Things to put in personal statement
Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school. The available space for your response is 5300 characters, or approximately one full page. You will receive an error message if you exceed the available space
There are a few follow up questions to help you:Use my experiences to answer these questions in my personal statement
- Why have you selected the field of medicine?
- What motivates you to learn more about medicine?
- What do you want medical schools to know about you that hasn’t been disclosed in other sections of the application?
- Unique hardships, challenges, or obstacles that may have influenced your educational pursuits.
- Commentary on significant fluctuations in your academic record that are not explained elsewhere in your application.
I need you to use my experiences to show that
- I am compassionate
- A leader
- Motivated to do medicine
- Interested in science
- Overall I want it to show my personal growth as a central theme how this lead me to wanting to do medicine
- Talk about teamwork
Summary of why I want do medicine-I honestly just want to increase peoples quality of life while being able to not only form meaningful relationships with them but to continue to feed my passion for science as I learn from them.
Consider that I knew I wanted to do something involving science and being able to help people and this is basically a journey of me figuring out that was medicine and being a physician.
Maybe mention somewhere where it fits why I want to be a doctor and not just a nurse etc.say something along the lines of because I want to be a decision maker/leader have more personal interaction with patients( use my story to kind of show this).
-You can put whatever you feel necessary to answer the questions and show certain qualities.
My life:
-I grew up in Jamaica, lived there for 16 years
-Growing up I had a heart defect that only 2 doctors in the whole island were qualified to operate on, learning this at around age 6 first sparked my interest in medicine , though I had yet to understand the responsibilities of doctors I knew at that time I never wanted anyone else to hear that they could have an inoperable surgery based on lack of qualified professionals being available ,and so I wanted to make a difference.
-By the time I got to high school I quickly realized that I had fondness for the sciences and really enjoyed studying them and getting to use the knowledge practically in labs etc.
-However, growing up in a country like Jamaica where the only secure jobs were in the field of medicine or sciences how could I be sure that this was what I wanted to do? I had nothing else to compare it to and basically no real other options based on what I was motivated by(wanting to increase peoples quality of life) and what I was interested in(sciences).
– At this point though the most I knew about the medical field was learned from family friends/acquaintances who were doctors.Though they gave me great insight I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it based on passion or out of necessity and that tied with the fact that the medical field in Jamaica lacked a lot due to finances and brain drain (many brilliant doctors moved to countries with more resources etc) I jumped at the chance to immigrate to the united states.
Age 17
-Financially this was a hard move because my parents were jobless and we were homeless living with a family friend for an extended period of time until my parents could get on their feet.I was in a new environment ,facing completely different challenges nevertheless I was excited because the move brought opportunity.(Jamaica has a medical school however resources and technological advancements are limited)
-I spent a year in the American high school system and got to do something I never had the chance to -volunteering. I volunteered with senior citizens in the assisted living department of a old age home.The experience molded me into the person I am today .My duties there included but were not limited to feeding residents, cleaning them and even playing games (like bingo) with them ;the thing I noticed was that with all the people I assisted sick or healthy nothing seemed to make them happier than simple companionship. This taught me one of the most important lessons I’ve learned to date;that physical health is only part of the puzzle but adding mental health to it makes it whole.Me being able to help complete that puzzle was honestly one of the greatest feelings I ever had.
-After I graduated, high school based on my interest in natural sciences and living things I decided to pursue a biology major for my undergrad degree.
–
AGE 18
In sophomore (2nd year) of college fall 2018 my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer,at this point I was in a state of sadness ,confusion etcetera my grades fell a bit I was simply not in the right headspace.However I am not one to stay in a slump ,at this point I was uneducated about the disease so I decided to look into it find out what it was all about.This lead me to starting my undergrad research (up to this point I was complete uninterested in research),I started undergrad research in spring 2019 under a professor ,masters student and alongside 2 other undergrads.The research was on prostate cancer cells at this time we were researching phytochemical drugs that could be used to treat the cells .The experience enabled me to learn a lot about the disease in terms of epidemiology,treatment,diagonosis ,mechanisms etc .This gave me a lot of comfort(I learned in early stages it has very high survivability once treated) and not only helped me but also helped me to better understand my father and educate him better about the disease which in turn helped him to make the best decision for his treatment .Beyond this I ended up continuing research in prostate cancer (even though I could’ve stopped after 1 semester) because I realized how much there still was to learn ,it even got to a point where I was excited to go to lab to see our results, and even to read articles that could potentially help our research(research was just overall fun).To this date I have been doing research on drug therapy for prostate cancer cells for about a year and even along side my lab mates received an award for our poster on said research.( We won first place in 9th annual broward undergraduate research symposium).This experienced made me develop a deeper love for science and newfound love for research .Being a doctor would enable me to do this for years to come ,the thought is just thrilling.
Age 19
Summer 2019 I decided to start volunteering as a peer mentor at a school for juvenile delinquents. As someone who only got on a good path (when I moved I knew nothing about the education system how to get into colleges,apply etc) because of counselors and people giving me advice in my life I jumped at the chance to be able to even try to help even one student to figure out what they wanted for themselves (however I was a bit weary based on backgrounds of some students).As a peer mentor I had 1 on 1 discussions with students where I would talk to them about what they want to do with their futures and how to get there,I also lead group discussions with students doing team building activities and just simple life lesson talks.Of course this was not necessarily an easy task as the students mostly had bad temperaments ,were rowdy and lack motivation due to varying factors in their lives (many were from the inner city or involved in gangs etc.),however over time I learned to adjust to their behaviors and got a better understanding of each person I mentored and how to behave in a way that made everyone including myself feel comfortable but also respected,I had gained their trust and they gained mine. I still volunteer here and students come and go regularly so it’s never a day without some challenges or just new people to adapt to but other peer mentors also joined the ranks which enabled a wider variety of activities and ideas of what to do with the students. Still every day I go in it is always a pleasure knowing that I have been able to positively impact some of the students’ lives and may be able to continue doing so in the future.Ive seen many students stay on a non-criminal path, either get back into regular high school system or even graduate with their GED and even go onto to trade schools or colleges.This experience enabled me to empathize with various people on a level I never thought possible for myself (even though I was always an empath it was never on such a person level it was more general) ;the experience also taught me how to speak and be heard,how to lead and lead well .
Shadowing
2019
As a member of a club called medical missions abroad I went on a trip to Thailand to shadow doctors and volunteer at orphanages.The experience was tremendously educational as the Thai medical system was a bit different from what I was used to but also the variety of doctors and people I got to shadow honestly gave me the final piece on why I wanted to become a doctor.In Thailand I got to shadow emergency room doctors,orthopedic surgeons,gynecologists,urologists and even pharmacists and physical therapists.Day 1 l shadowed phamacists,interestingly pharmacist there are only located in hospitals and are able to give a variety of medications over the counter and even prescribe some to patients based on symptoms ( however this is very limited and only done for more common ailments.I also shadowed a physical therapist who mainly tended to stroke or elderly patients I like the fact that the job was hands on ,I even got to help take someone out of a wheelchair and guided them as they practiced walking.Day 2 I shadowed in the hemodialysis department relatively hard to see as most patients were in late stage kidney failure and needed kidneys but the country only does about 400 kidney transplants a year.What I was really surprised by was the fact that regardless most of the patients I interacted with seemed appreciative of the medical treatment (this to me showed that doctors in this department gave the patients hope and made everyone feel good about their stay ,I really liked this)and were even eager to hold conversations(if they spoke some English) while I took their vitals.I was also shocked by the fact that the hospital directors mother was in the same department I really liked that all patients got equal treatment regardless of standing.I also shadowing an orthopedic surgeon in the operating room where I watched a carpal and cubital tunnel release.This was easily the most facisnating thing I saw on my trip ,it was up close and thus very informative and I loved every second of it.With the doctor showing me what he was doing and why he was doing it ,and even being able to see that the patient could move their hand in the procedure to show there was no damage;all I could think was the entire process was very intriguing and also seemed relaxing contrary to what I believed all surgery to be like prior to this .Day 3 I was in rural hospital here I shadowed an ER doctor ,here was a much smaller and thus more personal hospital ,I had many conversation with patients and took some of their blood pressures.Most patients did not necessarily need emergency room care but some did ,one case that stood out was a man who had recently gotten into a motor cycle accident and was bleeding from head to toe ;getting to see the procedure of caring for him was an amazing experience for me.After this I shadowed in the ward department of the hospital which mainly had patients under observation,I also liked this experience as I got to interact with each patient that I could some had been diagnosed some had not .Other days of shadowing I shadowed in various departments of different hospitals including ICU, orthopedics, gynecology, gastroenterology etc.,I learned various things in each department ;however orthopedics stood out the most as in Thailand motorcycle accidents are very common and thus their were many patients with varying ailments in the department .Overall the highlight of the shadowing experience was getting to interact with patients and also seeing what hospital doctors do on a regular day to day basis.The fact that it never got boring and that there was always so much to learn,and hope for Which was really all I needed to know
-In the end although it was a heart defect that got me thinking about being in medicine its all these reasons I have mentioned above that has me firmly rooted in the idea that this is who I want to be .
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