Dietetics: The Story of Medicine’s Forgotten Sister I come from an African home where three career choices are presented at a tender age: lawyer, doctor and engineer. When I told my family I was coming to college to study Nutrition & Dietetics, my mother immediately expressed worry due to the relatively low income compared to the cost of education and the lack of jobs. My aunt also told me, “Abena, stop following nutrition and concentrate on medicine.” Although my family did not want to hear why I think dietetics would be essential to my becoming a doctor, I think it is important to share that a background in dietetics make me a great physician particularly due to modern medicine relying so heavily on pharmaceutics and ignoring the possible …show more content…
I have had a very difficult time adjusting to college because I knew how to take advice about asking for help and not actually asking for help when I needed it. During my freshman year, this was a great problem and this resulted in me ending the year with a low GPA and losing my scholarship. The wake-up call came when my strong mother broke down after I told her I had lost my scholarship and that she had to pay out of pocket for me to attend an expensive institution. Although I could have dropped out and attended the community college near my home, my mother reminded me that this was my one and only shot at a college education. For the next two semesters, I worked hard and brought my GPA above a 3.0 which helped me regain my scholarship. This ties into my personal history because according to philosopher George Santayana, “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” Now that I know what happens when I do not put in work and what happens when I put in work, I know better now and will always keep it in the back of my mind that even when the going gets tough, I have already had my one mistake and it only gets better from here onward. Also, this gives the admission committee something to always hold me to because knowing a person’s personal history is an indicator for future behavior and