also, my job was secure and my Auntie would always tell me that I could work there as long as I wanted to until I had to leave for school. After thinking it throughly, I realized that I wanted to stick to my original plan, to become an Optometrist.
I then started taking all the classes I needed in order to later apply for Optometry school. I finished at CCSF with an AS degree and then transferred here to
San Francisco State University to obtain my degree in
Cell and Molecular Biology. Once I am done obtaining my Bachelors Degree I will apply for Optometry school and then become what I always wanted to be.
