While my physical story begins in Saginaw, MI, the spiritual part of it starts way before in India. My parents were/are both pharmacists( so medicine is kind of in the family). They married in 2004 in India and soon after moved to the United States, where my father was attending school at Long Island University.. Soon after they would move to Michigan- in the dead of winter - due to a job offer and settled in Saginaw, where they have been since. I was born in May of the following year(2005) and kind of just lived in Saginaw up until I was 4 and attending day care. At that point I moved to India to a town named ponnur where I lived with my maternal grandparents for a couple of years. I started my schooling there,  became fluent in Telugu, and skipped a grade.

​

In 2012, my mother ended up moving to India and we moved to Hyderbad where I would end up staying until 6th grade in 2016 and attened two schools. It was at this time the idea of becoming a doctor kind of solidified in me. I mean I always said I would be one when I was much younger, but the more things I learned and explored, the more the idea seemed to resonate. 

​

In 2016 I moved back to the US and started 7th grade in Saginaw at the Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy. I was placed in the Math/Sciences concentration and really just kept learning more and more about how the body works and all the cool science stuff( ETC, glycolosis, gluconeogensis). I eneded up staying at SASA for my highschool years aswell, which unfortunatley fell during the start and end of the Covid-19 Pandemic- this encompassed the start of lockdown which was yhe second half of my sophmore year till the end of my junior year.

 

My senior year, with college application season approaching, I took my SATs and ACTs scoring quite well in them (1500 and 35 respectively). I had applied to John Hopkins early decision as well tons of other schools with direct medical programs and of course tons of Ivys. I unfortunatley did not end up being accepted to Johns Hopkins but my dreams were unwavered- I kept applying. That January I came to know about carribean medical schools or rather the one in Curacao. Previous to this carribean medical schools, to me atleast. seemed like a last resort option for those who couldnt get into US medical schools so I didnt pay much attention to it- I just applied, did my interview, and forgot about it. In April, I was visitng Nova Southeeastern in Ft. Lauderdale where I was to interview for their 6 year DO and undergrad program aswell as for the full ride scholarship they offered. After my Interview were done, on a whim we decided to fly to Curacao to look at the medical school. And phew when I landed on the Island I was immediatly reminded of India. Hot, bit of ruralness, and most importantly lots and lots of dirt roads. We eneded up spending only about 18hrs on the Island before our flight but I loved every single part of it- from downtown to the school and to the beaches. And thus a decision was to be made.

​

I had four schools to pick from before the national decision day deadline of May 1st. The choices being Brown University, an Ivy school in Rhode Island, Pepperdine University in Malibu, and the afformentioned two school- Nova Southeastern and St. Martinus University. It really was a tough decision , I mean I could not make my mind up for the longest! I wrote a list of pros and cons and just kept staring at this tiny piece of white paper I had stolen from Mr. Millers AP Biology class. While Brown probably set me up the best for connections, I did not get accepted into their Direct med program meaning I had to take the MCAT, and  their tuition was insane . Pepperdine also was a very expensive school but Malibu is probably a wonderful place to go study.. Nova southeastetrn was great- they offered me a spot in their DO program and covered my entire tuition bear housing but I didnt necesarily want to be a DO. St. Martinus was significantly cheaper and since I would be starting my MD right out of highschool I would be saving 4+ year but on the other hand IMGs tend to have a harder time with residency. A decision had to be made. I loved all four schools but eventually I decided to take a gamble on myself- I chose St. Martinus and was enrolled by the end of April. I started taking some premed courses before I even graduated or even turned 17. And since I had a lot of college courses and AP credits under mybelt, I was able to knock out the 90 credits I needed before the start of the August 2022 semester.

​

Now here I am, almost four years later. Still pushing myself to improve in more ways than not- whether it be academically or socially - trying to be the best version of myself each day.

 

​