[Perjalanan Menuju FKUI] Mutiara Reka Ananda Putri

My name is Mutiara Reka Ananda Putri, people use to call me Reka. I was born in Jakarta, 16th February 1998. I like a lot of things. Art, sport, travel, literature, nature, etc. I got accepted in University of Indonesia Faculty of Medicine through Talent Scouting. I am a second child, I have one older brother named Mohammad Reka Ananda Putra, he has been studying in University of Indonesia Faculty of Medicine since 2013. Both my parents are dentist. They both studied in University of Prof. Dr. Moestopo, then my father continued to University of Indonesia to become Orthodontist. Currently they are working on the same hospital.

I see University of Indonesia not only as one of the best place to study, but also a university that cares about morality, soft skills and patriotism. I see it as a challenge. Challenge to get accepted, graduated, and put what I learned there to use. As for the faculty of medicine, it is by far the best option to realise my visions. Sure, there are a lot of other great university out there, but so far, University of Indonesia Faculty of Medicine offered the best advantages.

One thing I regret from high school is not taking the time to figure out my mission. I figure what my goals long before, but I never actually think about what to do next. There are some reasons why I chose to enrol in medicine faculty. To start with, I am quite familiar with the medical field since every member of my family meddle in it. I hang out in hospital since I was in kindergarten, so naturally, being a doctor is my first ever dream. My father is also one of the most influential person on my decision to study medicine. Since I was a kid, whenever me or my brother got sick, he did not just gave us medicine, he would told us about our illness, explained what medicine are we taking and such, so me and my brother got interested in medicine from young age. Earlier on my last semester in high school, I was still a little unsure which faculty I want to go to. Will it be worth it? Will I regret it? Studying became a really heavy burden for me. I was unmotivated. True, I have goals, but they were too big at that time, it was the kind of goals you can achieve in ten years or more. It wasn’t real enough. Then my father told me that my brother was like that too when he was in high school, so he asked me one thing I want the most right now. And I said, dog. I have wanted a dog for almost six years, but I lived in apartment, so we can’t have it. Then my father said, “Alright, if you got accepted, you can get a dog, as long as you promised it will not disturb your study in college.”. That was the last kick I need to make up my mind. From then on, it was whole lot easier. So, the most important thing I suggested is, find a short term goals. For example, if you want to save money, it will be more convenient to target 100k rather than saying “I’m going to save my pocket money and become a billionaire”. After you gathered enough motivation, start working on your plan. As I said before, getting in is a challenge. The first thing you need to realise is, if you want something great, you have to work harder and smarter than average. Don’t forget that you still need to rest. If you pushed yourself too hard, you might get discouraged. Based on my experience, the best day off for me is spending time with my family or going somewhere out in the nature. Everyone is different, but those are my most noteworthy tips to achieve any goals.

I told you before that up until my last semester, I was still hesitant about my choice for my future, which impact my overall school report. I was not doing my best and I realised it way too late. I did sign up for talent scouting from my school, but I was preparing for the worst. When the news came that I was called for interview, I had just finished the first day of University of Gajah Mada Faculty of Medicine exam. I was dumbfounded, I was not happy. If anything, I was confused. How? Why? What to do now? It was totally unexpected, but I was grateful nonetheless. I decided to attend the second day, because to be honest I still did not believe what happened. The exam was done around 5 pm, I went straight to the airport because the next day, I have to come to Salemba to do a psychological test in the morning. Got home around 2 am and left the house again around 7 am. I was exhausted, fortunately I felt like I did pretty well in my psychological test. I still had the interview coming up, and I was aware that my report was not the best, so I asked my father and brother to help me simulate the interview almost everyday. I also read as much as I can while still studying, because I was not confident in both of my exam. I was planning to take both Univesity of Gajah Mada second intake and SIMAK UI, that was how prepared I was. And then came the interview. In my opinion, it went better than expected. The questions are complicated, but I think I did great even though I did not know what the right answers were. Still, for some reason I was not anxious, I was really satisfied with it. Time passed by quickly when you’re busy, the announcement day arrived. I checked the website every 5 minutes to see whether they have uploaded the results, and finally it came out, and I was accepted. I checked it multiple times, worried that I might misread it, for almost 15 minutes before deciding to finally told my family. And then I cried, not because I was too happy, but because I regret not giving my best in high school. I was upset, I kept thinking, what would happen if I tried harder from day one? Why do some of my friends, who work harder from the start and are super diligent are not accepted? That thought ran over in my mind for more than a month, which is really unnecessary because I should have been happier, and it made me feel bad. I did not talk about it to anyone until recently. One of my closest friend talk me out of it and made me feel better about it and I came to a conclusion that I should not waste this opportunity, that I have to give it all in honor of my friends, my family and myself.

I hope that I can do my best for everyone, but the most important part is I want to feel proud of myself. I want to feel like I deserve what I got. I hope that FMUI will help me realise my vision and that I can give something in return, at least by being the best person I can be in both academic and non-academic. My family are always there for me and they hoped that I can achieve my goals, their only request is that I can be good person, that I can help not just other people, but this country, even the world, to be a better place.