Prompt- The Accelerated Programs Admission Committee is interested in learning more about you. Please write an essay of no more than 750 words on why you wish to enter the health professions, including what experiences have led you to this decision and what you hope to gain from your chosen profession. Please make sure your essay is completely distinct from the one you submitted on the Common Application.
It wasn't until my second year of high school that I walked into the biology lab and knew that I wanted to stay there. Most of the other students cringed at dissections and fell asleep during lectures, but I couldn't get enough. My Biology teacher joked that I was the best and worst student that she ever had, because I was so enthusiastic about the subject, I kept bugging her for extra credit assignments. I couldn't help myself. I feel like there is something so special about being able to see and understand how the human body works, and how complex it is. Everything in the human body is relatable to every person on earth, for obvious reasons. Ever since, I've taken every class I can find in the science field at my school, including Physics and Chemistry.
My interests started out as only biological, but through volunteer work, expanded to the medical field as well. I spent nearly a year volunteering at the emergency room of my local hospital, and it was definitely a life changing experience. I had never spent time in a hospital before, and I had never been to the emergency room. At first, I expected it to be loud and frantic, like the ones on TV. That assumption shattered quickly, as I spent more time putting together IV kits and folding bags. One of the nurses told me that the slow days were good and bad, since people weren't getting hurt, but the nurses had nothing to do. On the busy days, I saw injuries that I wasn't sure that people could get, especially in a relatively quiet city.
The police would occasionally saunter in with a convict or two. We would get lots of potential heart attack or stroke patients. I would escort patients and family members back and forth from rooms to the cafeteria, and help put away wheel chairs. It didn't seem very real to me, at least until a man that came in with heart attack symptoms died. I didn't realize that the patient had died until someone mentioned bringing in a priest. It shook me, because this had been my first personal experience with death, even if it had been someone I hadn't known. The memory definitely helped establish a lot more respect in me for the organs and cadavers that we would talk about during class. Those nameless parts had instead become the missing pieces from someone who used to laugh, breathe, and live.
I had taken a tour through the local Career and Technical Education Academy with the rest of my class. To be honest, I really wasn't paying attention until we went into the Biomedical Science classroom. The teacher of the class gave a speech, and let us spend some time with the current students. I never wanted to leave. The way the forensics worked was the way I liked to learn. Know the question, see the answer, and work out the steps in between. I signed up the first chance I got, and I have never regretted it. Those classes taught me that, yes, squealing in excitement at the thought of dissections and cadavers might be weird elsewhere, but not there. Everyone in those classes was there because they chose to be, which meant no one slacked off, and every student got their hands dirty occasionally. It was like coming home, if home had clay skeletons, bad science jokes, and lots of lab equipment.
When my CTE teacher brought up the idea of starting a HOSA chapter, most of the class was enthusiastic. I had originally decided to back out of joining, because being a part of the first year of HOSA was kind of intimidating. Two years later, I'm glad I mustered up the courage to sign up. I chose my topics, Medical Spelling and Medical Reading, and studied constantly. When state competitions came, they were small, but fun. I managed to place 1st and 3rd place in my categories, and qualified for nationals. Talking my parents into letting me leave home for days without them was difficult, but Nashville, and the competitions, were worth. I got a glimpse at how students from different states were unique and similar at the same time. Through seminars, I also got a glimpse at other fields of medicine and science, ones I hadn't ever considered previously.
It wasn't until my second year of high school that I walked into the biology lab and knew that I wanted to stay there. Most of the other students cringed at dissections and fell asleep during lectures, but I couldn't get enough. My Biology teacher joked that I was the best and worst student that she ever had, because I was so enthusiastic about the subject, I kept bugging her for extra credit assignments. I couldn't help myself. I feel like there is something so special about being able to see and understand how the human body works, and how complex it is. Everything in the human body is relatable to every person on earth, for obvious reasons. Ever since, I've taken every class I can find in the science field at my school, including Physics and Chemistry.
My interests started out as only biological, but through volunteer work, expanded to the medical field as well. I spent nearly a year volunteering at the emergency room of my local hospital, and it was definitely a life changing experience. I had never spent time in a hospital before, and I had never been to the emergency room. At first, I expected it to be loud and frantic, like the ones on TV. That assumption shattered quickly, as I spent more time putting together IV kits and folding bags. One of the nurses told me that the slow days were good and bad, since people weren't getting hurt, but the nurses had nothing to do. On the busy days, I saw injuries that I wasn't sure that people could get, especially in a relatively quiet city.
The police would occasionally saunter in with a convict or two. We would get lots of potential heart attack or stroke patients. I would escort patients and family members back and forth from rooms to the cafeteria, and help put away wheel chairs. It didn't seem very real to me, at least until a man that came in with heart attack symptoms died. I didn't realize that the patient had died until someone mentioned bringing in a priest. It shook me, because this had been my first personal experience with death, even if it had been someone I hadn't known. The memory definitely helped establish a lot more respect in me for the organs and cadavers that we would talk about during class. Those nameless parts had instead become the missing pieces from someone who used to laugh, breathe, and live.
I had taken a tour through the local Career and Technical Education Academy with the rest of my class. To be honest, I really wasn't paying attention until we went into the Biomedical Science classroom. The teacher of the class gave a speech, and let us spend some time with the current students. I never wanted to leave. The way the forensics worked was the way I liked to learn. Know the question, see the answer, and work out the steps in between. I signed up the first chance I got, and I have never regretted it. Those classes taught me that, yes, squealing in excitement at the thought of dissections and cadavers might be weird elsewhere, but not there. Everyone in those classes was there because they chose to be, which meant no one slacked off, and every student got their hands dirty occasionally. It was like coming home, if home had clay skeletons, bad science jokes, and lots of lab equipment.
When my CTE teacher brought up the idea of starting a HOSA chapter, most of the class was enthusiastic. I had originally decided to back out of joining, because being a part of the first year of HOSA was kind of intimidating. Two years later, I'm glad I mustered up the courage to sign up. I chose my topics, Medical Spelling and Medical Reading, and studied constantly. When state competitions came, they were small, but fun. I managed to place 1st and 3rd place in my categories, and qualified for nationals. Talking my parents into letting me leave home for days without them was difficult, but Nashville, and the competitions, were worth. I got a glimpse at how students from different states were unique and similar at the same time. Through seminars, I also got a glimpse at other fields of medicine and science, ones I hadn't ever considered previously.