From community college to Sophie Davis — the path nobody drew for me.
Kollejdan Sophie Devisgacha — hech kim chizmagan yo'l.
When I graduated from Kingsborough Community College in 2015, I had a 3.9 GPA, a biology degree, and absolutely no idea how the American healthcare system actually worked from the inside. I knew I wanted to take care of people. I just didn't know what that looked like yet.
Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education at CUNY was one of the few PA programs in New York City that felt like it was built for students like me — people who came from nontraditional backgrounds, who didn't have parents in medicine, who had to figure out the application process by asking questions no one around them could answer.
I applied to seven programs. I got interviews at three. Sophie Davis was the first to say yes. The interview itself was straightforward — they asked about my clinical volunteering, my motivation for medicine, and what I'd seen in the communities I grew up in. I told them the truth: that I immigrated from Uzbekistan at 19, that my family didn't have access to the kind of healthcare they deserved, and that I wanted to be the person who could bridge that gap.
I remember the interviewer pausing and saying, "That's not a story we hear often." I didn't know if that was good or bad. It turned out to be good.
Sophie Davis was rigorous in the way that changes you. The didactic year was dense — anatomy, pharmacology, pathophysiology, clinical medicine — and the clinical year was relentless. I rotated through emergency medicine, internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, psychiatry, OB/GYN, and family medicine in rapid succession.
The thing about PA school that no one tells you is that it doesn't just teach you medicine. It teaches you how to be comfortable with not knowing — and how to keep moving anyway.
I graduated magna cum laude in January 2018. Three months later, I was seeing my own patients at Northwell Health.
If you're reading this because you're thinking about PA school — especially if you're an immigrant, a first-generation student, or someone who took the scenic route — here's what I'd say: your nontraditional path isn't a weakness. It's the reason you'll be a better provider than someone who followed the playbook. Every patient you see will remind you of someone you know. That's not a coincidence. That's the point.
2015 yilda Kingsborough kollejini tugatganimda, 3.9 GPA, biologiya diplomi va Amerika sog'liqni saqlash tizimi ichkaridan qanday ishlashini umuman bilmasdim.
CUNY dagi Sophie Devis maktabi men kabi talabalar uchun yaratilgan kam sonli dasturlardan biri edi — an'anaviy bo'lmagan kelib chiqishga ega, tibbiyotda ota-onasi bo'lmagan odamlar uchun.
Yettita dasturga ariza berdim. Uchtasida suhbatga chaqirilganman. Sophie Devis birinchi bo'lib qabul qildi. Intervyu'da men haqiqatni aytdim: 19 yoshimda O'zbekistondan ko'chib kelganim, oilam munosib tibbiy yordam ololmaganini va men bu bo'shliqni to'ldirmoqchi ekanligimni.
Sophie Devis sizni o'zgartiradi. Didaktik yil zich edi — anatomiya, farmakologiya, patofiziologiya. Klinik yil tinimsis edi. Men magistratura bilan 2018 yil yanvarda tugatdim. Uch oydan keyin Northwell Healthda o'z bemorlarimni ko'ra boshladim.