Taylor

Personal Achievement Reflection

Description:
On January 23rd 2023, I received my acceptance letter for the Bachelors of Health Sciences at
Simon Fraser University (SFU). I remember waking up in the morning and deciding to look in my
emails just to see if anything was there that would interest me, and I saw an email from the
university. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to open it or not as this was something I had been waiting
on with immense trepidation. After staring at my phone for 15 minutes to build up the courage
I finally decided to just tap on the email to see If whether my dream had come true. It turns out
it had and the amount of relief and pride I felt was not really like something I had experienced
before. I will most likely be attending SFU for this course for the September 2023 semester and
I couldn’t be more excited.

Personal Relevancy:
Since I was young, probably around 10 years old, I knew what SFU was, and it seemed like a
place that interested me. My dad attended SFU for many years as he completed his Bachelors
and Masters for integrated sciences. I have visited the campus multiple times growing up and
attended a science camp when I was a lot younger. That experience wasn’t as fun since it
wasn’t a topic that exactly excited me, but I was still excited to explore what could be an option
for me in the future. Being able to attend this university is also immensely exciting because it is
also an option for many friends of mine too and I would love to experience this milestone with
them. I also love the idea of going into a Health Sciences course, as now I want to become a
nurse, but I also don’t mind having a more open ended major just in course another strand of
health care piques my interest.

Skills Development:
The skills I have learned in this achievement are for example, personal confidence, because at
the beginning of this process of university applications I had so much anxiety that I wasn’t going
to be able to achieve what I what I wanted and be admitted to where I wanted to go. Now, I
have learned that I do deserve to believe in myself more and not assume the worst right away. I
have also learned a lot in grade management in the last two years because now I know that the
grades I receive now are going to influence my options for the future. In the early years of my
high school experience, my skills in maintaining my grades and work ethic weren’t as great as I
wanted them to be. But after trying my best now and realizing how much power I have over my
educational potential, my skills in work ethic have increased by a lot. I also have developed my
skill to be patient, because my acceptance letter took longer than people around me. It was
difficult to maintain patience and not let my mind wander to the worst possible scenario, which
was that I wasn’t going to be accepted.

Self-Awareness:
In this process, I have realized how excited I am for post-secondary, but also how terrified I am.
Before I received all my acceptance letters, I don’t think I realized how real and how soon I will
be graduating and moving onto the next chapter in my life. Now I have realized that I need to
be patient with myself for the major transition as it is something that will be nerve-wracking,
but also exciting at the same time. Also during this process, it has helped me take a lot of time
in thinking about what I want to do as a career and how I can achieve what I need to to meet
these goals. Before I learned more about universities and courses through applying online, I
really had no idea what to expect and even what I wanted to study. Now, I have a very good
idea of where I want to take myself in the future that will excite and interest me. As mentioned
before, I have been anxious that I wasn’t good enough or smart enough to get into my
university and program of course. Now I know that these worries aren’t true, and I can truly do
whatever I want and that I can believe in myself.

Future Connections:
Now that I have been accepted for my Bachelor of Health Sciences degree, I can complete this
and then move onto whatever may be the next move for me, which can be then completing my
master’s degree in my program of choice. Also being accepted into Health Sciences will be
beneficial for my future as it will be a great umbrella for all other health care careers, not just
nursing. It will be a great start for my nursing career so I can build an understanding of the
health care system and what my role would be, but it will also be very helpful to learn about
other careers. I am looking forward to having the option to learn about other opportunities so I
don’t decide on one career right away, and I have a lot more flexibility to change my mind.