“If you were to see my high school transcripts, you would think that I would become nothing more than a mall security guard” said Andrew Scott.
Barely graduating from Hoover High School and Fresno City College, nothing skewed Andrew’s view from pursuing his life long dream: to become a doctor.
Bad study skills and a lack of motivation resulted in poor grades. It was highly unlikely that he would pursue a college degree in his future, much less, a medical degree.
Some of his high school teachers and counselors discouraged him from his pursuit. Mentors voiced their low expectations of him announced that if his school performance continued to stoop, he would not graduate from high school.
It was this strike of reality that led to a turn-around in his academic career.
Counselors would ask incredulously, “Do you want to be a doctor? Maybe you should look at other options.”
Options he found. After high school, he attempted to enroll in classes at Fresno City College that consisted of rigorous science, math and biology courses; they found out that he was not eligible  because of his poor grades. A Fresno City College counselor simply said “No,”. Instead, he was enrolled in English, art and music classes- all of which he failed.
“I just knew that I wanted to be a chemist and I wanted to take classes that would gear me towards that direction,” he said.
His newfound strength came to life when the counselors from the Idile Program reached out to him. It was this program that opened the doors of opportunity, making his dream a not-so-distant reality. He recalls Dr. Gerry Santos being active in his academic planning. She prepared the list of classes he needed to take in order to successfully finish at FCC.
“What I liked most about the Idile Program was that it was accommodating. They never questioned my ability in regards to the courses I wanted to take, and they had tremendous faith in me. They just never said ‘no’ to any of my requests,” he said.
Once Andrew became part of the Idile program, everything began to fall into place. He began to focus on time management and became disciplined towards his studies. He began to listen, think critically, do his homework, and focus on the classes that would further him in his educational endeavors.
“I think the most difficult time I ever had in school or at FCC was taking Dr. Brown’s class in writing. I did not know how to write before I met her. I always wondered to myself, ‘is it really possible to get an A in this class?’ If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am at with my writing,” he said.
Andrew’s life made a complete transformation. He changed his work ethic. He “buckled down” and changed his bad study habits which he said were a result of little motivation.
He started changing his outlook on life. Slowly but steadily, he began to see positive changes in his academics. He started getting better grades – good grades – enough to fulfill his dream of becoming a chemist, and strong enough to land him a spot in medical school.
Two years with Idile, and Andrew made another educational leap.
“I got accepted into UCLA. I think I got in because the chemical program isn’t very popular, but then again, nobody really goes to UCLA to major in chemistry,” Andrew said, “If it wasn’t for the Idile program, I don’t know where I’d be today. I probably would have been very angry, would have dropped out of school, stayed in Fresno, or not pursued my education.”
It was at UCLA that Andrew blossomed. He joined the Chemistry program which would allow him to receive his degree in chemistry. He began to realize that UCLA was very different from FCC.
It was diverse and competitive, but surprisingly enough, not difficult. He took notice when he realized he was the only African-American in the chemistry program out of 200 students. But to Andrew, it was no big deal.
“I think part of the time, students in the program thought I was an athlete or something,” he said.
Although easily identifiable in the chemistry crowd, Andrew continued and finished at UCLA with a degree in chemistry. He contemplated what he would do with his life after finishing college and decided to jump into the working world.
Twenty-three years old and fresh out of college, he began working as an environmental chemist in Santa Monica for two years.
“I was really bored. I wanted to do more, and then that’s when it hit me,” Andrew said.
He applied to UCLA Medical School. He got in, and the rest is in the making. Andrew, now 25, is in his second year of medical school and doing the St. Jude’s joint-program where he would be working in underserved areas throughout Los Angeles after graduation. He aspires to be a pediatric surgeon and contemplates the idea of coming back to serve in Fresno.
He says that medical school really isn’t difficult, it’s about “time management” and “internalizing all of the information so that you can apply it later.”
Andrew says that his family is very proud of him. Both his mother and sister spend much time telling friends and relatives that he is on his way to “becoming a doctor”.
He is excited for what the future holds and asks that FCC students take the necessary steps to achieve their goals.
“I wanted to come back to [FCC] and thank all those people that have helped me along the way,” he said. “I think it would be a disservice to everyone if I didn’t come back to my community and inspire others along the way.”
Certainly, Andrew is an inspiration. His last piece of advice to FCC students, “You have to try to succeed and do better. You just never know. If you fail to try, you might just fail.”