03/16/2025
Hey There!
Recently I’ve had the odd urge to write. Not to say that writing is odd, but as a 22-year-old, burnt-out Midwestern girlie, writing was not on my agenda. I’ve come to remember a time in 10th grade, where as a school project in honors English, I had to blog about a book I read. Surprisingly to me, I thoroughly enjoyed setting up and maintaining said blog. Here I am to express myself in a way that I haven’t in years. My hope of sharing my stories is to reach someone like me. I hope that my stories will find you and bring you peace or maybe even inspire you. Thus, I want to tell you about how 2024 changed me. After earning my first associate’s degree, I was still working as a bank teller, a completely different career path from what I was studying in school, Healthcare. I found myself feeling lost and confused for a while. I didn’t know if I wanted to go back for my bachelor’s degree or if I should find a program that fit my needs instead. Yet, somehow, I got a full-time job as a healthcare assistant and lost myself even more. This is where I’m at now. Somethings got to give. This year I will not allow myself to get stuck in a pattern that doesn’t align with my hopes and dreams. I’m officially LOCKED IN.
Well… what are my hopes and dreams?
I’ve been set on becoming a sonographer, aka an ultrasound tech for about 3 years now. When I first started looking into this career, I realized that there were not many programs in my area. The only one I saw at the time had very high standards, as they should, and required a lot of experiences that I didn’t have under my belt at the time. I slowly began to think I wasn’t cut out for it. Luckily for me, after I finished my associate degree program at my local community college, I realized that the same school I was already attending rolled out a sonography program! It was the big break I’ve been looking for! I knew then and there that I was going to give my all to get into this program.
Trials and tribulations… or flat-out failures.
The sonography program at my community college is not just cut and dry. You have to petition to get in. This means it’s a competition and there are steps you must take before even being considered. One of these steps was READING OVER the petition requirements and comprehending it, right? Well, I guess I had a hard time with that one. The most important step, I’m assuming, is taking the placement test. For this program, the test is called the TEAS exam. It’s basically like the ACT but its science portion is heavily focused on human anatomy. I didn’t realize when I petitioned for the first time back in 2024 that said exam had to be taken PRIOR to petitioning. I had just started working my new HCA job and felt overwhelmed with training and getting to know so many new people that the process of petitioning wasn’t my top priority. That being said, I received an email letting me know that I was not accepted into the sonography program but I was admitted into the healthcare pathway! One foot in the door, one foot out. Not being able to start the program meant I had to wait a whole year to petition again. I was disappointed in myself for not simply understanding the requirements and I took too long to meet with an advisor to ask questions. 2024 became the worst year of my life. I felt like I had nothing going for myself and I let it show in how I operated day to day. I became lazy outside of work and I just wasted away, playing video games all day.
How did I overcome it?
Thankfully, at the end of 2024, I realized what I was doing. I found the shadow work journal on TikTok and became inspired (sidenote, I TOTALLY recommend this journal to anyone looking to work on themselves because it makes you see yourself from a different perspective). I started to understand myself a bit more and I grasped onto my goals. I’ve always known that I was meant for a bigger purpose and I just needed that push to set myself into gear. After doing some soul-searching I decided to prep myself for the upcoming petition window. The TEAS is separated into 4 sections: English and Language Usage, Reading, Math, and Science. I’ve always been confident in my reading and English skills so I held off on these topics until the end. I know that I was never the best at math so I decided to touch up on those skills first. Funny enough, I have a 10-year-old cousin who is currently working on 5th-grade math. Who would’ve thought that helping a 5th grader with their math homework would help a college student understand basic math skills? It took me right back to when I learned basic equations and I was able to apply those skills in my TEAS practice questions. One category down, 3 more to go. It was time to focus up on the other tough portion, science. Don’t get me confused, I have an associate of science degree, but that doesn’t mean I remember every little thing I learned back in high school biology, chemistry, and human anatomy classes. I researched TEAS science topics and took EXTENSIVE notes on each one. HUGE shoutout to Nurse Cheung on YouTube, she really helped me understand what I needed to focus on. After I felt more secure in my science knowledge, I worked on reading and English briefly. I studied for hours and hours every day for a good month and a half to prepare for test day.
The Big Day
Finally, the day I’ve been dreading (only for the anxiety) was upon myself. January 14th, 2025, was test day. I left work early to get to the school and this was my first time navigating my school since I was taking all my previous classes online. I immediately got lost on campus as there were so many buildings and the directions were so unclear online. I began to panic and I even cried a bit as I frantically speed-walked through the floors looking for help. Finally, I made it to the right place in the nick of time and got set up for the exam. I flew through the reading portion, and then through the math portion. Then I was faced with my biggest competition, the science portion. It had the most questions of the entire exam and to say that I was intimidated is an understatement. Honestly, I was a bit disheartened when I realized that there were quite a few questions that I didn’t study on the exam. Luckily for me, I took a medical terminology course back in high school that I really enjoyed so I was able to comprehend most of the terms on the test from my memories in the class. Mrs. DP, if you’re seeing this, I LOOOOVE you! I finished the science portion with only 5 minutes left. It was time to complete the final portion, English. Maybe I’m not the grammar queen that I claimed to be, ’cause I definitely struggled with a couple of questions here, but nonetheless, I got through it! For my program you have to get a 70% on the exam to be accepted… I PASSED! The smile would not leave my face for a good 5 minutes. I was so proud of myself after all the time and effort I put into this exam. This was the start of 2025 that I needed. As soon as I left the classroom I sent in my petition.
Where am I now?
Now it’s March and this is the month that I find out if I made it into the program. The school says to wait until the very end of the month to receive the email. I can’t say I’m patiently waiting because honestly, I’m more anxious than ever. This is my dream. I’ve worked so hard to get to this point and I don’t want to give up now. I’ve been diversifying my resume to learn all different types of skill sets and I truly believe that all the experiences I have now are satisfactory for placement in the sonography program. There’s no way that I’m not qualified. I’m keeping my head high and sending positivity into the atmosphere because this is what I want out of life. I will be accepted and I will start classes this summer. I’ll check back in when I hear from the school. Thanks for reading. ❤
XO, Emblog.
EmBlog 
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