Modest one-room houses lay scattered across the desert, the steel security bars guarding their windows and doors belying the welcome sign at the entrance to the ABC Indian Reservation. As a young civil engineer, I was leading the repair of an earthen levee surrounding an active Native American burial site. It was a fairly straightforward job by federal standards, but as I stepped up to greet the tribal council members, my confidence in our design faded. These elders’ faces revealed centuries of distrust and broken government promises. Suddenly, calculations I had crunched and abstract engineering principles no longer felt relevant. Discarding my rehearsed speech, I began to solicit the council members’ questions and concerns. Although we couldn’t erase centuries of mistrust, our efforts to establish a cooperative working relationship resulted in a distinct shift in the mood of the project going forward.
I found this opportunity to humanize my engineering project both personally and professionally rewarding. Unfortunately, such experiences were uncommon. In my two years as a civil engineer, I worked on both cohesive and dysfunctional teams, developed strong communication skills and discovered that mutual respect is the backbone of teamwork. The projects that I was assigned were technically challenging, and my analytical abilities grew tenfold. Yet increasingly, I kept returning to the need for more direct human interactions and my desire to address acute problems directly.
As I began questioning my career path, a friend suggested I shadow her aunt in the VA Hospital’s emergency department. After only a few short weeks at the side of Dr. Cebelli, I knew where I belonged. Each day, I accompanied Dr. Cebelli on rounds or in clinic. I grew to admire her professionalism and composure under extreme pressure and wondered whether I could match it. The answer came one day when a patient arrived with a serious joint infection; it had gone untreated for weeks, and now the woman faced amputation of her leg. It was a challenge to stay composed, but I steeled myself and followed Dr. Cebelli's directions to the letter. Thankfully, the emergency surgery preserved her knee and she avoided amputation. Seeing the physician’s impact on this woman’s life cemented my interest in a medical career.
This memorable experience at the VA Hospital convinced me to make the leap and I enrolled in a full-time Special Master’s Program at Big University. Today, I am proud of the 3.7 GPA I achieved in this competitive program. I also had the opportunity to participate in research with the Doe Neurology Lab. Dr. Doe always stressed the importance of understanding how our research translated to improving patient outcomes. When investigating the effects of ultrasound waves on blood clots, for instance, he explained how a stroke victim might someday receive this treatment in the ambulance, restoring blood flow earlier and reducing the amount of brain damage. With this emphasis on patient benefits, Dr. Doe showed me how my efforts processing data and doing literature reviews were integrated into the larger context of medical care.
Confident of my ability to succeed in the classroom and the lab, I began volunteering as a Scribe at the Local Free Clinic. As part of this medical team, I accompany physicians during appointments and enter patient information into the electronic charts. I have found that the teamwork and communication skills honed through engineering enable me to collaborate productively. Some of the patients I have encountered are heartbreaking, such as the homeless man dressed in dirty rags, nursing a swollen foot with an open wound sustained during an epileptic seizure triggered by alcohol withdrawal. The pain and tears in his eyes disheartened me, but seeing the medical staff race to his side filled me with hope. The man's smile as I explained how to take his medications reminded me of the reason I wanted to become a doctor.
I have also begun to appreciate the emotional demands and time commitment required of physicians by watching them schedule their personal lives around the needs of their patients, and realize that the rewards of medicine stemmed from serving the needs of these same patients. I felt these rewards myself when, while holding an elderly woman’s hand during a blood draw, she sincerely advised me to live a healthy life so I could someday become a physician. Taking her advice to heart, I have resumed long-distance running. Having previously completed a marathon, this year I am mentoring a team training for their first marathon. By practicing healthy living myself, I hope to better manage the demands of my chosen career and be a positive example for my future patients.
My preparation for a career as a physician started with my work as a professional engineer at the ABC Reservation. As I engaged with the tribal council, our steps towards improved relations and trust helped us produce a successful project, and helped me realize that I need more direct personal interaction than engineering offers. The rewarding experiences I have had in my research, my volunteer work at the VA Hospital, and my graduate studies have focused my energies and prepared me for the new challenges and responsibilities that lie ahead in medicine.
Here, a non-traditional applicant takes advantage of their experience and maturity. Note how this former engineer demonstrates their sensitivity and addresses possible stereotypes about engineers’ lack of communications skills.
What works well in this essay?
This story begins in an intimidating desert landscape, an unexpected and dramatic starting point. Can’t you just feel the uncertainty that this writer felt on the remote Indian reservation? Equally powerful in this first paragraph is when the writer faces the need to suddenly and completely rethink their carefully planned approach to address the tribal leaders. Their excitement is dashed. Their confidence has plummeted. They are totally unprepared for the mistrust facing them and their plan, and they need to improvise –quickly. Who wouldn’t want to read on to see how they resolve this dramatic turn of events?
This non-traditional med school applicant reinvents themself in this essay. Without dismissing the skills they learned in engineering, they detail how they realized they wanted more human involvement and interaction than engineering provided. They take this self-knowledge and show us the steps they took to achieve their new goal – and how strengths from their first career could be translated to medicine. The steps are logical and well thought out, so the writer’s conclusion that they are well prepared in every way for med school makes perfect sense.
Through shadowing an emergency doctor, pursuing a special master’s program (and achieving high grades while participating in research) to scribing in a free clinic (which provides emotional satisfaction), the writer offers evidence that they are well suited for their new goal of a career in medicine. Each experience shared is relevant to the writer’s story. Any reader will agree that the applicant’s future as a physician is promising.
From the opening paragraph, the writer shows their ability to adapt to new situations and realities with quick thinking and psychological openness. They assess each stage of their journey, testing it for intellectual value and emotional satisfaction. Journeys of reflective self-discovery are something adcoms value.
As with any strong essay, there are no wasted words here. Each sentence builds on a foundation, taking us further into a story that has movement and vitality. Additionally, the sprinkling of sentences with vivid imagery and action adds to the essay’s power:
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