“It makes me dizzy when I think about the age when I will get my place.”

Aitor Fernandez didn't grow up with an idea Be a doctor. In fact, his relationship with hospitals was more than just a professional one, it was an emotional one. Nurse by profession He began to envision the idea when, in his third year of college, he arrived at the oncology ward at Hospital Clínico de Santiago.. “I envied his work and loved him on a daily basis. “What I wanted was surgery,” says the 23-year-old. As the workdays passed, he saw how everything he had built up to that point — an illusion, he points out — was crumbling. He had the option of deleting what was thriving within him and continuing with the remaining year and a half of his degree. As well as leaving everything and starting from scratch. He, without paying attention to his surroundings – they told him it was too heavy – decided to combine the two: «I get giddy thinking about the age at which I will get my permanent position, but I have to be consistent in what I decideYo. Now I can work on my own and get paid, but I took a risk and prioritized the future. As the kids say, when I grow up I want to be a doctor.

He tells the story in three parts, the first part beginning before he entered the profession in which he is currently graduating, which is nursing. He completed his Bachelor of Science and first electives with The idea of ​​starting in dentistry. “I was not clear about the nature of the process, and I did not know what the discounts were,” the young man recalls. He put it forward as a first choice and followed up with a nursing degree in the three Galician universities, but at first call He's just got a place in the alternative he listed “just in case”, Biology. It lasted two months until the lists were transferred and they called him from USC when the course had actually started: “We have informed you that you have been accepted into the School of Nursing.” Next year Selective stomach again, first for the June exam and then for the September exam, and although his score improved by a few tenths, he still fell short of obtaining the required dentistry. It was fate:That's it, Aitor, now you're focusing on nursing, which you enjoy', he said to himself.

Years passed and It was in his first job as a practical nurse that he was attacked again by doubts.. This time it is no longer about dentistry, but about medicine. “He made my head Click I started looking for options. The cut-off marks were after the epidemic spread dramatically, and compared to other people, my marks were very low. I was a distant 12th, and if I wanted to enter my year I would have done so, but it was an option I didn't even consider. We must keep in mind that although this may seem like a small difference, every thousandth is noticeable.” He could have repeated the selective trunks again, but he saw it as a better option. Enroll in a vocational training course that will validate the grade for the entire stageL – also the percentage that depends on the high school level – to ensure obtaining a grade point average of ten. Choose one of Oral health specialistBecause if dentistry always caught his attention, “why not spend hours there while studying.”

He did it remotely and started it when he was in the second semester of his third year in college. Although the standard duration is two years, he decided to cram it together into a year and a half to finish it at the same time as nursing.. Out of curiosity, he says that the last exam of the course coincided with the same day of his graduation from the university: “On May 20, 2022 at nine in the morning – yes, remember the day and time – I had it in Madrid – because even though I was studying FP Connected The tests were in-person, the last test of the course. On the same day, at five o'clock in the afternoon, the graduation ceremony began in Santiago. “I took the plane after lunch to arrive on time.” In June he finished nursing and brushing The required average of ten per course And He repeated specific selective subjects, reaching the 13th position in which he had the medicine cut-off. Yes, in four years he completed five electives, a grade and a higher FP course, but there was a moment when he thought his efforts were in vain.

“Exactly he had 12.99, which was just over the cut-off mark the year before. It was quiet, but just a few days before the lists were published, news began to emerge that this was the year in which the largest number of people had registered. In the first round, the race was closed and I was disqualified. The grade was 13.05, and in those six hundredths of a percent between my grade I remember there were a lot of people», recalls the young man. But, against all odds, on August 28 – he also remembers the exact day – he received an email from the University of Southern California: He was inside. “I remember I was in the car with some friends, I decided to pick up my phone and saw the message. The first thing I did was to send the prisoners to my family, who were much happier than I. “They were the ones who saw me trying hard, and again, not getting results.”

At the University of Southern California, a large portion of university students who decide to change their choice after completing the first year belong to the scientific stream. Specifically, according to the latest reports from the Ministry of Universities, nursing is the degree in Santiago with the highest mobility rate: 20% of students leave it at one time or another. Aitor's case wasn't quite like that, because instead of leaving it to start a new one, he finished it, and once he graduated, he started all over again. “If I had not been on that call, my idea would have been to work as a nurse that year and Try again in June. “I was clear that I would repeat this as many times as necessary,” the young man says.