The Odyssey Plan -- Helen Lu

Physician
My childhood dream is to become a doctor. Before I learned to read, my favorite book was a German anatomy textbook my grandfather had purchased when he was a young man. The intricate drawings of human anatomy fascinated me endlessly. In high school, I took both AP Chemistry and AP Biology, and found both classes to be my favorite and easiest to comprehend. I was able to get a 5 (the full mark) on my AP Biology exams although I was too deep in my senioritis to study for it at all. Memorizing biological processes and names somehow is just very intuitive for me. All my classmates made stacks of flashcards and elaborate study aids, while all I had to do was a quick read through of the textbook. I think when you have genuine interest in a subject, it comes easily and studying it becomes fascinating instead of a chore. Chemistry and Organic Chemistry seems to be an obstacle for many Pre-Med and Med School students, but I believe I can overcome it because chemistry has been my best subject in school, I have a genuine interest, and a very strong background. I am ashamed to say, I have never took any Physics as I spend my middle school and high school studying Biology and Chemistry. I considered and applied to many chemical engineering programs before my decision to attend Rotman, so I think going to Med School would be a perfect marriage of my academic interests. Although I am in Rotman studying for a BComm degree currently, if I enter the Management specialty I will have enough electives to acquire the prerequisite for med school application. My greatest obstacle in this path would be my Rotman studies. I am not very interested in business and economics at all, but I know I will have to maintain a high GPA for my med school application. If do get into med school and graduate, I wish to wish to complete a residency in Preventive Medicine. After I become board certified, I wish to obtain the necessary licensing to practice medicine internationally. I dreamed of pursuing a career in meaningful NGO work, and I wish to take my medical expertise to communities that have restricted access to healthcare. I wish to join the Médecins Sans Frontières or the UN Medical Corps, and work on preventing STIs and parasitic diseases related to poor access to clean water. I want to be able to provide vaccinations against easily prevented, but hard to treat diseases to those at risk of contraction. I want to provide even just basic check ups and outpatient services to those that can’t afford it. I think access to health care should be a basic human right, yet today, many communities in developed countries like the US, don’t have access to or are unable to afford basic health care. Access to affordable or even free health care is an issue I am very passionate about, and even if I could only help a limited amount of patients I would be very grateful. If I do become a preventive medicine practitioner, I want to start an NGO that will contain a network of physicians, PAs, and RNs, who could be compensated to extend in order to volunteer their time on visiting communities around to their practice that don’t have access to health care. My NGO will also provide legal advocacy for patients who can’t afford it, while their physician counterparts pay expensive malpractice insurance. My dream is to have my NGO become a voice in the world of politics, being able to sponsor lobbyist for our cause in Washington and gain general consultative status in the UN. In addition to that, in this blue sky future, I hope to start a pharmaceutical company that will manufacture and sell off-patent generics at a very low price, and export my products to those who normally wouldn’t have able to afford it worldwide.

Sales/Marketing/Advertising/PR Executive
As I am a currently a Rotman Commerce student, becoming a marketing or an advertising executive at a firm is my most likely future. There are three specialties in the Rotman Commerce faculty, and I hope to study Management with a concentration in Marketing. My father has worked in sales his entire life, and his life, to an extension my life, has been built around the persona of a salesman. My father works in the steel industry, and is a freelance representative for various steelmaking technology companies. Steel industry has the unique characteristics of being one of largest industries in our society, yet is a very small circle. Almost all of our family friends are my father’s clients within the industry, and our lives revolved around forging strong relationships with those families. Since I was a little girl, I knew that if I were good friends with the children of my father’s clients, it would aid his business. And if I invited them over to our house to play, it would give an opportunity for my father to naturally become more involved with clients. I have seen my father jump on plane to see a client/friend at a phone call’s notice, and I have seen my parents drive 2 days to visit a client’s daughter at her university. If you have ever seen the TV show Mad Men, which is by the way my favorite show of all time, my father’s world of being a salesman is more intense and competitive than the likes of Don Draper and Pete Campbell. After all, an advertising account was at most $3 million USD in the show, which is around $21 million USD in purchasing power today, while typical accounts in the steel industry are upwards of $100 million USD. However, the biggest difference between the show Mad Men and lives our family lived, was that the characters on Mad Men were all miserable and resented what they had to do for their clients and a living, while at my family it is an easy lifestyle. You could say I was born into the ultra competitive world of marketing and sales. I can honestly say, with my father’s agreement, that working in sales/marketing/advertising will be one of the most comfortable career choices for me. My father always told me, what make most young salesmen fail is fear of failure and stress, stress that comes with the feeling that your normal life and friends have melted away, and the only things left in the world that you care about are your clients and your job. My father says and I wish, since I am used to the lifestyle having grown up in it, hopefully, when most people fail I will excel because it will almost feel like comfort. To achieve this future, I will get my degree in Management with a focus in marketing, while spending summers interning at various marketing/advertising/PR firms. After I get my bachelors, I want to work for 2-3 years, while preparing for the GMAT and MBA applications.

Trainer
If all else fails (not sure what all else is), I will become an athletic trainer. I grew up doing sports, and is currently a member of the Varsity Blues Rowing Team. I love being active and eating healthy, and have a passion for athletic training and nutrition. You might wonder who follows all those professional athletes and fitness models on Instagram, and who might be bored enough to watch people workout on Youtube, well, look no further. A majority of my teammates are kinesiology majors, while I am in Rotman, I could study for and obtain my personal training license. I have a good foundational knowledge in human exercise physiology and nutrition from all my accumulated experience of being an athlete, and I hope obtaining my licence won’t be too hard and out of reach, as several of my friends have already done so in the past. This career choice is actually the most tangible future out of all possibilities, as I am already basically a trainer. I led my highschool yoga extracurricular in my senior year, and spent the summer teaching spin classes while I recovered from an ankle injury. I had good feedback in both classes I’ve taught, and my students and teammates often comments I am a motivational and peppy instructor, although they have no idea where I find the energy from. In fact I am just energized from physical activity. When we were brainstorming in class, listing activities that most energize us, I placed working out above sleeping and eating. I just love working out and being active, and have built up a good endurance for cardiovascular exercises over the years. I currently work out around 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, and in the winter term I hope to alternate spinning, yoga, and some more weights as a secondary workout. I perhaps have an unhealthy relationship with exercise, but I simply can’t live without it. During the season in fall term, I woke up at 4 am every morning, biking an hour to and from to row on the water for about 90 mins, and went out for a 5k run after practice daily. Which is around 3 hours everyday, something I hope to still accomplish as the lake freezes by mixing in other cardio. I love physical exercise and I wish through becoming a trainer more people can share my passion. But if I were to pursue a career in athletics, I will up the ante on my rowing training now and continue to do so at a club after I graduate. There are many teammates currently on the Varsity Blues Rowing Team that are graduate students, and they continue to train at the university for their Olympic aspirations. If I start to take rowing even more seriously now, hopefully I can attend the national selection trials for the 2024 Summer Olympics. By then I will be 26 years old, and in the peak of athletic capabilities. But chances are, I will never be able to compete at the level required because by then, with my career, schooling, and personal life, I won’t be able to dedicate enough time and commitment training. For now, I will just hope to become a trainer in this future and I wish all my teammates that are 2020 Tokyo hopefuls the best of luck!