Narasi Perjuangan - Ivana Calista Syahrir

My name is Ivana Calista Syahrir, often shortened to Ivana. I graduated from Sampoerna Academy Medan (formerly Singapore Piaget Academy) and am currently in the KKI program. I entered via SIMAK KKI.

I have always held some love for the sciences. Even as a child I liked reading books on how the world works. Of all the subjects placed under the umbrella term of IPA, my favourite has always been Biology, cementing my desire to find a career in that route. I was not fully set on becoming a doctor until a series of encounters with my parents, both of whom are doctors. Occasionally, on the streets and in malls, some strangers would recognise my mother or father as their main doctor and come over to say hello. They would often be very happy to talk about their treatments, and how they are getting healthier. Sometimes the people would be relatives of an elderly patient, and they would happily regale my mother on how the relative has looked healthier lately, how they felt more active and ate more than usual. It was incredibly inspiring to see how the person lights up. And the gratefulness. It is palpable how thankful the patient or relative is, how my parents served as inspirations and beacons of hope for those who might have run out in the past. Times like this were when I learned what my true goal is. I want to be the kind of doctor who can inspire such hope in my patients. I want to be able to help them heal, watch over them as they get over the worst of their illness, give them hope, and know that I was among those who helped this person recover to be better.

As a student who always was going to be a doctor who works in Indonesia, I always sort of took it for granted that I would have to pick a college in Indonesia as well. After all, a doctor who attained a certificate in a different nation would most likely be more knowledgeable about the common diseases and illnesses within that nation. If I graduated from another nation, I would not be able to practise in Indonesia without going through full medical education once more. Although I sort of wanted to go to an international college like UC Berkeley or Oxford University, I would not be able to pursue my desired career after I graduate. Therefore, if going abroad won’t let me pursue my dreams, I would instead go to the best University I could find that will.

With that in mind, FKUI has always been that sacred “holy grail” of Indonesian medical colleges. UI is the university that everyone talks about and knows. If anyone were to ask a passerby about the best universities in Indonesia, UI would likely be mentioned. FKUI, being a more highly competed and well-regarded major, is infinitely more prestigious than all of the other competitors.

As a daughter of two doctors, I often moved around in my youth. As a very young child, I was in a playgroup in Yogyakarta to accompany my mother as she got her specialist degree. From kindergarten to primary 3, I was enrolled in a national school somewhere deep in Kalimantan as my parents fulfilled their years of service to the BPJS. Then, I went to Pontianak in hopes that the education would be more suitable for me. Finally, back to Medan, where I went to Sampoerna Academy from Primary 5 until graduation. The tumultuous journey I had across Indonesia made it somewhat hard to have and keep friends as a child, and this manifests as a reluctance to find new friends and a tendency to let others do the essential first step.

It is important to note that Sampoerna Academy is an international school. Most of its non-Bahasa Indonesia teachers are from various countries like The Philippines, England, and China. As such, most of them were more used to English and taught the students in English as well. When the students talked to one another, we spoke mainly in a type of English interspersed with some loanwords from Indonesia and Hokkien. Although I spoke to my parents in Bahasa Indonesia, my younger brother, who was enrolled in Sampoerna Academy as well, spoke to me in English. As one might imagine, spending several years learning and generally holding conversations in English had slowly rusted away my Bahasa Indonesia proficiency. Even now I occasionally find myself confused by chatroom lingo in LINE or Whatsapp, and have often been informed that my wording in Indonesian is strange, to say the least. I knew that going through an Indonesian college would be quite an adventure.

When my mom showed me the pamphlet for KKI UI, I was ecstatic. It ticked all the boxes of what I wanted in a college. An English-based curriculum, an opportunity to go abroad, yet to still be able to practise in Indonesia. I searched for a way into the program and set my sights on the SIMAK KKI route. I knew it was going to be difficult, especially as SIMAK and UTBK are both geared towards testing Indonesian candidates on their knowledge in the Indonesian curriculum, while I was in the Cambridge and IB Diploma curricula since primary 5. The greatest discrepancies that I found were in the subjects of Mathematics and Biology. I studied heavily for six months before the SIMAK, with the last two being spent in a tutorial course specializing in the exam. It was difficult, but I cannot deny the fact that it gave the desired results. I took the test, went through the interview, and waited for my ultimate answer.

For the past 7 days before the date of the announcement, I was flooded by many well-wishes and prayers from family and friends alike. I am hard-pressed to describe the relief I felt when I opened my account and found myself accepted into FKUI.

Now I am a freshman at Universitas Indonesia. I find myself equally eager and apprehensive about my future. I am fully aware that the workload would be far heavier now, and I am willing to face it. I want to become a doctor my parents and the university would be proud of.

My earliest goals are to set up and settle in this new life and environment alone. It would be nice to be comfortable in and near my new residence, and to do so properly warrants getting to know other people and students who live nearby, FK or not. This way, navigating the area would be less of a concern with more people going together.

My short-term goal pre-clinic is to study diligently, and when the international year comes by, I will choose the college in England. I would like to learn the intricacies of diseases and illnesses common in Indonesia so that I can better help my patients when I graduate. I hope to be able to learn deeply about everything and to work together with fellow students so that we can all do UI proud and help our nation's sick. With the knowledge from the first four years, I would then apply what I know in the field during co-ass, allowing me to practise on actual patients. My hope for this year's generation is that we could all be able to help one another in our collective journey through FKUI.

In the long run, after graduating as a General Practitioner, I would most likely spend a few years in that position but later continue in a college to study for a specialist degree. While I haven't seen and understood enough of the possible specialist branches to form a specific and set preference yet, I am currently leaning towards neurology, clinical pathology, or paediatrics. I want to be the kind of doctor who doesn't stagnate in their acquired knowledge. As a lover of science and new knowledge, I would much like to go to various international seminars and learning programs on expanding medical knowledge and recent breakthroughs. With constantly evolving knowledge, I am certain I can help patients better than doctors who would rather stay in their comfort zones.

Overall, I want to be a prestigious and wise doctor who can help cure the sick and give new hope to the hopeless, as my parents have before me. I want to be an inspiration for patients and new doctor candidates alike. To work together with others in the field of medicine to give optimal care to patients who come.

For anyone who is looking forward to joining FKUI, I would advise them to be very tenacious in their learning. Depending on how they did at school, and how they planned and studied, there are multiple different ways to apply to UI. Some are easier to do than others, and the testing routes can either be breezy or agonizing depending on how you learned. Nevertheless, it is better to try every avenue, as failure in an earlier route may not spell doom if a backup plan exists. Proper studying would make up 80% of the requirement to enter, but the final 20% falls to luck and other factors beyond personal control. As such, do not despair if you are rejected in the end. This only means that FKUI is not your destiny.

Especially for those in my position coming from international schools to try their hand at FKUI, I very much recommend a reputable Tutorial program to help them catch up to whatever lessons were missed or lost in their years of international curricula of many kinds. If you have been in an international school for a longer period of time and your school curriculum does not follow the national standard, it would almost definitely be exhausting to relearn parts or whole chapters of select subjects. In this case, I would advise discipline and accountability. Discipline and self-accountability allow you to make an effective studying course and follow it. There could be some cases in which your own willpower may not be enough, but it is still possible to ask family or friends to take away distracting devices or objects until certain milestones are reached before returning them to the student.

Finally, I would like to thank my parents once again for helping me reach this acclaimed university. My mother, who served as my first inspiration for becoming a doctor in the first place, and who also provided moral support and fueled my determination in becoming a doctor. My father, who inspired me and lit the way for me when I became lost along the way.