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.
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| (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.
