When choosing the right applicants among hundreds or thousands of students, admission panels from medical schools usually look for several things. And one of them is the commitment to finish the medical degree. Pursuing a medical degree is no laughing matter. It involves years of study and sacrifice, especially in terms of social life. Because of this, showing the admissions panel of your commitment to pursue a degree in medicine through your personal statement for medical school is a step closer to getting a spot at the school. One way to do this is to use your volunteer work experience as an essay topic.
Why volunteer work experience is an effective personal statement topic
Joining a volunteer work experience program is definitely a plus when applying for medical school. This is because such an experience opens your mind to various ideas and exposes you to a variety of personalities and situations. Plus, the fact that you did volunteer to work for a company or organization means you have the initiative to commit yourself to a responsibility or task — an attractive trait for a future medical practitioner.
Having the aptitude to ace your med school exam and to get high grades during your pre-med years is very impressive. However, without the commitment to actually study hard throughout your years in medical school, all your efforts during pre-med years are put to waste.
Nowadays, medical schools are looking more into the applicants’ previous experiences that can help them convince that a certain applicant is willing to endure the hardships one has to undergo when studying medicine.
Effectively discussing your volunteer work experience
To be able to land that spot in your dream med school, you have to effectively discuss your volunteer work experience in your essay. You can do this by citing specific situations you encountered during volunteer work. Then explain how these situations have convinced you to pursue a medical degree or how they have shaped your beliefs and value system as a possible practitioner in the field of medicine.
Avoid including too many details when writing about your volunteer work experience. Too much details can confuse your essay readers. Always keep your focus on your topic when writing your essay.
Other things to keep in mind when talking about volunteer work experience
For a more persuasive personal statement for medical school, you can also discuss why you chose to join a volunteer work program in the first place. By doing so, you are giving the admissions panel a glimpse of your real character.
Not everyone who studied medicine for nearly a decade get to pursue a hospital career . Their medicine degrees, however, won’t be put to waste as the corporate world opens new doors to a different career path. Here are some positions where medical graduates are key players:
Genetic counseling
Genetics has become a tool for more than just tracing bloodlines. As a genetics counselor, a doctor confers with patients with genetic histories of disorders. Medical information about their background, analysis of their genetic patterns, and assessing the risks of disorders recurring in the present or future generation are done by genetics counselors. This position not only requires clinical duty, but also practice professional sympathy by providing emotional support and counseling. Medical graduates who want to go into this profession should have at least taken units of genetics, biology, psychology, and public health.
Medical examiner
After the success of many police-medical dramas and TV series, a lot of people, including medical students, have turned their aspirations toward becoming another Jordan Cavanaugh of Crossing Jordan or Dr. Al Robbins of CSI. These characters portrayed medical examiners employed by the police to investigate cases. Instead of pulling out stories from live patients, medical examiners find out the truth from the dead. The evidence culled by medical examiners play key roles in investigations as they can also be called to court to testify and present their findings. For those who want to enjoy a CSI-esque career, be prepared to take up or brush up on physiology, anatomy, pathology, biochemistry, and your carving skills.
Everybody wants to make a difference or make their mark in this world. Even when not in a hospital setting that doesn’t mean you can’t help others anymore. A medical degree can take you a long way, in whatever track you might want to pursue.
Photo Credit : Dominic’s pics
You may have your plans set on stone the moment you enter medical school. But through the course of your studies, you begin to see other aspects of your would-be profession. Finally, you do get awarded the degree, the title, the responsibility to practice medicine, and another dilemma – what kind of practice should you go into? There are a lot of factors to consider before deciding whether you’d go into private practice or work in a government hospital.
Government vs. private hospitals
Public hospitals are government-run medical institutions, which make healthcare also accessible to indigents. These medical institutions are dependent on the national budget for the supply of medical equipment, the maintenance of the facilities, and for the fees paid to the medical professionals employed in such. Private hospitals, on the other hand, are owned and run by private individuals or entities such as healthcare insurers. Funding comes from the hospital fees that these institutions charge to patients.
Medical facilities and equipment
Excellent medical equipment and facilities are often hard to come by in public hospitals. Usually, the funds allotted for a year of service is very limited. Private hospitals, meanwhile, have enough funds from the fees charged to patients to continually update and develop their facilities and services. If you prefer to work in a hospital that would foster research and development in the field of medicine, as well as easy access to facilities and equipment, practicing in privately run hospital might be good for you.
Salaries and debts
Admittedly, the salary for doctors in public hospitals are not as high as those that doctors in private hospitals. The workload is not the same as well, because more patients flock to public hospitals for the cheap or even free medical services. Private practice allows you to attend to a limited number of patients, as private hospitals usually charge higher fees.
Repaying your debts and loans, however, can be remedied immediately when you work for government hospitals. There are some student loan programs that ask students to perform public service for a certain period of time as a form of payment. But if the salary you get from practicing in a private hospital is enough, you can also repay your debts easily. With a little financial management, you can pay off your loans in just a short while.
Photo Credit : Joe Shlabotnik
