Key Influences In My Life

As I have moved toward the path of a career in Internal Medicine, there have been certain educational events which served as catalyst to my career. My first clerkship in Internal Medicine Outpatient in a rural and underserved area of Tennessee, I met Dr. Candi Overholt. She was an extraordinary mentor as I watched her daily manage each patient’s numerous comorbidities and yet she also showed sincere interest in each patient’s emotional and personal life.

The PBS NOVA documentary “Doctors’ Diaries” gives the everyday person insight into the grueling yet rewarding life of seven doctors’ journey through medical school, and into their career. The viewer follows the life of seven medical students: Tom Tarter who is an emergency room physician, Luanda Grazette, a cardiologist, David Friedman, an ophthalmologist and heath researcher, Jane Leibschutz who is an internal medicine and primary care taker, Elliot Bennett-Guerrero who is an anesthesiologist, Cheryl Dorsey, a pediatrician, and Jay Bonner who is a psychiatrist. Throughout the film, the seven doctors face happiness, hardships, heartbreak, and personal disappoint.

At this point in my life, my greatest accomplishment is graduating from the New Jersey Medical School Pre-Medical Honors Program at Rutgers University. This accomplishment was the determining factor in my decision to take on a career in medicine. In this program, I was to be under the mentorship of renowned professors and students in medical school. Through these mentors, I gained a firm knowledge on what a career in the medical field consisted of. The professors were able to teach me about the history of medicine, issues in medicine, and the wide variety of career paths that exist within it. In addition, the mentors explained the pivotal impact that the health care system and health care professionals have on the health of the public. The

In addition, while much of the presentation was admittedly a recap of information I already knew, there were a few pieces of valuable information presented. One bit of information was the deconstruction of the personal statement. I did not know there were actually two components to the personal statement: the disadvantage statement and the personal statement itself. I got to listen to one medical student’s personal statement that described her immigrant family upbringing and how her relationship with her mother shaped her goals. In her personal statement, she described her experiences and included specific examples that ultimately formed a narrative. One of the examples she used was her shadowing experience with a primary care physician I had heard before that medical schools wants to know why you want to study medicine, but when I tried to write something resembling a personal statement, it still felt like something was missing. Hearing this example clarified for me that the personal statement doesn’t have to be some literary wonder, it just has to be genuine and articulate. I heard her story and I thought, “I could write something like that.”

During my middle childhood the pivotal influences on my development were participation in extracurricular activities and a love of reading. During middle childhood my parents enrolled me in ballet classes, various sports, and I competed in rodeos. These activities contributed to my social identity and social development. Through my extracurricular activities, I became aware of multiple aspects of my identity. For example, I knew to behave differently in my ballet classes than I might at a rodeo. I also learned to befriend and accept different types of people through my exposure to these different environments. These processes helped me to acquire appropriate social behaviors and positive group identity (Hutchison, 2013). When I was 9 years old I moved to another school, and though my parents re-enlisted me in ballet and sports, I had a difficult time fitting in. During this transition I picked up a love for reading. I thoroughly enjoyed any book assignments at school, and I was constantly asking my parents to buy more books or to take me to the library. I believe this love for reading greatly influenced my intellectual and cognitive development, as I was put into more advanced classes at my new school and did exceedingly well on tests and assignments. I scored especially well on reading tests and could read at a high school level in 5th grade. While I had positive group identity earlier in middle childhood, I believe my reading may have been excessive concerning my social

Adversity has only improved my tenacity, focus, endurance, and problem solving abilities. Various circumstances have affected my academic performance negatively, but I use that as motivation to continually improve myself. I want to be a part of the solution to the family physician shortage and serve the community in the most effective way. My drive to improve the lives of others will help propel me through the difficulties of medical school and beyond. The personal experience I have with my immersion in the field of primary care gives me unique characteristics that will translate into creating a successful physician that focuses on building meaningful relationships with patients. I continually witness how my grandfather is positively impacting the community through medicine and it is my goal to be granted an opportunity to do the same. My belief in lifelong learning and continual self-improvement consistently drives me towards the study of medicine. Because of my life experiences, I now have the balance, endurance, clarity, and tenacity needed to be a successful medical

On the verge of finalizing my application process for Physician Assistant (PA), looked back to see what motivates my aspiration. This ambition of pursuing a career in physician assistant did not happen suddenly, but has association to my life story. My life since childhood had a colorful

Please describe the factors and challenges that have most shaped your personal life and aspirations. How have these factors helped you to grow? Be it puberty, evolutionary ancestral traits, or apricot trees that bear fruit too early, precociousness is not necessarily a good or bad thing. Growing up, this was a word frequently associated with me for two reasons; my natural intelligence and maturity despite my young age, and the skills that I had to adapt after my parents had divorced. The challenges that I’ve faced as a result of the divorce were not necessarily a bad thing either.

In 2007, she passed away due to breast cancer. The realization that she was gone was devastating. When one is struck with tragedy, they can make one of two choices. They can either progress and thrive regardless of the situation or dwell on it. I persevered through my desolation and decided to prevent similar experiences for others. This experience drove me to the medical field and further drove me to become the student that I am.

The journey to my decision on becoming a physician is not one people read books about. It is not a tear jerking, rising from the ashes story. I have been incredibly blessed throughout my short life to clearly see my considerable obstacles, like being bullied my entire life and being a first generation college student, as trivial matters that couldn’t be solved with a little prayer, grit, and tenacity. My decision to become a physician was not a simple choice for me, nor was the choice obvious in any way.

From earliest childhood I had always expressed my desire to be a physician. This was driven; in part, by the desire to help others and the influence of the primary care physicians I was exposed to as I grew up in southern West Virginia. These interests lead me to volunteer at a rescue squad and to work at a nursing home.

My road into choosing medicine has been a turbulent route, but the bumps and hurdles along the way have created defining impressions on me. Over the years, I have been pushed and pulled into and away from being a physician. I interest in medicine initially sparked my high school friend asked me to take his job in doing his father’s, a primary care physician, paperwork for the year. I was in need of some gas money, so I gladly accepted. After signing towers of paper work regarding HIPAA, I began doing the simple task of scanning medical files and typing them into the electronic system.

The medical field attracts a wide variety of individuals from all walks of life. The reasons for their shared choice, to pursue a career as a practitioner of medicine, are similarly different. Several of my classmates and friends can point to specific events that helped them make their choice, moments of inspiration when they consciously decided to become physicians. I had no such epiphany, but my choice to study at DMU was influenced by two main factors. Additionally, I have been forced to reevaluate myself and my goals several times along my journey. Most recently, the film “The Doctor” caused a change in perspective regarding my future goals as a physician.

I have taken stock of myself, considering my skills, experiences, and goals. I have looked to family and friends, some of whom are doctors, for advice. Because of this self-examination, I have decided to pursue a career in health care. The process has been difficult at times but always illuminating. Throughout it all, I have never lost confidence - the confidence that I will actively absorb all available medical knowledge, forge friendships with fellow students, and emerge from my training as a skilful and caring physician.

I grew up on a street called Autumn Place, this was a great place to grow up, as it was a very quiet neighborhood, with a park just down the street. I lived there for ten years, until my family was lucky enough to be able to buy there own house, located on a street called Feeney Place, which was also in a quiet neighborhood, just no park this time. I have always lived with my mom, dad, and brother, and each one of them helps me in specific areas that the other person can’t, like my mom helps me get over an emotional problem, my dad helps me with physical problems, and my brother helps me with academic problems, this is a great living situation for me. My family has always been there for me, probably because I am the youngest sibling, my brother is older than me, but we have a good relationship, a mix of rivalry and friendship, which I think is the best kind of relationship to have with a brother. Both my brother and my dad are big influences, my dad motivates me to never give up and to always have a good attitude, and my brother motivates me to do well in school. I have had a life full of experiences, but only three of them actually influence. For a good while my dad was an alcoholic. After that though, my knee was injured multiple times, and then my uncle was arrested. These have all taught me perseverance, which has made me the strong person I am today.