Carla Acosta García He is 18 years old, he finished high school in science with a perfect average and he is about to fulfill one of his great goals: to study Biomedicine at the Karolinska Institute of Swedenone of the most prestigious medical institutions in the world.
“I always had an interest in science, especially research,” says the young woman from Redondela, Galicia. His decision to study abroad was not improvised. For two years he had been looking for international training and had chosen Karolinska as its main destination.
The Swedish institution hosts the assembly that selects the winner of the Nobel Prize of Medicine. Carla had also been accepted to the universities of Lund, in Sweden, and Utrecht, in the Netherlands.
Although he did not need to take the entrance test to Spanish universities, he decided to take it and obtained 13.62 points out of a maximum of 14.
Valentin Fuster’s selection
Over the summer, her mother recovered a media clipping she had saved for two years. The news talked about Come closera program promoted by cardiologist Valentín Fuster to bring outstanding young people closer to the National Center for Cardiovascular Research of Spain.
Carla was selected along with seven other Spanish students and a young Lithuanian who had won a European competition. To enter, not only grades were valued, but also participation in scientific projects, olympiads and educational programs.
For seven days, the young people worked in the center’s laboratories, attended seminars and learned about different areas of research, from basic science to clinical studies in hospitals.
«They demanded a lot from us. We were there from nine in the morning to six in the afternoon and we only stopped for an hour to eat,» he remembers.
The experience also allowed him to learn about the difficulties of the profession. «Research is a long-distance career and, even so, I still want to dedicate myself to this. I came out stronger,» she says.
The advice that Fuster gave them
The program ended with a private talk of almost an hour with Valentín Fuster, director of the center.
According to Carla, the specialist advised them to look for their true talent and to They will not get carried away by haste or egocentrism..
«He told us that ambitions disappear, but talents and strengths are what last. He also asked us to trust the process,» he says.
Study, sport and social commitment
Carla’s academic record did not prevent her from maintaining other activities. During the last year he competed in the Galician volleyball league. She was also a basketball player, coach and referee.
In addition, he is a member of the Council for Children and Adolescents of Galicia, which seeks to incorporate the opinions of young people into public policies.
Their method of accomplishing everything is based on organization. “When it was time to study, I studied without doing anything else”he explains.
Your next destination
Carla will travel to Stockholm on August 22 and will begin classes on the 31st. At the Karolinska Institute she will study subjects in English and will have a course system in which students prepare and take one subject at a time.
Until then, he will take advantage of the rest of the summer with the activities he enjoys most: beach, sports and friends.
