essay help

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goldfish

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i'm kinda stuck about what to write in my application essay. it's hard to pin down what is it that really motivates me to be a doctor. after reading the sdn essay guide i'm even more uncertain about what to write.

at first i was going to write that it was my father that motivated me but reading the sdn guide seems to make me hesitate about doing this cos they mentioned that it might be interpreted as some1 being immature and can't think for themselves.

now i'm thinking more along the lines of writing about growing up basically in a clinic and having some clinical experience since my father worked from home and i helped out in the clinic a lot. i can take b/p, read prescriptions, do some stitching (with guidance of course since patients would probably not let a teenager stitch their wound), do a wound dressing, do some diagnosis etc... also since my IT information system project was to computerize a diagnosis recording system with statistical reports i was thinking about writing that too.

what do u guys think? what did u write about?

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I think the caution about writing about your inspiration being drawn from family examples is sound. However, what they mean is that you should not present this as your sole reason. If you present it as a long-term and on-going exposure to the medical field then I think that would come across very well. You just have to make it clear that you found fullfillment in the work, and not in the parental approval garnered. Judging by what you wrote in the second paragraph re: working in the clinic yourself, you should have no problem portraying this difference. You can use the IT project as further demonstration of your investigation into a different side of medicine. Depending on whether you are interested in research or clinical work should influence how you discuss this latter experience ie "Although intellectually stimulating, and worthwhile, my experience in IT showed me that an essential part of my future career would be in the direct care of patients." vs "I found my IT project provided a fascinating intellectual challenge that I had not fully exercised in my clinical exposure. I hope to include this added dimension to my medical career by being active in research in addition to patient care."


...or some such nonsense ;) obviously it's not my personal statement so I didn't put too much thought into the above sentences...

good luck
 
Originally posted by goldfish
i'm kinda stuck about what to write in my application essay. it's hard to pin down what is it that really motivates me to be a doctor. after reading the sdn essay guide i'm even more uncertain about what to write.

at first i was going to write that it was my father that motivated me but reading the sdn guide seems to make me hesitate about doing this cos they mentioned that it might be interpreted as some1 being immature and can't think for themselves.

now i'm thinking more along the lines of writing about growing up basically in a clinic and having some clinical experience since my father worked from home and i helped out in the clinic a lot. i can take b/p, read prescriptions, do some stitching (with guidance of course since patients would probably not let a teenager stitch their wound), do a wound dressing, do some diagnosis etc... also since my IT information system project was to computerize a diagnosis recording system with statistical reports i was thinking about writing that too.

what do u guys think? what did u write about?

are you kidding me???? You have the makings of a great story!! Your motivation comes from seeing you dad practise day in and day out and this is GREAT. Why? because you were exposed to it. Everything was straight in front of you and you didn't have to go to some clinic to obverve patients but you learned through your dad. Oh I can even see a great opening statement to this. My creative juices are flowing.....


There is nothing wrong with writing what is the truth. If you have truly been inspired and motived with your father's lifestyle, then WRITE about it. Screw what the essay people say. If you write with what's in your heart, you can't go wrong. But as BW said, don't make that the ONLY reason you wanna go to medical school. I am sure you must have done things other than stuff in your dad's clinic. You can mention how those things helped in augmenting your already eye-opening experience. ((sigh, I wish I could just write it for you.))

PM me!!! Let me help you.
 
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