This is my essay I wrote for Residency when I thought I was going to be a general surgeon which is why the surgical angle. However, the format is the same for the medical school essay. Be sure you keep it at one page. Cut out all the busy words. Be concise in your meaning.
Intro
The event that sparked your interest
Your vision of yourself or your trials or dreams or interests, etc
Conclusion
My roots are in Bush Alaska. I grew up 100 miles from nowhere deep in the wilderness. My youth was spent peeling logs for my mom's cabin, cooking meals over a campfire, skiing under the Northern Lights, running a dog team on the back trails, packing water, and keeping a lookout for bears and moose. Medical care is scarce and injuries on the Frontier can quickly lead to sepsis and death. Patients have to be flown from the village to the main hospital – if they make it that long. I understand the logistics, the people, the land. I have a sense of community, family and desire to return to Alaska, my home, where my personal journey began to become a rural surgeon.
The first time I set foot in the operating room I knew it was for me. The cold steel of the instruments, the patient on the table draped and prepped as to hide us all from the person underneath. The circulator watches me to see if my sterile field is maintained and the tech warns me not to touch the Mayo stand. There is a sense of intrusion being the student, a disruption of the flow; trying not to be in the way yet wanting to see and feel and hear everything about the case. The first surgeon I worked with, a man of few words, quick with the knife and short on praise. Wild Bill they call him, trained in Vietnam, with uncombed hair and no time for talk. After the usual round of anatomy questions about the abdomen he asks me to name the stomachs of the cow. Fortunately for me it was the one thing I remembered from comparative anatomy. Silence fell after I answered only to be broken by a gruff, "Hand the girl a needle". I sewed on every patient after that, it was understood. It was wonderful. It was more than I hoped for.
Surgery residency for me needs to be very simple. No fluffy academic research or exceptional monetary gain. Bare bones, hard core technique, lots of OR experience and plenty of hands on patient care. I assume that I will end up in being the only surgeon for thousands of square miles and need the skills to take care of those patients you never see in training. Isolation requires competence, confidence, and the ability to improvise. My anesthesia rotation I asked for the same – to be able to intubate and put in a central line without hesitation. I expect it of myself to know what to do – there will be no one else.
Professionally I plan to gain expertise in general surgery to be able to travel the globe and provide service. I already have a sponsor to fund work for Operation Smile and plan to go to the fistula hospital in Ethiopia. I recognize the extreme need for physicians globally, not just in Alaska. I have a soft place for the indigent and elderly but do not advocate welfare for those who abuse the system. My philosophy stems from my mother's words, "If you know someone is hungry, make them a sandwich. There is plenty to go around. The truly needy will be thankful".
My journey began as a far away dream in the wilderness and came to be with the support of some extremely talented, motivated, caring physicians who care for the vast diversity of people in Alaska. I am proud of where I came from and know that someday I will join the ranks of my mentors out there in the scrub. Got to go. The helicopter is landing.
Questions? You want them to WANT to meet you because you sound that cool.
