Personal Statement

This is my medical school statement. Give me your comments for editing.

My desire to attend medical school has grown from several of my life experiences. I have not always known I wanted to be a physician, but as I have been afforded exposure to the medical field and time to think over the value of a career as a physician, my aspirations to attend medical school have become strong and concrete.

There is nothing that gives more purpose and meaning to my life than the joy and satisfaction I feel when I am able to serve another person. I want to go to medical school so I can help others. I feel that my personal worth increases as I am able to fulfill a need for someone else. Medical school will permit me to have a specific set of skills which will provide me with many opportunities to assist those in need. I have found my activities to be empty and unfulfilling when I fail to focus on reaching out to others. My most significant volunteer experience has been a two year religious mission in Brazil. These two years were dedicated to helping others improve their lives through religion. My service played a vital role for many Brazilians who were looking for religious truth and standards of moral strength to anchor them throughout life. My years of service continue to be rewarding as I maintain friendships with those I taught and as I continue to volunteer my time within the local Latino community.

I believe that practicing medicine will be rewarding in a similar manner. During my mission I became acutely aware of the extensive economic disadvantages that a large portion of the population suffers. I have since had the opportunity to participate in a volunteer care clinic that serves individuals that cannot afford healthcare. Some of these individuals would tolerate a serious medical condition for a significant period of time so that they could dedicate their monetary resources to their family before taking care of their own physical well-being. Through volunteer work health care professionals can eliminate a lot of this suffering. It is an aspiration of mine to consistently volunteer my time as a physician in addition to my regular employment. I wish to assist those who are most in need.

My undergraduate education at Brigham Young University has been challenging. With the challenge, however, comes a feeling of satisfaction. Due to the difficulty of my courses at BYU, I feel that they are that much more valuable. I have learned that the more effort I put into an objective, the stronger my feelings of elation are when I achieve that objective. A career as a physician will be quite challenging. I feel, however, that the challenge validates the worth of being a physician. I am not yet certain of which field of medicine I will pursue, although I will likely work in primary care. I understand, though, that each specialty is faced with its own set of challenging conditions and delicate situations. I believe that accepting these challenges and overcoming them will bring great satisfaction.

Until recently I had not planned on a career in healthcare. Even though I have always been interested in the medical field, it had never seriously occurred to me as a possible career path for myself until approximately one year ago. My father is an electrical engineer and no one in my family has pursued a profession in the medical field. I had originally intended to be a biomedical engineer. While this field of study still interests me academically, I realized that I would not have the same ability to interact with patients as in a healthcare profession. For this motive I decided to change career paths, apply to medical school and pursue a medical degree.

My decision has been confirmed as I have spent the previous year completing pre-medical course work and increasing my knowledge of the medical field. I particularly enjoyed my anatomy course and the subsequent course in physiology. The human body is a facsinating organism. I continue to be amazed as I learn more about how it functions. Academically there is no other subject that I enjoy more.

I have also increased my exposure to the medical field through hospital volunteering and physician shadowing. I frequently find myself wanting to understand the exact nature of the illness or injury of the patients and the possible treatment solutions. As a volunteer I am not privy to this information. This serves to increase my anticipation for the education I will obtain in medical school. I am excited for the opportunity to learn.

Shadowing physicians has opened my eyes to the reality of working as a doctor. The hours are long and the work is challenging. There are many unappealing parts to medicine that cannot be neglected, such as keeping accurate and detailed records. Doctors make mistakes, but even when they do their best they still get sued. I understand that I will not always feel appreciated when I am a practicing physician. Despite these drawbacks, the happiness I felt as I watched a physician treat patients in need, or the compassion I felt as the same physician diagnosed a woman with breast cancer, were strong confirmations to me that I have made the right choice to pursue a medical degree. I believe a medical degree will be of great worth both to me personally as well as to the many individuals I will see throughout my career.