Sample Personal Statements Page 18
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20Psychiatry Personal Statement
“Life has value only when it has something valuable as its object” - Hegel
A life of value is one that has as its goal service to humankind. It is this desire to help
my community that led me to teach high school science and then to pursue a career in
medicine. My path has been shaped by the examples of many people. Two who taught me the
rewards of service to others were my mother, a teacher in the inner city, and my friend Jill, a
nurse who worked with AIDS patients in the 1980’s. From them I learned empathy, drive,
commitment, and most of all I have seen the satisfaction that a life of service can accomplish.
Not only have these people influenced me, but my education and experiences have as
well. I attended Sarah Lawrence College and studied music as well as the humanities. As a
graduate of a liberal arts program focused on reading and thoughtful writing and discussion, I
bring to my career a holistic point of view. Having learned initially to see connections between
texts and philosophies, I am now able to apply this skill to see connections between symptoms
and presentations of disease. In addition to my years at Sarah Lawrence, I spent a year abroad
at the University of Auckland in New Zealand where I learned how to integrate into another
culture and establish self-sufficiency 8,000 miles from home.
Following my graduation from Sarah Lawrence College, I decided to go to medical
school; I realized that medicine is a superb combination of my love of science and my desire to
benefit others. While I completed my pre-med classes, I was appointed to a teaching position
at Soundview Preparatory School. This was a truly wonderful point in my life as my science
knowledge was burgeoning and I was forming meaningful relationships with my students and
co-workers.
Since I have been in medical school, I have seen the importance of being an
accomplished and compassionate doctor. If a patient is able to see commitment from his
doctor it supports a productive doctor-patient relationship without which effective healing
cannot take place. During my clinical rotations I have found that the exhaustion accompanying
a grueling day is wiped away when I successfully connect with a patient and empathize with
his concerns.
I now advance to a career in Psychiatry equipped with the tools of my past experiences and
my education. Psychiatry is a perfect amalgam of my aspirations to give to others and my
training as an osteopathic physician. One of the three tenets of Osteopathy requires the
physician to treat both body and mind; Psychiatry, with its ever-increasing understanding of
the neurochemical basis of mental illness, is firmly rooted in the body, and yet it does not
neglect the influence of a patient’s psychosocial environment on his health. As a psychiatrist I
will become part of the social milieu of the patient as well as prescribing medication to treat
the physical ailment; treatment thus provides a connection between mind and body. As a
Psychiatrist, not only will I be able to practice Osteopathic medicine by treating the whole
person, but I will also fulfill my goal of service. Each patient interaction will function to heal
an individual and will add significance to my day; the sum of these interactions will improve
my community and therefore be the object of value in my life.
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