Vanessa Czerniecki
I have always lived surrounded by different cultures since my parents are expatriates. My mother is Brazilian, and my father is Canadian. I was born in France, and soon after my family moved to Germany, where we stayed for seven years. After that, we moved back to France for five years before moving back to Germany until I went to college. While in France, I attended a bilingual school, where I learned French in a one-year immersion program. Adjusting to the immersion program was a challenge, and I remember spending my weekends at the dining table with French workbooks. Once I felt more confident in the language, I felt very at home in France and think of this experience as what helped me enjoy academics and develop a good work ethic. In Germany, I attended an international school where I graduated with an International Baccalaureate diploma. Even though the student body was diverse, English was the main language, and it became the language I was most comfortable speaking. Although I learned German, I never became confident speaking it, so I never felt very at home in Germany.
When it became time to apply to university, I was quite set on applying to schools in the US. I think this was mostly because both of my parents had gone to university in the US, and my oldest sister had already begun studying in California. But I had also become very used to American culture at the international school and wanted to be able to live on campus and continue swimming competitively. So, I applied to a small liberal arts college where I studied biology and swam on the varsity team.
I remember having an assignment on pathogens in eighth grade that I remember as the first time I showed interest in biology. After that, biology became my favorite subject. My mom always said that I would be a good pediatrician since I loved taking care of children. So, when I developed an interest in science, I was interested in eventually going into medicine. However, I didn’t feel like I could decide with so little experience. I took a gap year before attending college and worked in different fields of biology, like marine biology field research and molecular biology research, to explore what career I would be interested in pursuing. I enjoyed my gap year internships but didn’t feel excited about a career as a scientist. So, I continued with the thought of pursuing medicine and chipped away at the pre-med requirements.
During the winter break of my junior year, I worked and shadowed in an NGO clinic in my mother’s hometown in Brazil. This experience cemented my goal of going to medical school, which was reinforced the following summer when I shadowed and worked with a pediatric rheumatologist. After graduating, I plan on taking two gap years to gain clinical experience, hopefully working as a medical assistant, and taking the MCAT before applying. I’m still not sure where I want to go to medical school or what specialty I’ll end up in, but I am excited for the journey and following the path I have chosen.