UPCAT the movie...

Came across this while Multiply site hopping. Hehe!

From what I read, the plot is really simple - a bunch of senior high school students who are dreaming of passing the entrance exams to UP, believing that a UP diploma will get them to places one day.

I can already imagine alumni of the beloved university arranging get-togethers with long lost classmates to watch the movie. Hehe! (And since I mentioned it already, UP Manila Orcom peeps?!)

The movie will surely bring back so many memories of the dreaded entrance exams. Hahaha! Because each UP student probably has his or her own UPCAT story.

What's my story? It's quite simple.

Not too many of my friends know this though I think. Since I practically grew up in church, everyone in the family kind of expected that I was going to take the road to priesthood. Hehehe! Hard to believe, I know, but once upon a time... and if not for the Church's condemnation, I... am not going to finish this sentence. Haha!

In my senior year, the only college entrance exam was the UPCAT. Just to see if I would get in. My Dad went to the university. There was pressure to pass because several older cousins got in. I hadn't really thought much about college. Finances were a bit tight, so the Taft, Katipunan and Ortigas schools were out of the question.

I took the exam. I passed. I thought, "Yey, but what about the other option?!" My father put his foot down. And the following academic year, I saw walls of academic freedom instead of a Benedictine abbey.

I took the Sunday AM session of the UPCAT in August 1995. Haha! It was that long ago already. I went by myself. I knew my way around UP Diliman, since I had a Lolo who lived nearby and our family business was, at that time, in the university. While almost all the other examinees were accompanied by their anxious parents, siblings, guardians, I was with some classmates. They needed me to tell them where to go. Hehe! We were there way early because I knew how bad the traffic gets.

By 7AM, I was already in some room in Palma Hall taking the exam. I don't remember much of the exam, but for sure, it was difficult. I don't remember being that nervous because I prepared well for it. And my attitude back then was (and until now), "Whatever happens will happen for a reason."

After the exam, I hung out with some friends. And then I forgot about it, until the results came out. But that's another story, isn't it?

What's your UPCAT (or college entrance exam) story?