Greetings!
Getting admission into the university after my secondary school education didn't just come on a platter of gold as it took me another six years which was approximately the year I spent in the secondary for me to get admitted into the university to study my desired course.
In the course of my struggle to study civil engineering in university, a lot happened to me as I had to live with the shame of not progressing with my colleagues who had gone for any course given to them by the university of their choice. Although, I too failed to pass my SSCE exams at once as I had to resit the exams because of my failure in subjects like physics, mathematics and chemistry all which are core subjects which are pre-requisite for me to study my dream course.
However, it's at once after the resit that I passed the exam and the influence of the resit was still with me till tomorrow as I read and prepared well for the resit exam which made me pass in flying colours.
I could remember my mum before the exam telling me to change my field of study to the arts class just for me to pass the exams at once. She said
“Jide, I know you are brilliant and you have a dream of becoming a civil engineer, but one thing is that, most of your friends are now in the university doing the course given to them to study by the university, who knows if that's the will of God for their lives.”
After all she had said, I felt disturbed within me and I replied her saying,
“Mum, I know you are not happy seeing my mates ahead of me, but don't worry ma, I would overtake them as delay is not denial. Just give me time to prepare for this exam before me and one thing I can assure you is success at the end. Go and put your mind at rest.”
Although she was not that satisfied with my statement and opinions, one thing about her is that she would not force anything on us and I love her for that as if it were any other parent, what they would do was to make their wish come to pass on their children. Although, there's nothing bad about that, but it should be done with caution so as not to mislead such a child.
My mum had always wanted me to become a lawyer, and maybe that's why she saw my failure as a science student as an opportunity, as she believed that if I should switch to the art class and study well for the exam ahead of me, I would pass creditably well, however one thing that I did was just to disappoint her and her thoughts by not listening to her advice but to remain so determined on what I have passion for which is the civil engineering as a course.
So after I had sat for the exam, the result came out and one thing that made me happy was that I made it this time around and when I showed the result to my mum who had been disturbed with my staying at home without being admitted to the university, she jumped for joy and we celebrated the result together that night.
After the celebration, I moved on to the next phase which was the jamb registration of a thing and this I did with pride, the exam came and I sat for the exams with the correct combination of English language, Mathematics, Physics and Further Mathematics.
When the result was released, I didn't pass the exam and this was a very great setback for me on my academic journey, it's so painful for me as I would still spend another year at home. When I got home from where I went to check the result, I showed the result to my mum and immediately she saw the result which was short of 10 marks to the cutoff mark of 200, she felt disappointed and this could be seen written all over her.
Although she encouraged me not to think about the failure, she herself was thinking about it as it could be seen in her.
So, the following year, I registered again and the same thing happened and until the fifth year after my graduation from the secondary, I was witnessing failure in my Jamb exam which was an entrance exam in my country to the university or any tertiary institution.
When it was the sixth year, my mum told me not to register for the exam again and she advised me to skip a year and that maybe after skipping a year, I would pass the next year as I would have enough time to prepare for the next year exam.
She said,
“Jide, I'm thinking you should skip this year and by next year, you would have prepared well for the exam and you sitting for the exam would amount to success.” “Okay ma,” I replied.
Although I wouldn't have accepted her advice, one thing was that she was the one that used to give me money for the registration and what that means was that she was not willing to pay for the registration this time around. It was so painful for me to agree to her advice, but one thing that I did was to borrow the money from a friend whose name is Tayo.
I borrowed the money for the registration from Tayo and I secretly registered for the examination and I was also secretly preparing for the examination. When the date of the exam came, I sat for the exam with little effort and passion put into it, but when the result came out, I made it in flying colours this time around.
After I had checked the result, I printed it out and in my way home I was thinking of not showing it to my Mum, as I would not know what her reaction would be, but as I got home, I could not curtailed my joy as I was so overwhelmed with joy, I brought out the result and showed it to her and when she saw it, she screamed and she was indeed happy for the great success at the end, she couldn't even remember that she didn't give me the money for the registration, I was the one that later reminded her and she gave me the money to return to Tayo.
After this, I was admitted to study the course of my choice in the university and now I'm out of the university as I graduated with a first class having gathered enough experience to pass the exam. Now I'm doing fine as a civil engineer and I'm now handling international contracts, so to me, delay is not actually denial.
Thanks for reading.
The picture is mine.
