Personal Statement Question

Dr Gerrard · Mar 3, 2009

I know people say do not judge other doctors, do not belittle them, stuff like that, but can I talk about first hand experienced corruption in a hospital in another country? I mean this is nothing really that serious, but a doctor basically had 10 sick people following him around, sees some guy with a lot of power, ignores those 10 individuals and tends to the powerful guy's friends son who, i later found out, had nothing more than a rash on his arm.

Dr Gerrard · Mar 3, 2009

I mean i know its not really a big deal, as corruption is everywhere, but it was something that kind of affected me a little bit at least.

Do the stories on the personal statement need to be extremely significant or would something like this work?

Catalystik · Mar 3, 2009

How did this experience influence you to become a US physician? If it was not an influential factor, save it for a Secondary essay.

Dr Gerrard · Mar 3, 2009

well because of it, i decided i wanted to do doctors without borders, which is one of the most appealing aspects of going to medical school for me.

235009 · Mar 3, 2009

Dr Gerrard said:
well because of it, i decided i wanted to do doctors without borders, which is one of the most appealing aspects of going to medical school for me.

my initial reaction to your question was to say not to write that but given this comment i can see how the corruption could affect your desire to become a doctor. however i'm not sure how this would be received by med schools ...especially state schools...whose goal is to train physicians that are going to practice in the US (or in their state in the case of state schools)

aznb0y129 · Mar 3, 2009

To the OP, in that case I would use this experience as long as you don't identify the doctor by name.

Dr Gerrard · Mar 3, 2009

skinMD said:
my initial reaction to your question was to say not to write that but given this comment i can see how the corruption could affect your desire to become a doctor. however i'm not sure how this would be received by med schools ...especially state schools...whose goal is to train physicians that are going to practice in the US (or in their state in the case of state schools)

ah, never thought about that. anyone have any other comments on that?

i figure the only response i would have, if asked, is that the doctors without borders is not what i want to do for my entire life, so after that i would be back to the US to practice medicine.

Mobius1985 · Mar 3, 2009

Dr Gerrard said:
ah, never thought about that. anyone have any other comments on that?

i figure the only response i would have, if asked, is that the doctors without borders is not what i want to do for my entire life, so after that i would be back to the US to practice medicine.

I agree with skinMD's thoughts. Another factor to consider: How will you pay off your loans with no appreciable income after you finish residency? You may be obliged to become debt free before you can afford to leave the country for humanitarian work.

Dr Gerrard · Mar 3, 2009

Mobius1985 said:
I agree with skinMD's thoughts. Another factor to consider: How will you pay off your loans with no appreciable income after you finish residency? You may be obliged to become debt free before you can afford to leave the country for humanitarian work.

I haven't thought about that. I just figure other people do it, so I would do it the same way they do it. haha, don't know if that made sense. hopefully i can get my dad to help me out realistically though.

235009 · Mar 3, 2009

Dr Gerrard said:
I haven't thought about that. I just figure other people do it, so I would do it the same way they do it. haha, don't know if that made sense. hopefully i can get my dad to help me out realistically though.

sounds like you should do a bit more research about doctors without borders before you make it the topic of your PS. Also, not sure which country you're talking about here but my understanding of doctors without borders is that they work mostly in extremely poor countries.

Plus how is this "corruption" you refer to any different than the access to care issues we have in america with poorer populations and the uninsured?

Dr Gerrard · Mar 3, 2009

skinMD said:
sounds like you should do a bit more research about doctors without borders before you make it the topic of your PS. Also, not sure which country you're talking about here but my understanding of doctors without borders is that they work mostly in extremely poor countries.

Plus how is this "corruption" you refer to any different than the access to care issues we have in america with poorer populations and the uninsured?

basically, i would say that those individuals in the poorer and developing countries have it worse off than the underserved individuals here. sure, the latter is still bad, but i dont think they are as bad.

in addition, here is the answer to the question about paying back loans.

Letter of support for student loan deferment
Payment of interest on student loans after first field assignment and for six months thereafter

Both of these benefits are listed on the doctors without borders website. I do not want to do this for my entire life, just want to do it for at least 1 term though (9-12 months minimum), so basically, I can equate it to deferring payment for one year. This is much less than many other specialties, since I want to go into internal medicine and just become a hospital internist. Sure, this is subject to change, but so are all other future plans.

Personal Statement Question

Dr Gerrard

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Catalystik

A Gimlet Eye

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235009

aznb0y129

Oh hamburgers!

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Mobius1985

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235009

Dr Gerrard

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