My Mother-two young children clutch under her fragile arms-stood tall against unyielding tides
Amidst emaciated bodies that hollered waves of faithful prayers and echoing cries
Our exhausted boat stranded; our dream and future entrusted to the wind
Four perilous years, displaced from one asylum after another, but our hope never dwindled within.
Those are flickering memories of my early childhood when my mother, my older sister, and I embarked on a four-year journey across the Pacific Ocean in search of a brighter but uncertain future. During this journey, the constant exposure to seawater, compounded by the lack of adequate medical attention, had left me with a severe bacterial ear infection and a long scar behind my right ear, a living reminder of the hardships and dangers of our emigration.
My family stepped foot on American soil on December 1, 1992. My earliest years in America were occupied with frequent visits to the local clinic to treat my ear infection. It was during these visits that I had the opportunity to observe and interact with the nurses, people whom I considered my miracle workers. The nurses provided me a source of comfort right before each treatment, and they healed me with such motherly care. I admired their work and had often wished to be in their shoes, equipped with the knowledge and skills to heal patients and restore their quality of life. Looking back, my childhood journey had made me a stronger and more determined person today, while my childhood illness had exposed me to a meaningful and rewarding career in nursing.
My aspiration to be a registered nurse continued to take shape throughout my undergraduate study at the University of California, Davis. Here, I further explored my keen interest in the health care field by volunteering as a clinical intern with the Vietnamese Cancer Awareness Research and Education Society (VN-CARES), where I worked alongside physicians and nurses to provide care to uninsured Vietnamese patients in Sacramento, California. At our student-run cancer screening clinic, I bridged the language barrier between health care providers and patients, educated patients on cancer screening and treatment, and received hands-on clinical experience such as taking patients' vital signs. While in college, I was especially devoted to educating children and adolescents in local communities, including tutoring elementary students during after-school programs and informing high school students about HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. I have found great joy in working with kids and being there for them to give them confidence and a feeling that they are wanted and loved. This fulfillment has inspired me to consider specializing in pediatric care.
An important stepping-stone on my career path was my internship with Child Life at the UC Davis Medical Center, where I tended to the needs of children who were waiting for or recovering from medical treatment. My personal experience with ear infection had instilled in me great empathy for the children's illness, and I fully embraced my responsibility to alleviate their physical and emotional pain. With limited professional training, toys and fairytales became my healing tools. My hands-on interaction with children at Child Life helped me develop a deep admiration for the children's resiliency and courage while cultivating in me qualities essential to an aspiring nurse such as patience, interpersonal skills, and compassion. In working with the nurses at Child Life, I come to appreciate the flexibility and time they have dedicated to their patients in order to build a strong relationship founded on empathy and trust, and I look forward with great enthusiasm to take on that responsibility. The joys and smiles upon the children's faces at Child Life reaffirmed my resolve to pursue a career in pediatric nursing. At present, I yearn for the opportunity to receive my nursing education at the University of San Diego and take a step closer to fulfilling my dream.
As an aspiring nurse, I seek a nursing program that offers a challenging and comprehensive curriculum in which I can gain early exposure to clinical practice and be trained by experienced faculty in a multiculturally diverse learning environment. This is my drive in choosing to pursue my Master of Science in Nursing Degree at the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, an accredited and renowned institution. The MEPN program at USD is structured around a values-based curriculum that will educate and prepare me to become not only a skilled nurse clinician, but an ethical and compassionate one as well. Moreover, the curriculum incorporates hands-on standardized patient nursing and simulation. Not only is the student body diverse but so is the patient population of San Diego; thus, during my clinical rotations, I will receive the opportunity to provide quality longitudinal patient care to patients coming from diverse cultures. This unique experience will help me cultivate cultural competence and develop cross-cultural skills that will be invaluable in my nursing practice. At Hahn, one of our nation's distinguished graduate programs in nursing, I am confident that I will obtain a quality nursing education while receiving ample of support and counseling from faculty and classmates.
My professional goal is to become a registered pediatric nurse who provides holistic care to children from medically underserved populations. I grew up in a poor family, thus it will be truly rewarding for me to give back to the community and heal children who come from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. In my nursing practice, I will involve parents in the healing process of their children since informed and responsive parenting is essential to effective health care delivery. In addition, I understand the importance of clinical and translational research in improving health care practice. Therefore, I will endeavor to bridge science and medicine by implementing sound research into my patient care. I also wish to be a leader in my community. As a leader, I will be able to better inform the community of disease prevention and treatment as well as to lobby for improvement of our health care system. Finally, being a nurse is a lifelong learning process, thus I will fully enjoy educating myself and others the progress that our scientific and medical community continually makes.
It is truly rewarding to know that I have chosen a career that will bring happiness and wellbeing to others and to myself. At present, I sincerely hope the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science will give me the unique opportunity to shape my career dream of being a registered pediatric nurse into reality.
With limited professional
training , toys and fairytales became my healing tools. -- Would you like to replace that word with "experience"?
In working with the nurses at Child Life, I
have come to appreciate the flexibility ...
The joys and smiles upon the children's faces at Child Life reaffirmed my resolve to pursue a career in pediatric nursing. At present, I yearn for the opportunity to receive my nursing education at the University of San Diego and take a step closer to fulfilling my dream.
Cut these out. The first one is unnecessary, while the second one is a weak sentence.
As an aspiring nurse, I seek a nursing program that offers a challenging and comprehensive...
At Hahn, one of our nation's distinguished graduate programs in nursing, I am confident that I will obtain a quality nursing education while receiving ample of support and counseling from faculty and classmates.
Again, not needed.
This is a good essay. I like the way you started -- it's unique. The organization of the essay is also nice.
I like the poetry at the beginning. I think any inspired person will appreciate it.
My family stepped foot on American soil on ... if you want to use this common expression, I think it is "set foot on"
My family set foot on American soil on ...
Here is my opinion on this part Ershad noticed:
The joy and smiles upon on the children's faces at Child Life reaffirmed my resolve to pursue a career in pediatric nursing. At present, I yearn for the opportunity to receive my nursing education at the University of San Diego and take a step closer to fulfilling my dream . -- I like the first sentence! But I see what Ershad means. I definitely agree that the sentence about yearning for the opportunity to attend USD is too obvious.
My professional goal is to become a registered pediatric nurse who provides holistic care to children from medically underserved populations.--- this is excellent! It can be better, though, if you name some specific modalities that interest you. Do you like psychotherapy? massage? hypnosis? Do you have a particular philosophy of nursing? Do you think you ever might want to specialize in a certain area and even become a physician? Let us know a little more; go a little deeper in your discussion of nursing and medicine.
