Medical School Essay

"Just think," my dad said. "He has a name. He has a mother who called him by name."

My dad was referring to a homeless man standing on the sidewalk in Downtown Nashville, TN. As my dad spoke these words, images of the man as a child filled my head. I imagined his mother holding him, calling him David. Up until that moment, I had barely seen this man as alive, but now I could not deny David's humanity. The change in how I saw David also brought a change to my heart-I felt responsible for him, and I knew that I could no longer ignore the other David's around me. This experience only deepened my growing desire to serve those around me. I have asked myself many times what type of profession would provide the opportunity to serve people and make a difference in their lives and would be best suited for my personality, interests, and personal growth. Each time, I see myself as a physician working in my community.

Many of my experiences have influenced my decision to enter the medical field and given me the necessary tools to be a successful physician. Through my church, Downtown Presbyterian Church, I have worked with the homeless community of Nashville. I have served them meals and formed relationships. These experiences, along with the time I spent helping refugee children at Refugee Family Services in Atlanta, GA have deepened my desire to serve people in the United States and abroad.

My research in chemistry at Agnes Scott College and Vanderbilt University allowed me to develop valuable critical thinking skills that will help me provide accurate diagnoses and find solutions to the problems I would face practicing in an under-served community. At Agnes Scott, my research of photoinduced electron transfer led to two poster presentations at different American Chemical Society meetings. While at Vanderbilt, one of my tasks was to find and test a sol gel synthesis route for a metal oxide that had not previously been synthesized in this research lab. I was able to find a synthesis route for this compound and made adjustments so that it could be successfully synthesized using a sol-gel process.

Even working at a children's bookstore utilized my ability to think quickly to find the book best suited to the needs of a customer based on the information the customer gave me. This ability to pull together information from different sources will help me to analyze a patient's health history so that I can determine a diagnosis. Also, I was in charge of simultaneously managing the store and overseeing special events on Saturdays. I learned how to distribute tasks among the staff to ensure that the store and the events all ran smoothly and efficiently, another ability which will transfer to a medical setting.

Yet, through all these experiences, my thoughts return to David. Seeing him helped me realize my desire to serve my community. This desire has led me to the medical profession. I want to become a physician in order to bring life into people's lives. Whether it's through saving someone's life or finding ways to bring better healthcare to a neighborhood, I want to serve my community through medicine. Becoming a physician is the way I see myself fulfilling this desire, and, through my experiences, I believe that I have gained the skills to do so successfully.