Health Science Reviews

By Hayley Marais

My journey to this honour’s year began in Grade 8 in 2016. I read a book called “Brain on Fire” and it sparked a deep dive into a rabbit hole of information about the brain, and from that moment on I couldn’t stop reading anything I could about the brain and all of its cool intricacies. I knew then that I wanted to work in the field of neuro, but it took a while to figure out how. Starting undergrad, I thought that I would be able to study exactly what I wanted and everything would be so cool and interesting, but to my surprise there was a lot of ‘groundwork’ stuff that really dragged on. By my third year I began to question whether this was what I really wanted, as I hadn’t felt that excitement for neuroscience in a long time. It was a stressful time full of doubts and worries, but I decided to push on and pursue an Honours in neuroscience (mostly because I had no idea what else I wanted to do!) 

I am so beyond grateful that I made this choice and didn’t jump ship too early, because this year has been an amazing whirlwind. I finally feel like I’ve made it into the career that I’ve been so excited about. I know I have a long way to go and this is only the beginning but just getting a taste of that excitement about the field again has gotten me hooked! I can’t wait for what the rest of my career at UCT brings! 

I feel like I’ve grown more in this year than I have in a long time, this year has been *tough* but I couldn’t have made it this far without some really amazing people that I’ve met who I think I’ll be friends with for a long time. I can’t wait to see where their careers take them as well! I’ve been lucky enough to have an amazing supervisor and to be surrounded by helpful, kind individuals who have my back. One of the best parts of this year has been meeting these people. 

So, despite the stress and the panic that comes with being in Honours, I think it’s been pretty great so far.