Ever heard the word ‘obscure’? I’m sure most of you have; however, it wasn’t until I joined NUST (National University of Sciences and Technology), that I came to know its true meaning. After flunking MCAT twice (by 1.0% and 0.8%), various bouts of depression, and countless patronising statements from aunties, NUST became my knight in shining armour, salvaging my struggling confidence from drowning in an ocean of insecurities.

When it comes to higher education in Pakistan, no university has dethroned NUST from its ranking in the academic world (now 87th in Asian universities). Ever since its foundation in 1991, it has become a platform which provides world-class education, with a profound focus on creativity, innovation, and research.

My admission in NUST, was like a ray of hope; if I couldn’t be a physician, I could, one day, save countless lives by discovering a cure for a deadly disease (a representation of my high potential for building castles in air).

Thereupon, in a few months NUST became the center of a hopeful 17-year-old’s journey towards self-discovery. But as someone said: “Too many expectations lead to disappointment.”- all that glitter was not gold.

After joining ASAB (Atta-ur-Rahman School of Applied Biosciences), I came to know what being obscure really meant; like a ruby in a sea of shining diamonds, hidden by their glitz and glamor, I discovered so many students who were better than me at studies, communication, and especially cramming (which goes hand-in-hand with biology). Once again, I felt insecure, but that positive voice in my head said that, eventually, I would find something I excell at, something that I wanted to do, who I was meant to be.

When you’re a freshman at ASAB, you encounter two types of people in NUST. Firstly, those who have no idea what ASAB is and think that NUST is an all-engineering circus. After you burst that bubble they have been living in, they will ask even more dopey questions like “you’re from that building next to SADA (School of Art, Design and Architecture)?” or “you are the ones who induce depression in mice?” (though the only depression I have ever induced in all my life is in myself). Then there’s the second type who have an absurd notion that students of ASAB are all ‘mad scientists’, experimenting on people’s blood and pitiful, innocent mice.

As if all these preposterous statements were not enough to make us feel stranded and aloof, like sheep in wolf den, the orientation week introducing NUST to the new students comprising of engaging activities and entertainment happens in September, before we i.e. freshmen of ASAB arrive. So we miss out on all those activities and the societies’ recruitments. As all these factors, along with the obscurity, were out hunting my already damaged self-esteem, I found my salvation in a much unexpected ally- computer programming. Even though I was a typical biology student who considered math her mortal enemy, I surprisingly turned towards computer for solace in my first semester.

This led to my on-and-off romance with programming, with me cursing the day I chose biology in 9th grade instead of computers. So, I went on a ransacking mission, like Romeo in search of his Juliet, and found “bioinformatics” which eventually became the quintessence of my ambitions.
Now, I aspire to become a bioinformatician, solving the mysteries of our genome and finding sequences still undiscovered. So, don’t turn your hair white, fussing over how you haven’t found anything you want to do, or what you want to be- one day it will come crashing in your life when you never even thought about it. If you feel lost in this jungle of STEM, don’t fret, you will eventually find your purpose in this world of science and technology.