Virginia Commonwealth University Personal Statement

As I walked onto the medical floor in a white coat, I experienced a flood of emotions and suddenly found myself travelling very quickly down memory straits. The joy of providing care to patients and families always hung on and the desire to practice medicine was never lost. Having invested time and effort getting to know myself better, I have come to a place where I am more certain than I have ever been of my deepest inner conviction of giving to the human course, the sustenance of life.

I am a senior at Ontario High School and am expecting to graduate this May. I was born in Querendaro, Mexico and then moved to Ontario, Oregon. While in high school I have already obtained a few college credits at a reduced price, but even though I obtained them at a reduced price it was still challenging to pay for them. In my house, there is my two parents, my two sisters and myself, all living with one parent household income and some help. I also had the advantage to complete the Certified Nursing Program as a high school student through the Allied Health. Since I got the opportunity to obtain these college credits and complete the CNA program while in high school, I took the fullest advantage.

For as long as I could remember, I have seen my father rushing to the hospital in a white coat, answering pagers in the middle of important family conversations and attending night calls even in the most terrible weather. I had always wondered; what could be so important that it belittles every other responsibility in his life. It was only after many years of anguish and protests that it finally made sense to me. This defining moment of realization occurred when I first met a patient in his office. I saw how the gratitude in the patient’s eyes can provide a sense of fulfillment that triumphs all other feelings in the universe. It was human life that was most important. Being a doctor does not make you a mere healer but also gives you the responsibility of a caregiver. I had never felt more proud of my father and that was the day I felt the urge to relive this feeling many times over. It was there in that moment that I decided to pursue a career in medicine.

Virginia Tech has been the home for both my brothers through their mechanical engineer degree and their transformation into responsible and hardworking young adults. I am the third of my family to attend Virginia Tech and even before I was accepted the campus already felt like a second home to me. I know the campus extremely well due to the many visits made and the rural location is quite calming and therapeutic when overwhelmed with stress. The distance from my home puts my mind at ease due to the fact that I always have an opportunity to return home if any major problems arise at home. The entire environment given to me by attending Virginia Tech allows a tranquil learning experience where I will be able to complete my short term goal of rapidly adapting to college life and focus on pursuing my chosen major.

I am currently studying for an Associate’s Degree in Business Administration at Northern Virginia Community College. I plan to transfer to George Mason University in order to earn a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Accounting. I aspire to become either a Forensic Accountant or a Certified Public Accountant. I am extremely motivated and care deeply about my education. I believe that attending George Mason will help me achieve my goals because the university has a highly regarded business program.

Virginia Tech’s ‘hands-on, minds-on’ approach exemplifies my philosophy: to “invent the future” using individual voices that work cohesively. As an Indian-American, I straddle the divide between two different but inspiring cultures: I flip between English and Hindi, between shaking hands firmly and touching elders’ feet, and selecting fast-food or chicken-tandoori. My dual heritage inspires me to be an active listener and learner who will bring a rich blend of my Indo-American values to a diverse institution.

Even through all of my years in medical school, I still could not come to an understanding that medical professionals could not save all of their patients. Julia’s death haunted me, I couldn’t sleep thinking of all the ways I could have saved her and when I did sleep I had nightmares of her death. I began to feel depressed, and lost my confidence as a physician. No amount of schooling could have prepared me for dealing with the physical and emotional stress of my first patient dying, especially one I had frequently treated. If I had been treating a patient in my own home, I would have dropped to my knees and sobbed. Something about the location of a hospital numbs emotion, and I felt like I wasn’t allowed to be upset at Julia’s death. The other nurses enjoyed working with Julia as well, but I seemed to be the only one unable to deal with her death. The entire community turned upset, Julia was inspiring to both medical staff and the other refugees who knew her from their escape. The atmosphere was cold, like a warmth had been stripped away from it. I began to distance myself from my patients, and the other staff who had worked with her took note and saved me from going into depression. The other doctors and nurses knew how young as a physician I was, and the likeness I had formed with Julia. They gave me the best advice on how to deal with a patient dying; death is inevitable and medical professionals are grieve but also have other patients in need of

In my family, everyone's dreams is to be in the medical field. However, I was not interested in pursuing it. I did not want to be forced to do something that I was not absorbed. This view did not change until summer of 2012. During summer, a teacher introduced me to a show, Fullmetal Alchemist, where they showed how doctors and alchemists help save people’s lives every day. This film inspired me to become someone that can help the community. So, I decided to become a pharmacist, making medicine for people, and helping me change my perspective the medical

During this exercise, I witnessed the deleterious effects of having limited access to medical care. Many of the patients we saw suffered from chronic hypertension, diabetes, congestive heart failure and severe dental problems. I worked with doctors, nurses and dentists to provide the best care possible. I learned how to identify different heart rhythms by auscultation and even performed minor surgeries under the supervision of a doctor. I listened to patients’ stories and gave them advice about their conditions. This experience assured me that I was headed in the right direction. Medicine's ability to improve the lives of those in the greatest need is unmatched. The humanitarian mission of medicine is my passion – serving the poor and the sick requires a commitment to selfless service without the expectation of fame. I believe that this is the service that I have been called to

Grandfather was my role model of perseverance when I was growing up. He had received several medals for defending our hometown Hanoi during the US bombing in Vietnam. After the war, he returned to work at the Ministry of Education with the same dedication that everyone admired him for. Nevertheless, my grandfather was stricken with bone cancer—the one hardship he could not overcome. During his final years, I inevitably became familiar with the hospitals where my grandfather received his chemotherapies. As his conditions worsened, the treatment costs delved deeper in our budgets, meanwhile the attitudes of the medical staff that had treated him and other terminal patients declined to a disgusting point. I tried to ease his pain, but my massages eventually became useless. These two years of watching my grandfather’s last fight while I was in middle school opened my eyes to many issues in health care. The unfortunate experiences also began to cultivate my desire to become a doctor and improve the

A dog is rushed into the clinic with aspirin poisoning and displaying symptoms of a loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, and intestinal hemorrhaging. The loss of an animal can be just as detrimental to a family as the loss of a relative. After a bit of induced vomiting, possible pumping of the stomach if it is worst case scenario, and a prescription of decontamination; man’s best friend gets to go home in the arms of a forever grateful family. This is what I want to be able to do for people with an education from UVA-Wise.

One afternoon in 1992 when I was 8 years old, my parents picked me up from school as usual. My father was driving a motorbike, the Honda Super Cub. I sat in front of him and my mother sat behind. We were on the main street and had almost arrived at our house when a truck suddenly hit the back of the motorbike. Everything happened as fast as a snap. The Honda Cub was trapped underneath the truck, and we were thrown off. My mother was lying on one side of the road, holding her bleeding knee while my father, with both legs injured, was still trying to protect me. As a result of that, I was lying in my father 's arms without injuries. Fortunately enough, all of us were still conscious and transferred to the ER of Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. As soon as we arrived, my father was immediately admitted to the OR while my mother was lying on a stretcher in pain, and I was sitting next to her; we were waiting to be seen by doctors. After seeing my mother and me, the doctors decided that my mother needed surgery as quickly as possible. That moment in the ER was the first time I had ever seen doctors, nurses, and patients in such crisis situations. I was worried for my parents ' well-being; I was begging doctors to see my mom promptly because she was bleeding and in pain. And the thought of becoming a doctor that day struck my mind.

I am often asked why I want to become a physician. My fascination with medicine and the human body began when I was young; I shadowed a heart transplant surgeon in junior high and I was astonished at how even modern medicine with decades-trained physicians and staff could only attempt to control the human heartbeat– the very heartbeat that so many human beings so frequently go without noticing and appreciating. Even with this fascination, I still did not know how to express my passion for medicine until that Saturday morning. As the woman was pushed into the ambulance, I realized there was so much about her that I still wanted to know. It was then that I finally found the words to describe my aspiration to become a physician: I desire to work with patients during their brightest and darkest hours, providing compassionate care when they need it the most.

I sought out a community volunteer opportunity at The Hospital for Sick Children in the Cardiology Inpatient Unit. With the overwhelming sight of residents, fellows and attending staff bustling around me, I quickly fell in love with the intricate communal environment of the hospital and the technologies of medicine. However, during my shift, I came across an unfortunate situation in which a parent had signed a Do Not Resuscitate order for their child. It further emphasised that medicine was nothing compared to its depiction on t.v. where the patients were cured by the end of the episode. Moreover, I was becoming aware of the level of mental and emotional stability doctors require to empathise for patients, inspiring me into pursuing a medical degree.

Having a mother in a healthcare related field, I was exposed to medicine from a very young age. In middle school, I walked to Mount Olive Family Medicine after school and waited until it was time to go home. I had to sit in the facility’s kitchen in order to stay out of the way,