How I ended up in UOC...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was planning everything to go to Amity University. So how I ended up in the University of Colombo? Today I'm gonna talk about it..

Last time I finished the post with how I reacted to my results. So I will start from there today. My results were more than enough for me, but these gossiping women kept calling my mom to ask about my results and to brag about their daughters. So I felt really sad about my parents. It's true that I never wanted to get 3 As and do an engineering degree, but them torturing my parents was unbearable to me. So I thought should I do the exam once more and show these people I can do it if I want to? Actually I even started working again and after 2 days I realized I shouldn't. It's my life and I should do what I love. I shouldn't do something I hate for the rest of my life just because of some women who enjoys gossip more than anything in the world.

Meanwhile selection of students for the government universities began and my friend since O/L class said she's going to do "Physical Science" and I was curious. What the hell is physical science? So I asked my dad and he called Prof. Savithri Gunatillake and she explained to me what physical science is. She said at first we have to select some main subjects and then later we can specialize in one subject. I wanted to know further information so I again contacted Prof. Ratnayake Bandara who fueled my desire of studying Nuclear Science. He said " Putha, Do what you love no matter how hard it is. If you do something you hate even though it's easy, you will end up being miserable later." and he is correct. Do what you love even though others think you are crazy. Do not choose a stream you hate coz you will be in that field forever and you will end up hating yourself for making that choice. Also Prof. Savithri told me that there is a Nuclear Science Department in the University of Colombo and I was amazed. Wow.. I never heard of that. In Sri Lanka? Really?? That was the first thought I had. So after some digging I found out that they offer a degree in *Nuclear Medicine.. and my excitement suddenly vanished. Medicine? That's for bio people. So the miserable me talked to Prof. Savithri about my finding and she said not only bio people but also physical people can do the degree. Suddenly I was happy but I was not sure if medicine was the thing for me and if I will be able to survive. So I compared the Nuclear engineering syllabus of AINST and Nuclear medicine syllabus of the UOC and asked my sister who happens to be a doctor if I will be able to survive this syllabus.. After all Nuclear medicine degree was free while engineering would cost me a fortune.

But the thing is I was in the margin. I could get selected to UOC physical or USJP physical (where there is no nuclear science at all). Even though I get into UOC I should get this particular subject combination in order to get selected to Nuclear medicine special degree. (And they give us the combination by our preference and also Z score. Since I was in the margin I will be among the students with the smallest Z score and it's less likely that I will get my 1st choice as my combination). So this was gambling. First I should get into UOC and also get this particular combination. I applied anyway and BAMM!!! I got selected to USJP not UOC. That was the most miserable, hopeless moment in my life. Deadline to apply amity is gone already. And I ended up losing my both opportunities, but did I give up.. NO. I searched on internet and talked to so many people and found out that someone 2 ranks above me was the last person to get selected to UOC physical... two... just two.. and it made me go into USJP. But still there's hope. Since most people look down on physical science they don't get registered. So if I appeal I could get in maybe.. So I wrote a huuuuge appeal letter to the university grants commission. Actually to this day I laugh when I remember the things I wrote there. It was literally a suicide letter.😂 How much I love nuclear science., it was my dream, UOC is the only place with NS in Sri lanka. How badly I wanna go there. How depressed I am right now were the contents included. I'm sure whoever the person read it had a good laugh. And finally in 2015 December I got a letter that I am no longer a student in USJP and I'm a student at UOC. And boy.. how happy I was when I opened the letter.. 

So I am one step closer to my dream. Second step is to get the desired combination somehow. Even though I didn't know before, chemistry and physics combination was a combination students hated the most. So I got it easily and I also were able to get selected to do the special degree in Nuclear Medicine. So now I am living my dream. I know some people look down on us like didn't you had anywhere else to go but that department? Well, fellas.. You won't find any other department like this in this whole country. This is the only Nuclear Science department in the country and you don't have to be afraid of radiation at all in the department. Actually it is one of safest places in the university where you will get a minimum radiation exposure. And you will never find any other department with such cool lecturers either. They are very friendly, helpful and will be there for you always no matter how much you suck at learning.. (Trust me in this one.) Now there is also a new 4 year general degree named "Nuclear Science and Technology". If anyone else out there is interested in studying Nuclear Science this is the place for you. I wrote this article because even I was not aware that we could learn Nuclear Science in Sri Lanka. So if you have any questions related to Nuclear Science or the department comment down below or email me. I am happy to help you. 😃

*Nuclear medicine is a branch of medicine where you will learn how to diagnose and treat illnesses with the use of radioisotopes. 

You can read all of my articles about GCE A/Ls by clicking HERE.