Graduate / "My medical aspirations" - Personal statement for graduate entry medicine [11]

Hello everyone

I have attached a statement below and would very much appreciate your insight - about the flow, tone, whether its succinct and anything else. Be brutal, the admissions officers will be :-)

Ellen

One incense cone, two sticks, and a candle. I was eleven and a young man with down's syndrome was showing me how to package these items into fiddly gift sets as part of a learning disability work scheme. Experiences like these with local charities and with international mental health and addiction organisations in my teens and twenty's were critical in shaping my sense of citizenship. I essentially developed a fundamental albeit pragmatic desire to be socially responsible and to provide support for those who needed it most; which in time developed into a desire to pursue a career in medicine.

After six years working and volunteering overseas I returned to the UK in 2005 and became a radio dispatcher for the South Central ambulance service. Introduced to the essentially civilising British convention of the NHS and healthcare provision, I immediately felt an immense sense of professional fulfilment, purpose and perspective. It was here in my new vocational home that an avid interest in science quickly grew.

Within a year I began to crave career progression and a return to face-to-face, hands-on people- centric problem solving. I subsequently considered which front line health care profession might be the right choice for me and it was then that medicine emerged as a clear and natural winner.

I began an Access to Science course and the following year embarked upon a Bsc in Human and Medical Science. Two years into my degree and I have progressed steadily, now being predicted a 1st class honours. I have found that my maturity, level headedness, superior organisation and dedication have been critical in my developing academic success, and are attributes which I hope to bring to medicine.

My medical aspirations were reaffirmed during my time shadowing doctors in my local A&E department. I learnt that hospitals aren't glamorous, are often heart wrenching, and that being a doctor requires an immense amount of innate applied and social skill, both of which I genuinely feel I possess.

Every Thursday I spend my afternoon at the Headway day centre in Milton Keynes for adults with acquired head injury. The extremely enjoyable participation in cognitive therapies such as debates, art and physiotherapy workshops has given me insight both into the physical and emotional barriers faced by head injury patients, and also into the importance of community rehabilitation services.

My summer breaks in contrast to my term time commitments are an opportunity to maintain my overseas voluntary interests. Last year I travelled to Jammu Kashmir, where I worked with a local charity to produce a health and hygiene booklet for women in remote mountainous regions. During this amazing experience I learnt not only how to research and compile such a document, but also about the selfless and tenacious dedication exhibited by healthcare professionals in the region; attributes which I hope to also display in practice.

This summer I'm staying closer to home, and have been afforded the opportunity of working in one of The University of Westminster laboratories. This process has given me a new understanding and respect for the critically analytical, meticulous and creative thinking required for effective research. Much like medical doctors the scientists I have encountered are driven primarily by an ambition of social betterment and for this reason along with enjoying my practical time in the lab I have not ruled out a career in medical research.

My combined, detailed experiences have made me the confident applicant presenting this statement to you today. I have consistently worked toward and reflected upon the opportunity and challenges a career in medicine presents, and I am determined it is my calling. I pledge that as a doctor I will always show integrity, humanity and stamina! And that I will do my upmost to be a valuable member of a profession to which I truly aspire.

Graduate / Admission Interview Q: the inevitable Why Do you want to be a doctor :-) [2]

Hey people: I just know I am going to be asked time and time again why I want to be a doctor in the med school interviews I have .. which is understandable :-)

In the UK we are advised that any answer should be contained within 2 minutes
Could anyone tell me what they think of this

"So Ellen, why do you want to be a doctor"?

In anticipation of being asked this very question, I have reflected on it extensively.
In all honesty, I did toy with the idea of actively constructing some unique soliloquy - but instead have decided to go with my ubiquitous gut inspired reasoning which fundamentally is centred around the fact that I get to combine ongoing scientific investigation and learning with extensive human interaction.. which is really attractive to me.

I also spent some time shadowing doctors, watching the process of diagnostic problem solving, translating all that extensive theory into practice and getting a peak into the fairly central pre requisite need and opportunity to really learn more about the social complexities which I'm sure are often adjuvant to most patient's medical problems. So that experience gave me a really exciting insight into the role of a physician and very much reaffirmed to me my desire.

Finally and probably most importantly to me, when I sat down 5 years ago and began to actively reflect on what I wanted to do with my life, I very quickly decided that if only to me, whatever path I took needed to be something meritorious, something I could reconcile morally; and as far as I'm concerned the NHS or more specifically the provision of healthcare is one of the most civilising and humanitarian aspects of our society, so on that level it makes a lot of sense, and would mean a lot to me to be involved in it.