Student overcomes cancer to study at Harvard

A Dublin student who has achieved eight A1s in her Leaving Certificate after battling thyroid cancer will travel to the US next week to begin her studies at Harvard University.

Megan Ross from St Joseph of Cluny Secondary School had planned to sit her Leaving Cert in June 2013, but following a diagnosis of thyroid cancer she was forced to take five months off school and postpone her exams.

“I was out of school from September to February and decided not to sit my exams that year,” the 19-year-old said. “This gave me extra time to do my application for the States.”

Ms Ross underwent surgery to remove her thyroid and will be on medication for life, but says the illness was “just a setback rather than something that was really serious”.

She was accepted to Harvard last March and plans to study applied maths in the US. However, the American university system means she doesn’t have to settle on a course straight away. “I’ll take the relevant classes for the first year and declare the concentration in second year,” she said.

Despite her love of maths, Ms Ross was convinced she had made a mess of her applied maths Leaving Cert exam.

“I thought applied maths had gone disastrously, I had written it off completely,” she said. “I had come out of a lot of my exams feeling unsure about how I’d done.”

She studied Maths, English, Irish, French, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Applied Maths for her Leaving Cert. She also took Japanese and Music when she sat two Leaving Cert subjects in 2013.

The student from Glenageary is now preparing for her move to the US. “It’s kind of terrifying but exciting too. I’ve already been in touch with my roommate and I’m excited to meet all these great new people from all over the world.”