- So I picked it up, and it was Charlene,
and she's like,
"We'd like to welcome you to UC Davis School of Medicine."
And the first thing I said was,
"Are you serious?
"Like, is this a joke?"
And she's like,
"Nope, this is for real!"
And then I screamed.
I ran into the living room where my parents were sitting,
and I was like,
"Mom, I got in!"
And my mom dropped her laptop and was just like, screaming.
And then I just couldn't stop crying,
and I was like, I was just so thankful,
and I was like, "Thank you so much,"
and I was shaking.
It was like the greatest thing ever.
- So I saw that I was getting a call
from a nine-one-six number,
so I ran from my cubicle all the way down the hall
to the stairwell,
and I picked up the phone,
and it was Charlene congratulating me.
So I was just jumping up and down,
screaming in the stairwell among all these coworkers,
excited that I got into Davis.
I was so happy.
- I was actually in a receptionist's office,
and so, you know, answering phones,
and you can't really scream.
So I'm just kinda shaking my hands, going crazy.
But I was super excited,
'cause UC Davis is my dream school.
- And I was checking my email all day,
'cause I knew that would either email me
telling me I didn't get in,
or I would get a phone call.
And I hadn't gotten anything,
so I went to go lay down on my mom's bed,
'cause I was kind of bummed out.
And I checked my email again,
and there was no email,
and literally right at that moment,
my phone changes into an incoming call,
and it was a nine-one-six area code,
and it was Davis.
And then after that,
I just kept saying, "OMG!"
It felt surreal.
And then after that, we just cried,
and they we prayed.
- For the first time, actually,
I got speechless.
I believe they said,
"Hello, are you still there?"
And so after that,
I put forth a few words.
It was kind of embarrassing,
but it was a great feeling.
I got off the phone with them,
called my mom, called my brother, called my girlfriend.
I called everybody.
- To be completely honest,
I was really reserved,
but as soon as the phone call went off,
I let out a huge yell,
echoed up in through the stairwell.
People came out and checked on me
and poked their heads out,
and I was like, "Sorry, just got into Davis.
"Gonna be a doctor."
- I was working full time,
and I was having a hard day,
so I went to go get myself a snack. (laughing)
And I got the phone call in the chip aisle,
I still remember,
and I started crying, of course,
'cause it had been a long time coming.
- My husband and I just jumped, we cried.
It was just a whole full mixed emotions moment
where I didn't know if I should've cried, laughed,
and I just jumped of excitement.
- Because I was a kid,
I've always gone with my mom to her appointments.
I always translated for her.
And now, as a physician,
I want to be able to both practice medicine
in English and Spanish so that I can help people
just like my mom back in the day.
- Being a doctor really represents a conduit
to a healthcare system for a lot of people.
- I grew up in Southern California
in a Vietnamese immigrant family,
and I have one brother and one sister.
And my little sister, she had a lot of struggles
growing up with her health,
born three months premature.
And so kind of watching her grow up
in a bilingual, single-mother household, low income,
really inspired me to advocate for kids
and families in similar situations.
- I think the most important thing
about why I want to become a doctor
is being able to return to the communities
from where I come from
and being able to provide health for them,
and at the same time,
being able to break those barriers
that sometimes affects their access to health.
- A lot of my family,
it was hard to see doctors.
From working in the fields,
it was a lot of migrant working through the Central Valley,
and that was a reason for me,
that there needs to be more doctors in the Central Valley.
The clinician shortage is real where I come from,
and it's something I want to help alleviate.
I want to help adjust this issue.
- I chose UC Davis School of Medicine
because Sacramento's my home.
I was born and raised here,
and I've interacted with these populations
for my entire life.
- I came from an emergency medicine background
in which I got to serve at a local county hospital
and really see community support,
and that is one of the things
that UC Davis really prides themselves.
I could definitely see that
based off of all the connections that they have going on
in the communities that they're serving,
and I really wanted to become a part of that.
- UC Davis is well known for primary care.
It's located in Sacramento.
I am interested in keeping being involved in health policy,
so integrating the clinical practice
to the health policy in the population,
changes that I want to make,
really drew me to UC Davis.
- I chose UC Davis because this is the place
where I grew up and I was raised,
and this was a institution
that took care of my family members growing up.
And it was an honor for me to come serve the population,
the community that I've become immersed with
throughout my upbringing.
(soft music)