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My goal to study medicine all started out with my brother being diagnosed with diabetes



lightfox 3 / 27  
Mar 1, 2015   #1
Prompt: Please provide a statement explaining why you want to study medicine.

My goal to become a physician did not begin until I was in high school when my brother was diagnosed with diabetes. The news of my brother's diagnosis shocked everyone in my family and I was trying to cope with the frantic situation. Naturally, my parents were taught how to manage his condition, but as an older brother it was my responsibility to take the initiative and learn with them. By giving proper dosages of insulin, deciding what kinds of meals to have,(and) scheduling and testing for blood sugar, this was the first time I exposed myself to the study of medicine because I was applying what I learned in school about the human body and I was really enjoying it. Suddenly, terms like "glucose", "insulin", and "beta cells" started to feel like they had a concrete meaning to me, giving me a sense of clarity of the situation even though I already knew about them beforehand. Diabetes became more than just a vocabulary word to me. It gave me an opportunity to take care of my brother in a whole new way and provided me a glimpse of the delicate internal mechanisms of the human body. In fact, managing my brother's disease not only helped me get a better grasp on the subject, but also prompted me to search in my spare time online for ways to help him cope with it. This led me to not only learn more about the pancreas, but also other parts of the human body and how diabetes impacts them. Before I knew it, I started looking into other pathologies, and I felt like I was venturing into a whole new world. My newly found hobby was only stimulating my interest in medicine.

My desire to become a physician led me to shadow my family doctor, and it was one of the most valuable experiences because it introduced me to the clinical aspects to the practice of medicine. As I carefully observed how he interacted and empathized with his patients, I could not help but think that in few ways it was similar to the way I was treating my brother while managing his diabetes. I also had the opportunity to engage in some hands-on experience, such as comparing the pattern of respiration between normal and asthma-stricken patients using a stethoscope, and observing the differences in appearances between allergic and healthy patients. However, my favorite part of shadowing was seeing how the information the patients provided related to their diagnosis. After each patient interaction, I would ask my doctor questions pertaining to the cases just covered, and he would explain to me the process of clinical overflow, including how he uses differential diagnosis and which tests he orders in order to come up with a final diagnosis. As I learned about this humanistic side of medicine, my curiosity led me to understand more about each case. Thus, I looked forward to shadowing whenever possible.

My interest in the human body system led me to major in biology at New Jersey Institute of Technology. Even though I took a lot of classes pertaining to my interest, my favorite class was Cell Biology of Disease, where we explored various pathologies that people were susceptible to. This course was especially important to me because I learned more about diabetes and the potential treatments that can arise in the future. The class has helped me in other ways, too. While I was preparing a group presentation on the cellular mechanisms of pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis, I learned how to best collaborate with my peers in order to effectively deliver our findings to the class, which helped me further develop my communications and interpersonal skills.

Because I solidified my goal to become a physician, I wanted to take part in activities where I interact with patients, so I became an EMT. Working as an EMT helped me manage stressful situations, think critically on the spot, and taught me how to manage proper relations with patients of varying diseases or injuries. Being an EMS personnel has also helped me learn to assess a given situation by gathering chief complaint and other pertinent information. My most important experience as an EMT, however, was helping the patients. Having a "patients come first" approach gave me some insight into why doctors treat patients very seriously. The patients calling 911 are going through very stressful situations, and as members of health care it is our job to comfort them and help them when they most need it.

Through my various experiences, I have to come to learn that medicine is my calling. My brother's initial diagnosis led me on a journey to explore what this profession has to offer and how I can contribute to it. Taking care of my brother has made me more aware of not only myself, but also others around me. I now help out my friends as well as my grandparents, who are also diabetic, by giving them advice on how to manage their condition. Through my time shadowing and being an EMT, I realized that being a doctor is not just about mastering the location of every bone, knowing the function of every organ, or even memorizing the pathologies of various illnesses. It is much more significant than that. The job is about connecting with and healing others in need. It is about appraising the value of life. I believe I am ready to begin my journey of becoming a doctor.

OP lightfox 3 / 27  
Mar 1, 2015   #2
Thank you so much for your thoughtful advice and recommendation for editing. I will definitely try to incorporate your suggestions, but there are some challenges to incorporating some of them. The application that I will ultimately copy/paste this essay into accepts at most 5300 characters. The essay you just read is a little bit below that limit, like about 5200. It's as you pointed out--I knew that going into detail for my EMT will make the essay better, but I was already near the 5300 character limit so I had to decide to sacrifice some content for the sake of being within the limit. If I go into more detail on some of them like my EMT experiences it will definitely go above the limit. The challenge is writing everything you want to say and staying within the proper length.
EF_Jasmine - / 68  
Mar 1, 2015   #3
Ahhh I see! Okay that makes sense! Well good luck! With that essay I am sure you will be a great candidate!

Jasmine
OP lightfox 3 / 27  
Jun 3, 2015   #4
Can someone help me with this brand new essay I wrote?
lcturn87 - / 423  
Jun 3, 2015   #5
I have given you some suggestions on how you can improve your paper. I hope that these changes will help you.

1st paragraph: I would express how having a deeper understanding of the disease helped you to understand human biology. At the end of the paragraph, it starts to get confusing. You should continue to express how learning about the proper management of diabetes has given you a sense of dedication.

2nd paragraph: I would suggest rearranging this sentence to: "My desire to become a physician, led me to shadow an internist who helped me to understand the clinical aspects of the profession". Change part of this sentence to: "...emphasized caring for patients..."

3rd paragraph: In this paragraph, I think the part of the sentence that focuses on taking cell biology is more relevant than the participation in clubs.

4th paragraph: I think you need to have a better opening paragraph because it needs to make a good transition between your college experience and real world experience. I think you should express how college prepared you to work in the medical field in some capacity.

5th paragraph: I think you need a good transition to end this last paragraph. (Ex: Therefore, Thus, etc.)
wyzandrea - / 1  
Jun 4, 2015   #6
I'm sorry to hear that your brother was diagnosed with diabetes, so my advice it that you can learn diabetes first and then improve you medicine knowledge.
OP lightfox 3 / 27  
Jun 4, 2015   #7
Thank you Icturn87. I will incorporate the changes.
audpodz - / 1  
Jun 14, 2015   #8
I honestly think this is really well developed and you've got solid organization. Really interesting hook.

I like how you name specifics (insulin, glucose) in the intro. Gives it a realistic and honest feel.

"My desire to become a physician led me to shadow my family doctor, and it was one of the most valuable experiences because it introduced me to the clinical aspects to the practice of medicine."

I feel like the structure of this sentence is kind of basic, which is not a bad thing, but as an opening statement I think you can spruce it up. Just making it an appositive would improve it. (My desire to become a physician led me to shadow my family doctor, one of the most valuable experiences to my career, as it introduced me to the clinical aspects to the practice of medicine.)

It was great that you compared your treatment of your brother to your family doctor's patient care.

" I would ask my doctor questions pertaining to the cases just covered, and he would explain to me the process of clinical overflow, including how he uses differential diagnosis and which tests he orders in order to come up with a final diagnosis."

Isn't this obvious for an internship? I understand that this is specific to medicine, but wording it differently could slice out some of the monotony.

"While I was preparing a group presentation on the cellular mechanisms of pancreatic cancer and cystic fibrosis, I learned how to best collaborate with my peers in order to effectively deliver our findings to the class, which helped me further develop my communications and interpersonal skills."

Do you have any way you could qualify this, or add to the statement? I know that you likely don't want to spend too much on a small bonus like this, but perhaps you could better illustrate it instead of just saying[i][/i] the experience improved your skills?

Wow, what a great essay. You seem like a very dedicated pre-med student! Best of luck.


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