Shooting for the stars...and missing

This quarter, I decided I wanted to apply for the Mary Gates Research Scholarship. This is a really prestigious scholarship given out for research projects at UW. Since I was going to be getting started on my own project at work in my lab anyways, I thought it was good timing. My PI and manager in my lab helped me to formulate my project and design it. I ended up landing on a project centered around examining liver sections of malaria infected mice to see how parasite zonation in the liver varies and differs with and without certain cell death mechanisms, especially when comparing male versus female mice. Then, for about a month I worked to draft and edit my research project description paper for my application. I put in a lot of effort into this, and it was probably one of the most challenging things I've ever written. The combination of understanding and accurately portraying the science, as well as making it readable and digestible, and keeping to the ridiculously short page limit (3 pages double spaced!!!) all made it very difficult. In the end, with support from my PI, manager, and my mom, I submitted a paper that I was really proud of and confident in.

Then, halfway through finals week, while I was sitting in Odegaard studying for my biochemistry exam the next day, I got the message: "we regret to inform you..." and I'm sure you know the rest. I was incredibly disappointed. I had felt really good about my application and my project, and this scholarship would've been super helpful for me financially and academically. Also, I have to say, it's pretty rude of them to send the decisions in the middle of finals week. I do not recommend having to compose yourself in the bathroom in Ode while cramming during finals week. Anyway, I was disappointed, but I had to remember that things like this, especially now, are highly competitive, and I'm going to get rejected sometimes. Additionally, just because I didn't get picked for this doesn't mean that my research isn't meaningful or interesting. Finally, I had to remind myself that I am incredibly lucky to even get to do a research project, especially one I get paid for, and that even though I didn't get the scholarship, I still get to do the research.

This was all a good reminder that sometimes, things just don't work out. I'm inevitably going to get rejected more in the future, so I need to just think of this rejection as practice for that. Meanwhile, I'll continue to work hard on my research and be grateful that I have this opportunity. I've attached my application essay below, because I am still really proud of it :)

Lola Velush Mary Gates Scholarship Essay.pdf

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