27/08/2026
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๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐ โ๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ?โ: ๐๐ก๐ฒ ๐๐ก๐จ๐ฐ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ข๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ฌ
There is a kind of silence that feels heavier than noise. One that fills entire rooms, stretches across campuses, and settles into the space between breaths.
It was the day Medical Technology Licensure Exam (MTLE) results were set to be released. Sleep was difficult. Phone screens were refreshed repeatedly. Every passing minute felt longer than the last.
Different rooms. Different campuses. Same question: Did I make it?
For Joseph Davalos of Our Lady of Fatima University (OLFU) - Laguna Campus and Clark Madayag Waje of the Pampanga Campus, the wait felt endless.
They once imagined their futures in mathematics. But life, as it often does, led them somewhere unexpected.
Now, their names appear on the same list. Not as math dreamers but as Medical Technology Licensure Exam topnotchers.
Two different campuses. Two different journeys. One moment that changed everything. What makes their stories even more remarkable is that neither of them originally imagined a future in Medical Technology. From different beginnings, their stories unfolded in unexpectedly similar ways.
Davalos, who placed in the Top 5, admitted that back in high school, he saw himself in mathematics. The numbers, formulae, and the certainty they brought. The same was true for Waje who ranked sixth in the board. He revealed that he believed his future belonged to mathematics.
Neither of them chose the program. At least, not at first. It was friends who nudged them toward a different path. One they didnโt fully understand yet, but eventually chose to walk anyway.
Although their destination changed, the mindset they developed through mathematics stayed with them. The discipline of solving problems step by step, the patience to work through difficult concepts, and the habit of approaching challenges analytically would later become valuable tools throughout their Medical Technology journey.
Those same qualities would prove essential in one of the most demanding programs in the medical field. Medical Technology is often described by students as unforgiving long hours, relentless material, and constant pressure. Still, both pushed through, step by step, until graduation.
But finishing the degree was only the beginning. Because the real test was still ahead: the board exam.
Self-doubt settled in. Not all at once, but persistently. And readiness? It never came in the way they expected.
For Davalos, it was a daily battle during the review session.
โSa araw-araw na nag-aaral ako, iniisip ko may resulta ba โto? Baka nagpapagod lang ako para sa wala,โ (โAs I study day in and day out, I wonder if there will be any results. I might just be wearing myself out for nothing,โ) he said. Hours of studying often ended with more questions than answers. And yet, he continued.
Not because he was certain but because stopping was not an option.
For Waje, doubt came in a quieter form. He didnโt see himself topping the exam. At most, he hoped his name would appear on the list of passers.
Different voices. Same underlying question: Am I ready for this?
The truth is, they werenโt. Not completely. And still, they showed up.
Because the board exam doesnโt wait for clarity. It doesnโt pause for fear. The world keeps moving โ ready or not. So they chose to move with it. Because sometimes, the only way out is through.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐ โ๐๐ฆ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ฒ?โ
Burnout soon became unavoidable.
For Davalos, preparation meant pushing beyond limits. 10 to 14 hours of studying daily, sometimes stretching to 16. Even before sleeping, he was still answering review questions.
"I would start studying as soon as I woke up and spend around 10 to 14 hours a day reviewing. Sometimes it even stretched to 16 hours because I was still answering review questions before going to bed. Around two weeks before the exam, I was answering roughly 1,000 to 1,500 questions daily,โ he shared.
โI never really followed any study techniques like Pomodoro, and I didn't have a fixed study schedule either. My approach was more freestyle because I knew I probably wouldn't follow a schedule even if I created one. I also rarely took breaks. Even during lunch, I was still watching lecture videos while eating," Davalos added.
There was no balance but only discipline. What kept him going wasnโt motivation, but fear. โFear of failing myself and failing to become the person I aspire to be,โ he said.
Graduating with Latin honors and carrying expectations across campuses, the pressure weighed heavily. For him, the fear wasnโt just failing the exam, it was falling short of the standard he set for himself. โMaybe it's because I was laser-focused on my goal of becoming a topnotcher, so in my mind, the worst-case scenario was simply becoming a passer. I was afraid of disappointing myself, but I was also worried about disappointing the people who believed in me. A lot of people had high expectations, and I didn't want to let them down,โ he added.
โLocking inโ meant structure. Routine. Consistency. Cutting distractions. It wasnโt about feeling ready. It was about showing up anyway.
For Waje, burnout was something familiar.
โBurnout is a canon event in MedTech,โ he said, something almost every student understands. He felt it too. But instead of pushing endlessly, he paused and adjusted.
โDuring the first few weeks of my review, I challenged myself to top the board exam. Many people were expecting me to top the boards, including myself, so I pushed myself beyond my limits to meet those expectations. I decided to โlock inโ four months before the MTLE: I deleted all my mobile games and stopped watching series, movies, and anime. My life was a cycle of waking up, watching lectures, reading, and answering questions.โ
Waje focused on retention and understanding. He gave himself time to rest, stepped away when he felt mentally exhausted, and trusted that quality mattered more than quantity.
โA rested mind achieves more in four hours than a tired one does in eight,โ Waje added.
For him, it wasnโt about doing more but doing better. It was a quiet shift. A decision to stop measuring himself against others and start trusting his own pace.
Two different approaches. One shared truth: neither of them felt fully ready, but both continued moving forward anyway.
On the day of the results, their worlds narrowed once again into waiting.
Waje spent the day reading novels, trying to distract himself. Though beneath the surface, panic lingered.
Davalos, on the other hand, chose not to be alone. He planned to go out with a friend, avoiding the tension of waiting at home.
Different ways of coping. Same moment approaching.
And then in different rooms, across different campuses, at the exact time. They saw their names. On the same list.
In that instant, everything they carried, every doubt, every sleepless night, every moment they showed up despite not feeling ready finally aligned into something meaningful.
For both topnotchers, becoming one had once felt like a distant possibility. Something too dangerous to fully believe in.
Until it happened.
Until the names on the screen became their own.
Who would have thought that two students who once imagined themselves pursuing mathematics would eventually master Medical Technology and emerge among the country's top-performing examinees?
Their journey is a reminder that success does not always follow the path people originally imagine.
For Davalos and Waje, mathematics was once their dream, but Medical Technology became their destination.
Yet the discipline, structure, patience, and analytical mindset they developed through their love for numbers never disappeared. They simply found a different place to apply them.
Different campuses. Different journeys. One shared lesson. Sometimes the path you never planned for becomes the one that leads you exactly where you were meant to be.
Written by Keith Nicole S. Faderogao
Layout by Mark Justine P. Palang
