caracas

Hello lovely student nurses :). I'm currently a freshman in my local CC. I barely graduated high school with a 2.1 GPA and after flunking all but 1 of my Spring semester classes (leaving me at a 1.33 GPA) I've been knocked to my senses. I realize my time is running out very quickly and for the past week I've been doing all the research I could. I'm in Southern California, so the closest schools to me are gonna be CSUCI and CSUN, and while I know they're already as selective as they are, I've become enamored with the idea of attending UCLA. (Also worth mentioning the Pepperdine Calabasas SON they're opening Fall 2025!) I know my grades are not a lot to show for my work ethic but I really have been involved in medicine when I could. My Junior year of high school I volunteered at a local free clinic whilst being part of my school's patient care pathway (we learned CPR, first aid, patient care, basic injections.) Furthermore, that same year of high school my mom was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer and quickly lost her battle. I was her primary caretaker and was with her as she passed thanks to the skills I learned in that same patient care class. I am so passionate about patient care (I actually thought about being a doctor till I realized how little they actually spend with patients plus the price of school.) Once my mom died I became severely depressed and barely graduated high school as is. It took me up to my freshman year to recover. Especially since my family was technically just her and my dad, so we suffered a great economic struggle with her funeral and medical arrangements. Ever since then I've been in charge of all the house keeping, cooking, and cleaning as well. As of right now, my financial aid SAI is at -1500 and I am part of EOPS at my CC because of how low income my situation is. I've seen a lot of transfer student nurses work as a CNA for clinical experience but since I'm undocumented I can't work at all, but I can still get my CNA certification, would that be of any help in applying? Thankfully most unis here in SoCal accept undocumented students! As for academics and extracurriculars, I've done the math and if I get nothing but As in the upcoming Summer, Fall, and Spring semesters, I might just make the cut to get a 3.5 by the end of the Fall Semester (just in time for applications!) As well as being involved with my CC's medical club and signing up to volunteer in my local hospital. I also think it might be worth mentioning my severe fear (and fainting) at the sight of blood I overcame after witnessing a car crash where I tried to help the victim who was declared deceased at the scene (literally my junior year of high school too, IDK why everything happened to me back then) which I then overcame by donating blood until I was able to manage it. I know how selective and insane almost every nursing school is and I know how insane I am to even think about UCLA but I keep thinking about the opportunities I missed in the past and I don't want to grow old and regret not even applying to nursing schools. I feel like want to know if I have a "worthy" story to tell and if I do, I want to maximize my chances. Thank you for reading my entire sermon, I really didn't think I would have so much to say!