I recently went to change my passbook and came across my wage records from when I was a part-time student. Back then, I was in the night program, with classes from 3:30 PM to 10 PM, plus a minor. For half a year, I worked as a morning shift editor at CTi News, clocking in at 5 AM and leaving at 2 PM.

Every single day, I'd ride my scooter from Shulin to Neihu at 4 AM, then ride back at 2 PM—two hours of commuting total. I'd sleep at midnight and wake up at 4 AM. Typhoons and major news events meant no days off. At an hourly rate of 100 NT, I made 24,000 NT per month—meaning I worked over 240 hours a month. Looking back, those days were truly brutal. I only slept four hours a day, came home to do assignments, and had to film on days off. After just six months, I quit, because I'd decided to pursue a graduate program.

I remember it clearly—it was 2010, June 11th, when I reported to the TV station. I'd originally found the work-study job on PTT. I wasn't particularly interested in news; I just noticed my classmates working at media companies and thought I should try too. Before this, I'd worked in restaurants, law offices, and factories. Rather than waste time, I figured I should prepare for life after graduation. That was my thinking back then.

The company was a complete culture shock. Back then, CTi and TVBS were competing for first and second place (sigh, how times change), so everything was high-pressure. Even work-study students had tons to do. This was the era of "tape running," and I had to use "linear editing" to cut previews for midday broadcasts. The pressure was immense. I was yelled at daily, cried often, and was even bullied by a work-study student from an unrelated department who'd started two months before me.

But this didn't discourage me—it attracted me. I found the job incredibly challenging. Yet watching my coworkers hustle constantly while the higher-ups (the educated ones) relaxed supervising everything from above sparked a desire to pursue a graduate degree. I set my sights on becoming a reporter and working in news.

That was June 23rd. I brought my deposit and walked into a cram school, directly saying I wanted to prepare for "Dai Ran" and "News Graduate Programs." I was only a sophomore—typically people start preparing in their junior year. But because I was in Fujen's night program, where we spent time doing presentations and filming rather than deep academic study, I hoped to attend cram school for two years to build my knowledge and restart my education, studying theory from the ground up.

In just 12 days, I went from having zero interest in news to walking into a cram school demanding to prepare for graduate programs. The shift was massive. Beyond the credential issue, I felt unprepared to work as a reporter or editor without real knowledge or substance. I couldn't convince anyone of my capabilities. But I have no talent for studying—what takes others three hours takes me a week. So that summer, while classmates relaxed, I worked from early morning to afternoon, then attended cram classes from 5 PM onward. After school started, I kept up with two classes a week until I quit.

↓Full notes from studying (phone quality wasn't great back then XD)

In my final two years before graduation, I worked full-time in the school's administration while preparing for graduate entrance exams. I joined two study groups, submitted weekly assignments, prepared for recommendation-based admission, and practiced interviews. I put in tremendous effort. That period was emotionally fragile because I didn't know if all this time would pay off, or if—even after so much effort—I'd still be stuck at the same level, at a private school. Would these two years of effort be wasted? These doubts constantly haunted me.

I remember applying to nine graduate programs. Registration fees and application materials cost about 30,000 NT. My teacher said, "You must apply to both national and private universities. Otherwise, applying to just a few and not getting in might make you feel like nobody wants you." When results started coming out, my name wasn't at National Taiwan University or National Chengchi University. National Taiwan Normal University called me for interviews, but I was waitlisted second. Watching all my classmates get accepted while I hadn't—the pressure was enormous. I really wanted confirmation that I had a school. I'd truly worked so hard.

My emotional state was so desperate that I cried in front of my teacher, losing all confidence. With the National Chung Cheng interview just days away, I couldn't muster any energy—I just hid and cried. I was terrified of going to southern Taiwan. When submitting materials, I even asked my teacher, "If I get in but don't go, should I still submit?" It was my teacher's "you absolutely must" that made me send it. In the end, National Chung Cheng was my only national option. I was eventually accepted to five schools and entered National Chung Cheng University's graduate program.

↓The back mountain of National Chung Cheng University is so beautiful

Those days were genuinely hard, especially after enrollment. I couldn't keep up with my classmates. We had to read hundreds of pages of English papers weekly and participate in discussions where I'd have nothing to contribute—sometimes I couldn't say a word. Teachers would check my notes asking if I'd actually read. Setbacks came constantly. But whenever I thought about why I wanted this degree so badly and how much I'd suffered at the TV station, I'd tell myself I couldn't give up easily. Eventually, I overcame my greatest fear—statistics. My thesis was quantitative research using not just SPSS but AMOS structural equation modeling. I even became a teaching assistant for junior students.

From a private night school student to National Chung Cheng's graduate program, overcoming every setback—from struggling initially to becoming a teaching assistant—it all came down to "persistence." I didn't want to fail the version of myself who worked so hard. I didn't want the people who looked down on me to continue doing so. And I wanted to break the stereotype of being a private night school student. That's why I made it to today.

I want to say: no matter how painful, confused, anxious, or tempted to give up you feel, if you still want to complete something, you must persist. Don't abandon it halfway. Life happens only once. You'll regret not doing it, so be brave and do it.

【Postscript】

So many things were meant to be. I'm genuinely grateful I chose National Chung Cheng University. I often think about going back to Chiayi to visit my professors and revisit campus to recharge. Those days when I could work hard on things I loved were incredibly precious and irreplaceable.

↓Those days truly nourished my spirit