Sample Personal Statements Page 6
ADVERTISEMENT
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20Family Medicine & Primary Care Personal Statement
If there was a high school senior superlative, “The least likely ever to enter medicine”, I
would have won it. At the age of nine I decided that I would be a fashion designer, and
there my focus lay until I graduated from the School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine
Arts. After graduation, I was lucky to land a job as an Assistant Designer in the heart of
New York City’s garment center. On the chaotic first day I was told that if I did not sink,
I would somehow learn to swim. I did learn and three years later I was offered my dream
job as a Designer at Tommy Hilfiger. I felt that I had made it. I had a prestigious job that
paid well and sent me on frequent trips to Europe, Asia, and the West Coast for “line
development”.
Sometimes you need to have everything you ever wanted in order to discover that it is not
what you wanted after all. I felt disillusioned and started to think that I should be doing
something else. When a local homeless shelter was looking for overnight volunteers, I
signed up.
My first evening on duty, I walked into the shelter expecting that I would get to sleep that
night. That didn’t happen. Instead I spent the night talking to two frustrated elderly
homeless men. As the hours passed, I realized what should have been obvious to me. The
only difference between these men and me was a few ill-turned events coupled with a
weak social structure that put them in their current situation. Before that night, I felt like
most other sheltered Manhattanites. It was us, the urban city dwellers, and “them, the
homeless” on the fringe of society. That night I began to see things differently. My
bubble began to leak and my life began to change.
When a friend told me about a group of doctors that provided homeless healthcare in
NYC, I was intrigued, and asked if I could spend a week with them. After calling
incessantly over the course of a month, they finally agreed. That week I saw firsthand
how psychosocial and physical well-being are entwined, and how truly successful
empathetic medical care encompasses both. By that Friday afternoon, I had a new career
path. I knew that I needed to go to medical school.
Despite not having set foot in a science lab or lecture since high school senior physics, I
enrolled in my first general chemistry class. The class was a shock and a struggle, but
after completion, I had the courage to take the scariest step of my life. I quit my job,
walked away from a comfortable and successful career and enrolled in a post-
baccalaureate pre-medical program where my situation was quite the opposite.
Five years later I am in my final year of medical school. I consider myself fortunate to
have learned what it is to live a life plagued with disease, addiction, mental illness,
extreme poverty, and/or HIV/AIDS from my patients. Incorporating this knowledge
along with the understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease and currently
accessible medical treatments is paramount to providing truly comprehensive and
successful health care. It is on this foundation that I wish to continue to build during my
post-graduate training in primary care. Furthermore, I find that I continue to be drawn to
ADVERTISEMENT
0 votes
Related Articles
Related forms
Related Categories
Parent category: Legal