Introduction

Introduction to a Full-Time Working Student

I am majoring in Planned Program with an emphasis in Neuroscience and pursuing a minor in Spanish with Honors. I am currently applying to medical school and recently finished my personal statement. Writing a personal statement is one of the most difficult things I have done, but I believe mine really explains who I am and what I am all about. Below is my personal statement, which details some of my most significant personal and academic endeavors. 

(Me, a few days before taking the MCAT- picture taken by Christen O'Neal)

Mass casualty. Dozens of people injured, several in critical condition, and many of which were en route to my hospital. As a surgical technologist at a Level I Trauma Center, I had often responded to emergent calls, but never to one like this. I had been working in the operating room for almost a year, learning to scrub a wide variety of surgical cases, from traumatic gunshot wounds and motor vehicle accidents, to complex tumor resections and aneurysm clippings. While these experiences had equipped me with the skill set to handle the unique difficulties of specific cases, I anticipated new obstacles as I prepared to deal with this event. However, recognizing the opportunity to traverse unfamiliar terrain is not a foreign concept to me. My path to pursuing a medical degree has been challenging, and it certainly has not always been clear. Nevertheless, each challenge has illuminated my path, providing me only with further insight and determination to follow my ambitions.

During my first year in college, I became captivated by the field of medicine as a volunteer in the emergency department. At the time, I was balancing a full-time schedule at work with a full course load at school, leaving only a few hours each week to volunteer. However, interacting with patients and helping the nurses quickly became the highlight of these weeks. I immediately fell in love with the compassion displayed by the medical team and the emergency department’s natural sense of urgency.

The following semester, financial hardship forced me to take on more hours at work, limiting my time to volunteer. Seeking out opportunities to obtain the hands-on medical experience I craved, while continuing to financially support myself and my family, I decided to apply to the surgical technology program and accept a unit secretary position in the same emergency department which I had volunteered. I was pushed to new limits with full days of classes followed by 12-hour overnight shifts, but the experience I gained motivated me to persevere. I was determined.

Once I began my clinical rotations for the program, nothing could dull the excitement I felt as I explored this new world of medicine. While I had hoped that my training would provide me with the insight I needed to fully commit myself to the demanding lifestyle of a physician, I could not anticipate the passion within myself that it would ignite. My desire to understand each procedure coupled with the opportunity to critically think about the steps and potential complications of the cases transformed my initial enchantment with medicine to a profound admiration, inspiring a new sense of devotion to the field.

Upon graduation from the program, I dove wholeheartedly into the prerequisite coursework for medical school while maintaining a full-time schedule with call. The challenge of successfully balancing work and school remained, but the inspiration of working alongside dedicated physicians, along with the constant reassurance that I was closer to achieving my goals each day, provided me with the momentum necessary to forge my own path into medicine. It empowered me to boldly seek out other opportunities to grow, including participating in neurosurgical research in brain mapping and contributing to a publication on neuronavigation.

Altogether, the steps I had taken to grow professionally and academically had brought me to this pivotal moment, preparing me to respond to the mass casualty event that day. I had just scrubbed in to set up, when the door burst open to reveal our patient, already intubated and in critical condition. Suffering from severe head trauma and several deep lacerations, the patient’s life relied on the success of the case and our ability to work together as a surgical team. We worked diligently to relieve the patient’s severely increased intracranial pressure while the vascular team assessed the damage of the lacerations. Once our patient was successfully stabilized and transported to the intensive care unit, we continued to assist with the numerous traumas requiring surgery that day.

It was not until later, while driving home, that I was afforded a chance to reflect on the experience. Although the day had been hectic, with each patient requiring immediate and thorough care, it became less about being prepared for the challenges that each case presented, and more about pulling together as a team to perform the tasks necessary to save these patients’ lives. I felt honored to be a member of that team and humbled that my journey had taken me so far. While reaching that point had been demanding, each experience was invaluable, consistently affirming my desire to do whatever was necessary to achieve my goal of becoming a physician. It has been the combined sum of these experiences, the challenges I rose above as well as the ones I stumbled over, that have defined my journey and my passion for healthcare, propelling me forward as I dedicate myself with absolute certainty to life in medicine.