Quick question about theme for my personal statement

[xpinchx]

In my life experience I've never really known any physicians on a deep/emotional level. I see a doctor maybe once or twice a year to get antibiotics for strep/bronchitis/whatever, and on top of that I've moved around a lot in my life so I've never had the same doctor for more than ~4 years. Add to that I've had no significant life-changing events, nobody close to me has ever died, and nobody in my immediate or extended family is a doctor.

So my real question here is, I've had no significant driving force or motivation to become a doctor other than my own desire. I've wanted to be a doctor all of my life, but even towards the end of HS and the start of college, I wasn't sure I could become a doctor. But after I got out of HS (barely graduated with a 1.6 or something) I started to motivate myself and gradually realized I could.

Agh, so what do I write about? I can talk about self-motivation, but even then it's not clear what originally motivated me to pursue this path. Nothing external really initiated this choice. Is anyone in a similar position? What did you write about? I'm not applying until next year but I wanted to start piecing this together now so I can grow with it and have time to revise it as I see necessary.

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[lord_jeebus]

What do you know about medicine, and how is it appealing to you?

 

[xpinchx]

What do you know about medicine, and how is it appealing to you?

I know it's a "lifetime learning" career where you constantly get to explore new techniques and information, which appeals to me because I'm a naturally curious person and love to learn new ways to do things. I've always loved science and especially now in undergrad I genuinely enjoy studying anything to do with human biology/physiology. I've always had a strong desire to help others, even if it's just by talking or listening to them.

These all genuinely express the way I feel, but the problem is that I have most of these in common with all other pre-meds.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I know it's a "lifetime learning" career where you constantly get to explore new techniques and information, which appeals to me because I'm a naturally curious person and love to learn new ways to do things. I've always loved science and especially now in undergrad I genuinely enjoy studying anything to do with human biology/physiology. I've always had a strong desire to help others, even if it's just by talking or listening to them.

These all genuinely express the way I feel, but the problem is that I have most of these in common with all other pre-meds.

How would dentistry, clinical psychology, or a research career fail to meet your needs? What is superior about the medical path for you?

What kind of exposure have you had to sick people?

 

[xpinchx]

How would dentistry, clinical psychology, or a research career fail to meet your needs? What is superior about the medical path for you?

What kind of exposure have you had to sick people?

I've worked at UofM for ~2years as a patient safety sitter, which primarily consists of supervising suicide precaution patients and/or confused, violent, disabled, etc. patient. So I've been exposed to a lot of different psychological disorders. Also a lot of extreme diabetics/amputees and also elderly patients (one of my pts died on my second day working there.)

And as for the first question, what separates medical from the other various professional degrees is the interaction with the patients. I'm sure they all afford decent lifestyles and salaries, but none of them offer the same control over a patient's health. They all contribute to the pt's outcome indirectly, but I want to be the one talking with the patients and their families and planning their treatment. And for some reason I can't explain research has never really appealed to me.

 

[lord_jeebus]

I've worked at UofM for ~2years as a patient safety sitter, which primarily consists of supervising suicide precaution patients and/or confused, violent, disabled, etc. patient. So I've been exposed to a lot of different psychological disorders. Also a lot of extreme diabetics/amputees and also elderly patients (one of my pts died on my second day working there.)

I imagine you'll find a good personal statement in your experiences here.