I believe my reasons are rather plain:
1) I like learning about the science and technical aspects of medicine, the human body, and social determinants of health.
2) Money. I'm not doing it just for the money but I can't deny that the profession can pay well.
3) I get to help people. Who wouldn't want to make decent money and help people doing it? I simply believe that I should live a life doing good and we're here to make the world a better place and relieve human suffering. I thought medicine was a great profession to do that. I can go deeper into why I want to help people, but I think it becomes too philosophical and probably not suitable for a personal statement.
4) I get to interact and listen to other people's problems in a team environment, I can't stand a job without human interaction.
5) I like having options. I don't have to do clinical work 100% of the time. I can do research and teaching as well (I want to go into academic medicine and teaching is a big part of my application). I can potentially split some time into administration, policy, advocacy, non-profit work, writing, and so on. I can't think of any other profession with as much of opportunity to choose between all those things in addition to the job duties of a typical physician.
I'm working full-time during a second gap year with 1000+ hours of clinical experience, good amount of volunteering, teaching, research, and other ECs. I definitely had challenges in life and come from a disadvantaged background, which just taught me that life can suck and further motivated me to spare others from similar experiences, but those experiences did not directly push me towards medicine because they did not involve medicine and the situations were not relieved by the help of a physician. They indirectly pushed me to medicine because they simply told me to live my life helping others and maintain financial security, all while doing something I find fascinating.
I didn't see a surgery or help a patient and suddenly came to the realization I want to be a doctor. I didn't break a leg and said I want to be just like the physician who helped me. I didn't see an attending physician help a dying person during my ECs and decided I want to follow their footsteps. The desire was already there due to my personal thoughts and view of the world.
In summary - I want to help people. I simply see medicine as one of the many ways to help people, but I prefer it over the other many ways of helping people because I like science, I like listening to problems and human interaction, I like a good salary, I like the potential to split time doing research/teach/admin/non-profit work/etc. There was no event that pointed towards medicine directly, though many did indirectly.
