UCI School of Nursing student Miranda Apalategui, with her son Jenson, graduates in June.
Miranda Apalategui’s nursing journey is one marked by perseverance and grit — two qualities that also happen to make great nurses.
Today, she is a nurse assistant at UCI Medical Center who is getting ready to graduate from the UCI Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing this June. But as she puts it: “My path to nursing was quite long.”
The journey did not begin right away. At 19, she became a young mother to her son Jenson.
“I made him the priority,” she says, so college would have to wait. “I was lucky to be able to stay at home with him for the first two years.”
Apalategui eventually moved back home, escaping a relationship she calls unhealthy. Her mom welcomed them with open arms and an invitation to stay as long as necessary.
Deciding the next move
She had to decide the next steps for her and Jenson.
“I really needed to figure out what I was going to do and be happy with what I’m doing while being able to provide for my son.”
Apalategui enrolled in a local community college and took general education courses while volunteering at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach.
She originally wanted to become an ultrasound technician, but the waitlist at the school was years long. She joined the list just in case, but started searching for another route.
With her associate’s degree in biology and natural science, she completed all of the prerequisites for nursing. There was no doubt where she wanted to go: UCI School of Nursing.
“UCI was my dream school, growing up in Orange County,” she says. “It’s a prestigious school.”
Apalategui applied for entry in fall 2018. UCI was her first and only choice.
“I didn’t get in. I felt crushed.”
Not taking ‘no’ for an answer
But she was determined to try again.
In a meeting with Julie Aird, the former director of Student Services at the school, they identified what could be the problem: a C in general chemistry her first year of community college. She blames a heavy load of courses that also included cell molecular biology.
“That stuck out like a sore thumb on my transcript because I had As the whole time.”
Apalategui went back, retook the course and got an A. Then she applied to UCI again. This time, she applied to a few other schools as backups.
She got in.
“I was totally surprised and caught off guard,” she says. “But I’m going to be that person who doesn’t take no for an answer.”
Up next: a little more free time
As if that were not enough life change, she also married her partner the first week of nursing school.
After graduation, Apalategui will focus on studying to get her license so she can search for jobs and begin practicing.
After nursing school, she plans to pick up a few hobbies that have been temporarily sidelined. Those include attending Angels games, hiking and horseback riding, which she grew up doing competitively.
“I found out I was pregnant with my son just before a competition. I tell people he’s my trophy.”
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