My way to college -Jon

My name is Jonathan and I am currently a junior at University of California, Berkeley majoring in Molecular Cell Biology with an emphasis in Physiology. I graduated from James Logan High School in Union City and was part of the illustrious class of 2007. My high school was a fairly large and diverse high school with a graduating class of almost 800 students.

In high school, I was involved in a host of extracurricular activities. I was a part of the freshman and junior varsity basketball team my first two years of high school. Though we were not necessarily the most dominant team in our league, we had our share of fun nonetheless. We were a close knit group and still to this day, I keep in contact with some of the folks on the team. I also participated in Yearbook and Pre-med Club. Both were venues where I was able to connect with people who shared the same passions I had. Outside of school, starting from freshman year, I volunteered at the Masonic Home where I worked with the nurses at the health clinic. As a clinic volunteer, I was able to work alongside the nurses as they treated the patients. It was definitely an eye opening experience which helped steer me in the direction of the pre-medical field.

At Cal, most of my activities have been goal oriented and tailored to my interest in becoming a physician. I am an organic chemistry tutor at the Student Learning Center on campus. I am also an active committee member in both the Berkeley Scientific Journal, which publishes undergraduate research in science related areas and Berkeley Project, which serves the Berkeley community through volunteer projects. I am involved in basic science research in a molecular cell biology lab on campus investigating the proteins within the stomachs of rabbits. Off campus, I do clinical research at University of California, San Francisco where we study the effects of drug treatment on human patients who have schizophrenia.

In college, one thing that stood out to me was the diversity of the student body. This diversity encompasses not just race or socioeconomic class, but also interests and hobbies. Within my major itself, people are pursuing different occupations even with the same degree. My suggestion to y’all is to find something that you are interested in, whether it is singing to speech and debate—does not matter. High school is definitely a time to explore your interests within school and outside of school and find what you are most intrigued by and commit to it. As I stated prior, I was interested in medicine because of a volunteer opportunity that I did. When it comes time to apply for college, colleges will see that you have invested your time in a particular interest, and be impressed by your enthusiasm for it. It will certainly help distinguish you from the other applicants as well so please, do start early.