This is my second draft.
It's not very different from the first. I think it's a little shorter.
But still wayyyyy too long.
It was beautiful as it lay in my hand, despite the swelling and
abnormal coloring. The excitement within me was growing as I began to realize
this was reality. I gently rolled it around in my hands, suppressing the urge
to squeal like a little girl. I had waited so long for a moment like this; a
moment experiencing the marvels of human body hands-on.
The heart monitor
beeped occasionally in the background. The scalpel reflected light beautifully
as it lay on the tray along with various other tools. The smell of iodine
lingered in the air. I watched silently as the first incision was made and a
tiny drop of blood rolled down the skin of the patient. The laparoscopic camera
was inserted into the patient’s abdomen and I found myself feeling curiosity
and excitement. Fascinated by the complexity of the human body, I was thrilled
to experience my first look inside a living human body. It was so interesting
to watch as the surgeon navigated the small camera through the abdominal cavity
and under the liver until it came into focus; we were looking at a swollen
gallbladder. Watching the surgeon maneuver various tools inside the body to
snip the ducts and main blood vessels of the gallbladder reminded me of the
delicate motions of a ballerina. Dazed and amazed watching the gallbladder
removed via the navel, I didn’t immediately hear the nurse telling me to put on
gloves. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; the nurse was going to let me
hold a gallbladder. She placed the warm organ into my open hand and I wanted to
jump for joy. I was actually holding an organ. I was holding an organ that had
just been removed from a living human body. An organ that only minutes before
had been part of this patient, imbedded under the liver with blood pulsing through
it. This was incredibly exciting to me and right then I knew that I wanted to
follow through and become a doctor.
The gallbladder
removal was not the first surgery I had shadowed. It was the last and, by far,
the most exciting surgery I had watched in a series of shadowing physicians.
During that shadowing adventure, I had spent about fifteen hours in observing
in the operating room shadowing two doctors, Dr. Williams, a plastic surgeon,
and Dr. Fromm, a general surgeon. I saw several different procedures ranging
from a gastric plication and breast biopsies to a tummy tuck and a nasal
lacrimal duct obstruction. I had only ever been on the patient side so it was
very thrilling for me to put on scrubs and be in the operating room during a
procedure on the physician side. I enjoyed shadowing and it only intensified my
desire to become a physician. I feel like
I learned quite a bit just from observing but they were missing one thing. I
had very little patient contact and I didn’t see any doctor-patient
interactions, which was a problem.
The problem was resolved
when I shadowed another doctor, Dr. Carson, at his private practice of internal
medicine. As I sat patiently in the waiting room, the receptionist was a busy
bee handling patients walking in the door and answering phone calls. The
receptionist asked how I wanted to practice medicine. I said I was looking into
working as a hospitalist without any practice of my own to see a wide variety
of patients every day. But as I was answering her, I realized that if I work as
a hospitalist, I probably wouldn’t see most of my patients again and I didn’t
like that. After that, I spent the majority of the day talking to the
receptionist about how the office , watching the nurse check blood pressures,
and observing Dr. Carson himself. By the time I left, my answer to the
receptionist’s question had changed. As I watched Dr. Carson interact with his
patients, I could feel how genuinely he cares for each one. He told me multiple
times how much he enjoys his job and can’t picture himself doing anything else.
My answer changed because I realized I want what he has; his own practice and a
large patient base that he cares for. I realized that when I was younger, I was
strictly focused on the academic side of medicine. Now, my focus has shifted. Instead
of losing focus of the academics behind medicine, my perspective has been
broadened to include the desire to have more patient interactions and to build
long-term relationships with patients.
With the right
focused purpose behind my desire, my other qualifications seem to fall into
place in helping to prepare me for the long, difficult path that lies ahead
before I reach my goal of being a physician. Being involved in
several different things throughout my academic career has taught me valuable
lessons and developed many important characteristics that will carry me far in
life. Tutoring fellow students, being a biology teaching assistant, gaining
research experience, and performing clarinet have all played a role in shaping
who I am today. I really enjoy the
opportunity to tutor other students. I help them understand the material on a
deeper level and share valuable studying and time management skills. Through
this opportunity, I have gained insight in helping others and developed better
study habits as well. There is no greater satisfaction than seeing a student I
tutored light up with joy because they succeeded and knowing that I played a
major role in helping them reach that point. The experience of
being a teaching assistant was also rewarding. It challenged me academically
and I greatly enjoyed working closely with a faculty member. Through preparing
weekly quizzes and grading assignments, I could see how I was becoming more
responsible. I feel like through being a teaching experience I had to develop
my leadership skills and be a role model to some degree. I was given another
opportunity to work closely with a faculty member. From now until I graduate, I
am a research assistant for Dr. John Graham, a professor at Berry College. He
is interested in developmental stability and fluctuating asymmetry. We use
various strains of Drosophila melanogaster
as well as a variety of environmental stressors to affect both the genetic
and environmental factors of development. Through this opportunity, I will gain
valuable research experience on a long-term level as well as responsibility and
understanding how much effort and time goes into conducting research and
publishing papers.
Some of my fondest
memories of high school and college revolve around my clarinet. I have been
playing for almost nine years and out of all my other qualifications, I feel
like this one has made the biggest impact on my life. My high school band
director taught me not only to be a better musician, but also to be better a
better person. He taught me the importance of perseverance by pushing me to
practice and continually improve, highlighting the truth behind the words
practice makes perfect. I learned responsibility and dependability because he
placed me in several leadership positions that demanded nothing less than an
individual beyond capable of handling the position. He told me stories to
instill the value of integrity because it softens the heart and makes a person
kind. Last but not least, he taught me how to live life to the fullest by
having enthusiasm. These five character traits form the acronym PRIDE, the
epitome of my high school band. The things I learned through band bubbled over into
my classes and I even carried them to college. I will always carry them tucked
in my back pocket to remind me of all my band director taught me, to remind me
of the wonderful memories band has given me, and to remind me to always show
PRIDE in everything I do.
Medical school
seems to be the only option for what I have been striving for. Working hard
along the way led not only to knowledge, but also to revelations and
self-improvement. The challenges and
opportunities I have faced have allowed me to gain insight into myself and be
self-correcting. These values are combined with other skills that have not been
perfected but are continuing to be refined.
Whether
it was practicing a hard piece of music on my clarinet and not giving up until
I could play it or tutoring other students in biology, these experiences along the
road of my academic career have molded me into the person I am today by
teaching me valuable character traits like discipline, compassion, integrity,
and the true value of hard work. Reflecting on my
background, I can’t help but smile. Despite a few bumps along the way, I am
proud of what I have accomplished and can only look forward to what lies ahead
with eager eyes. Being in band opened my eyes to characteristics I didn’t
already appreciate. Berry College only contributed by emphasizing service to others
and highlighting the important balance of educating your head, heart, and
hands.
I have wanted to
be a doctor for as long as I can remember. As I look back, I realize when I was
younger, I wanted the high salary and the nobility that comes with the
stethoscope. I think I wanted to be a doctor because it looked cool on TV. I
was interested strictly in the science aspect of it and this only intensified
as I grew older and learned more about science. I was considering a specialty
in cardiology. But now, I can say that this has all changed. After experiencing
first-hand what being a doctor is like through clinical observations, I have
realized medicine goes well beyond having a good job and looking cool on TV.
Primary care is about what’s behind the stereotypical life of a doctor you see
on TV. It involves a genuine passion to help people and a desire to build long
term relationships with patients so that in the process, the physician will
grow and develop as a person as well. I want to be able to help people for any
type of problem they have rather than focusing on a certain specialty. I want
to build long term relationships with patients through my own practice of
internal medicine in Georgia and I feel my background has prepared me to do so
and reach my destiny.
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