A student doctor who failed her medical entrance exam five times wants students about to sit their Leaving Cert to know that their best is good enough.
Aghogho Okpara from Dublin wanted to be a doctor since childhood and sat her first medical entrance exam at 16.
After failing for the fourth time to get in, she almost gave up on her dream. But, on the sixth try, she was accepted to study medicine in UCD and will soon graduate.
"What made me pick myself up was realising that failure is not something that defines you, it's just an event," she told RTÉ News.
"The fact I'm soon graduating is the most relieving feeling I've ever felt."
Aghogho was recently named in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list for the work her organisation 'Achieve with Aghogho’ does in the educational equity space.
"It was crazy - how did you manage to go from the girl who was rejected five times to now being recognised in one of the most sought-after lists in Europe and the world? It made me think about everything it took to get here," she said.
"I always try to encourage young people who are worried to not think so far into the future, just say, ‘What is the best I can do today?’."
Aghogho will be on Nationwide on Wednesday at 7pm on RTÉ One.
