personal statement for medical school

As professionals climb up their way to success, a wide gap is created between them and the larger part of the society who benefits most from their expertise. As more professionals reach higher qualifications by specializing in their own fields, these pedigreed members of the society command exorbitant salaries, and thus, the average and the less fortunate service buyers became alienated from the much needed expert services. Medicine is one such field, and the irony is most aspiring students build their dream upon a noble cause of service the less privileged and the needy. Whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath today is a mysterious phenomenon that ethics should investigate. My intent in starting this journey to the medical field is founded on two things – mastery of the medical sciences and dedication of my acquired skills to those left out by the current practice.

I grew up in Mexico with a brother and a hardworking single mother. Early on, I appreciate the true value of education, and that opportunities for those left out in the race is narrow. I see this social picture is being faced my many people in Mexico, and possibly the rest of the United States. Our life went on by making the most of what is available because we were not socially affluent enough to launch a platform of success from what we had. After high school, the thought of migrating to the United States haunted me, and this is the easiest yet most difficult decision I have in my whole life. I know that the best opportunity and quality of life is waiting for me in the land many dreamed to step on, but my attachment to the family, friends and the unique culture back home pulled me on the other end. Nevertheless, I took the leap to follow my dreams, and I don’t regret it.

Four year had passed and the change in my life began an irreversible trend leading to what I earlier planned. My dream of practicing medicine born to me slowly began to take concrete shape. I was fortunate to special access to friends and family in Mexico who are involved in medical practice, and this meant opportunity to volunteer in some positions that allowed me to test my interest in the field. During my high school days, I spent holidays and summer vacations in emergency rooms and operating rooms of our local hospital. My enthusiasm and sense of comfort was noticed by others, and soon my reputation grew up and was treated like a medical student. They allowed me to assist with sutures, x-rays, and other medical procedures involving patients. I am thrilled by this experience which somehow made me secure of the path I have chosen for my future.

I did not mind language and cultural barriers as a new immigrant, having been in the honor roll after admission to a community college in New York. The vow I made to reach out the least fortunate remained alive, and I found myself in the board of directors of a prominent community service organization. Despite hectic time limitations, I use my time outside of studies to community service: residential care centers, beach clean-up, troubled adolescents and orchestration of alcohol awareness week in my campus.

I am proud to have stayed in the roll of excellent students. While qualifying for the University Honors Program, I also served as a Vice-President of the American Medical Association’s student chapter. This initial success is my passport to enter special graduate level courses, which gave me a wonderful insight in shaping my future interests. I have been conducting a research work, as part of my honors thesis, with three prominent Cardiologists and the ________ Cancer Center. My part is focused on transnational studies along the line of engineering new and more effective cancer drugs.

I have to work full time to fund my four years in college and my living expenses since my family is unable to support me. But financial deficiency turned into a tremendous opportunity to spend those paid working hours with medical professionals. At the ______________ Medical Center, I was admitted as a laboratory technician in the Oncology Department. My experience there taught me that a physician would be doing great if the staff providing support are also doing good, and that given the hierarchical structure and politics in the medical world, there is no substitute to a good team to provide the best care possible to a patient.

I have given enough sacrifice to achieve academically while pursuing the career of my life – which is to be a future physician-scientist here in America. My passion for research has driven me fascinated to the study of genetic engineering. But what keeps me inspired is that obligation I volunteered to take on to share my ability for the benefit of everyone in the society, most especially the underprivileged segment where I belong.

Photo Credit : sohum

Everyone who grew up in a family of “well-respected” professionals must have felt the pressure of pursuing an ambition. Although it is an unspoken command, my parent’s plan for us, their children, always included going to college and beyond. They have raised us in a way that possessing the intellect and the motivation to excel is almost a given assumption. They have always hoped that all of us will play a vital role of making the world a better place one day. It was not easy for me to choose a career with such high expectations placed on my shoulders. In searching for the possibilities of maximizing my interests and capabilities, I found medicine to be the area that I could make some contributions in the future.

My work as a Certified Lifeguard and a swimming instructor brought me close to children. I found children fascinating while I teach them to swim, respect pool safety and administer CPR in various summer camps. They are always enthusiastic to learn new things, fearless in their quest to pursue what they wish. This job taught me not just the essentials of community service, but gave me the opportunity to pass on what I know to children. This is an immensely satisfying experience.

My pre-med study was inspired by the kind of patience and affability I employed when teaching children. Having been a research assistant in a microbiology lab before I focused to study medicine, I have seen a bright picture of contributing to a scientific discovery as a result of my patience working on a microscope. This dream catalyzed my decision to choose medicine early on. As a participant in the Pre-Med Shared Interest Housing program of my university, I was actively engaged in collaborative team projects. I got involved in projects to vocalize student’s needs and concerns on and off campus, as well as tutoring my fellow pre-med students.

The attrition rate for pre-medical and medical students is relatively high, and maintaining the student’s level of commitment is our battle cry. Collective community and academic projects proved to be working to address this problem. My experience in my first Organic Chemistry class is unforgettable. Having discovered that the subject is something that is way over my head, I dedicated much of my free time to study, take tutoring sessions, organized study groups and made close contact with my professor. It paid off well as I eventually earned a top spot in terms of grades in class. This has showed me how ardent work ethic can be formed.

The search for a rare internship program also helped me learn more lessons in work ethics. After deciding to take Osteopathy as my area of study, I took enough zeal and courage to apply for some kind of a “shadow” internship among Osteopathy doctors within the locality. I was forced to do this because there is no organization within my university that caters to this program. I was lucky, and now I am just glad that my current internship has fleshed out a deeper understanding of the medical profession.

Photo Credit : Joe Shlabotnik

Ceasing to change our views, hopes, dreams and aspirations will definitely close the door to progress. Opening our senses to the challenge of continuity is essential to develop the ability to improve ourselves. When we lost the will to embrace new experiences, we have built a giant wall around our own personal ambitions, emotionally and intellectually. I have been formed around a broad background in finance, which is enough to propel me to a successful career platform. But I still can see another window from my own potential; and the study and practice of medicine appeal to me as some potential offering greater challenges and rewards, far beyond my current experiences. Ahead of me is a frontier of opportunity that is completely different from the path I have trod, and the fingerprints I have left shows that what I have chosen was never been thought to be possible.

I have always been thinking of doing something else other than my parent’s job, since they are both doctors. In a fit of adolescent rebellion, I was swearing before that I would take a completely different path, and I tried devising ways to excel in other fields entirely different from my parents. I have been proud of them and what they have accomplished, but the eagerness to shape a world for myself prevailed over me for a time. We left Thailand, my birthplace, when I was three years old – a decision my parents chose to widen the chances of earning more to provide for my siblings and I. But they would still send me to Phuket every summer, and as a youth, that served as a constant reminder to value my roots. It made me appreciate the advantage of not being too comfortable living in a single routine.

I have been engaged as an intern to a number of medical practices during my high school. But my academic interest did not bloom until I entered college, where I chose to major in business and economics. I took my studies with the usual great intensity that I commit in every endeavor I faced, and that allowed me to finish my degree in less than the typical four years. Of course, my life has been active and well-rounded as I got involved in academic clubs, yet a string of scholastic honors landed on me. I am good at numbers and financial analysis, and I have entertained the idea of spending the future in a business.

After graduation, I immediately took a job as an equities trade in a middle-sized firm engaged in financial services. I stayed their for five years, and later took a post as a financial consulting associate and eventually got promoted as a senior sales and marketing associate in the New York office of the company. Recently, I worked with Merrill Lynch where I was promoted as vice-president of the investment banking division. Given my experiences, I know I’ve got a promising future in the financial industry. But for each day that I wake up, I’ve always felt the craving for something more profound that my present personal life.

I am no stranger to the lows and highs of the medical profession, and this I learned and experienced being someone flanked by my parent doctors and a brother who is also in a medical school. It is not all altruistic glory or scientific innovation that made me shift focus to medicine, but I could say it is a gentle blend of both. Unlike in finance, medical practice allows its practitioners to touch and change permanently the landscape of people’s lives. I saw this as a foreboding challenge more as an opportunity than as an obstacle.

My genuine affection to fulfill a community obligation drove me change my career focus to take such a daring career shift. I have volunteered at soup kitchens, nursing homes and hospitals from high school to college. I also did tutoring for inner city children, and as a professional, I got involved in building homes for underprivileged communities. No doubt, shifting a career to a rigorous one such as medicine has grave consequences and challenges. But I know the rewards will be commensurate to all the time I invested and the endeavors I sacrificed. From now on, I will look forward to face more dramatic and irreversible changes that come my way.

Photo Credit : Rene Ehrhardt