"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it." - Lou Holtz. Cancer might just be one of the most feared and dreaded diseases. It is the second leading cause of death as per the world health organization. Throughout my childhood, I have witnessed countless times that my beloved grandmother experienced countless pain and struggled to overcome lung cancer. Every time like that, a little girl like me only felt extremely scared and wished for a miracle to help her overcome the evil disease, but nothing happened, the cancer took her life away. Being upset and inquisitive, I began reading lots of multiple biology books and gained a greater understanding of how the cancerous cells work and methods of preventing the spread of cancerous tumours. I am still very interested in this area until now, as what causes the split is still a mystery amongst scientists, which is a great inspiration for me to put my foot on the biomedical field.
Since I come from Vietnam, a country with wonderful potential to develop in science and technology. In spite of having knowledgeable scientists and various natural resources, our healthcare system is considered inefficient due to the lack of equipment and limited development environment, especially in the biomedical field. Awaring that I needed to find another suitable and qualified environment to help me fulfill my goal of becoming a biomedical engineer as well as a stepping stone for me to go further in my professional career, I realized that studying abroad is what I am looking for.
Throughout research, I believed that studying abroad can give me the opportunity to access specialized scientific knowledge and be able to experience advanced systems in the world. In addition, international institutions are also known to have high academic standards, follow rigorous practices to maintain quality and are well-supported to be able to offer excellent education to their students. I was amazed by the teaching methods at universities in the United States, students here will be encouraged to use their full creativity, enhance their thinking and develop themselves incredibly under the guidance of experienced professors. Moreover, I will have chances to learn with students from different regions of the world thereby making it a stimulating education experience and helping me shape strong personality traits and skills that will be valuable in the international market, which will create a sustainable foundation for me to start my own biomedical career after graduating overseas and even my home country.
For all these reasons, I decided to apply for an international program at an university in New York (I won't reveal my university's name because I don't want to cause problems for them) and I got accepted and a scholarship. I'm in a sophomore now and I just finished my end terms. Unluckily, my family in Vietnam just had a big financial problem and they are not able to support my study anymore. It was a big shock for me, hopefully I has been taking a part-time job in my university and I have my savings. I also got my scholarship and I'm trying to ask for other scholarships too. As a international student, I'm not able to get student loans. I has been working on this problem so hard but I still don't have enough money for my next semester. I only have a meal a day these days in order to save up my money and I also cut down all my expenses as much as I can. If I don't have enough money for my tuition fees next semester I'll have to come back my hometown and I'll have to wait until next year to start a new program as a freshman again or I can't go to university until I get jobs in Vietnam to support myself. I worked so hard to be able to study abroad and achieve my dream and I don't want to give up on it. That's why I'm here to raise my own fund for my tuition as the last hope for myself. Thank you for listening to my story and I hope you can help me out. If you are not able to, that's okay, I really appreciate when you spend time reading my story, I didn't have anyone to talk to about my problem. Thank you so much ❤️