I often wonder what my life would consist of had my family remained in India and kept with our old life, settling for only what was available. Would I still be able to pursue medicine, or would I have to assent to a job where I would be unhappy and unfulfilled? Would my misfortune be worth fitting in and having a simpler lifestyle where everything went by placidly? When I was 5, my parents decided to move to the United States and relocate our family. It took great struggle, courage, and patience. I’ve heard my father tell the story many times—he, my mother, and I came to America with nothing but a tiny suitcase and a 100-dollar bill. It’s inspiring to think about how we started with nothing but made it far. Now, my parents are proud to be able to send me to college, as I am the first one in my family to begin college in America. As grateful as I am to have Privileges to top-notch education I wouldn't have had in India to help me accomplish my lifelong dream of becoming a surgeon, I still carry the weight of my family’s past with me. While most high schoolers looking into higher education find it stressful and confusing, I struggled to find the help I needed, given my parents were just as confused as I was. When I started looking into colleges to apply to, I had no idea where I should start. Upon asking my friends and peers what they were doing, they advised me to “Apply where my parents went to college since I’ll probably get in”. While I appreciated my parents for every way that they helped me in my journey, I had so much to figure out myself. The FAFSA form, which most people told me their parents filled out for them, is something I had to work on alone. Although the FAFSA form generally takes less than an hour on average, it took me almost four hours to decode and then fill out. Regarding college, I had many unanswered questions and was puzzled by things such as how each school was different and how to plan on paying my college tuition. To have my parents asking me the same questions that I already had myself was extremely stressful and made me feel unprepared. My learning was also impacted by others who misjudged me and held prejudice against me. In my Senior year physics class, my partners -a group of 4 men- wouldn't let me speak up during projects or input my thoughts in our work. Multiple occasions similar to this made school harder for me to excel in and reduced my opportunities and resources. Even now as I explore my Journey to Medical School, I face the same issues as I did before, and am still unsure of how to address them. However, I've learned to communicate, research, and found more helpful resources, making the process easier for my entire family. Despite all the issues I face with being inexperienced studying in America, I am extremely passionate about Medicine and confident that this is a Journey I can go through, despite struggling either due to my troubles as an immigrant and woman of color. This is an opportunity I would have never had if my family had not made the biggest sacrifice of their lives. I am incredibly excited to continue studying medicine and become a pediatric surgeon in the future, and I know my journey has made me stronger and built my skillset and mindset to succeed in my future work.