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Essay Question:
Personal statement
In 1988, my family left our homeland in search of a brighter future in America. However, as is often the case in life, things did not go exactly as planned. After a severe injury on the job, my father, who was a professor in pharmacology with several international publications, became handicapped and unemployed. The money we brought from Iran soon dwindled and my family was forced to survive on a yearly worker's compensation stipend of $8,400. Somehow, amidst all the distractions that surrounded me, I blocked out the economic hardships my family faced and concentrated on my education. That determination and focus helped me come to Yale University, where I embarked upon my journey to become a doctor. There is no single event in my life that led me to pursue a career in medicine, but rather a myriad of experiences, dreams, and sentiments have come together and guided me down the path that I am now choosing. The fragility of life is a phenomenon I have experienced first hand, and in medicine, this concept is a recurring theme. A person who feels perfectly fine one day can have his life turned upside down by a heart attack, stroke, or diagnosis of cancer. The traumatic accident that left my father broken has etched in me a deep sense of empathy for others who face uncertainty in their lives. When I volunteer at the local soup kitchen I feel a strong connection to the people I serve; these are individuals who are there partly due to events over which they had no control. An unexpected layoff is as devastating as a medical emergency; in both cases, it is vital that someone help the afflicted individual during his ordeal. Therefore, I have an intense desire to aid my future patients during their time of need and give them hope by doing everything I can to treat their illnesses and relieve their suffering. In addition to the compassionate nature of medicine, my love for science draws me to this profession. As an undergraduate I have decided to pursue a B.S. in Biology. After learning the fundamentals of cell biology my freshman year, I decided to get involved in basic science research. Since two of my grandparents passed away from heart attacks, I was interested in learning more about the cardiovascular system. I began to work in a cardiology lab that studied injury-induced vascular remodeling. In addition to learning several molecular biology techniques, I also gained an appreciation for research and its importance to modern medicine. Behind every new drug or procedure that a patient benefits from in the clinic is the wet lab work that went into uncovering the solution to the problem. My experience in the lab has shown me that clinical medicine and basic science are interrelated, and I wish to continue doing research throughout my medical career. This year in July, the data that I gathered was published in Circulation. Currently, I am working in a lab studying the congenital causes of hypertension and the role that glucocorticoids play in its etiology. For my senior thesis project I plan to further my research on this subject and gain a greater understanding of this devastating condition. Apart from the scientific rigor of medical research is the unadorned world of clinical care. As a volunteer at Yale-New Haven hospital, I had the opportunity to interact with patients from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. I enjoyed responding to their simple requests by adjusting their beds, getting them extra blankets, or bringing them a cup of refreshing water. The emotional gratification I felt after a shift was enormous, and I realized how fulfilling my life would be if I could someday have the ability to treat these patients. Over the past two years, I have shadowed my brother many times during his internal medicine residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital. During my rounds with him, I have learned a great deal about the dynamics of patient-physician interaction and the teamwork involved in the successful treatment of a patient. I feel that sincerity, compassion, and openness to others are vital to a physician's capacity to dissect, understand, and treat a patient's ailment. In addition to compassion, a doctor should possess an acute sense of observation. Since the sixth grade, I have written poetry as a means of revealing the subtleties of life that astound me. Whether I am standing at a noisy city intersection or watching the slow undulations of branches on a tree, I often subtract a minute detail from the outside world and internalize it into my own experience. With the same care that I write a forty-line poem, I want to pay attention to every symptom and concern that my patients may have in the future. Throughout my life I have encountered many difficult and frustrating situations. Yet, I have stayed optimistic and have pursued my dream of becoming a worthy physician.
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Essay Question:
Discuss your interest in the Yale University School of Medicine.
Westlake High School's Advanced Anatomy class contained four cadavers and twenty-four budding physicians. Along with dissection, we learned about the experiences of students in medical school. One documentary featured a medical student who flashed his stopwatch at the cameraman, and declared how he studied his textbooks for six hours every day in the school year. After that statement, the number of future doctors slowly whittled away to a handful of dedicated individuals. Although reading is important, I believe a medical education can be more than information from a textbook. My undergraduate years were balanced with athletics, volunteer work, international community involvement, and independent research - activities that provided interaction and developed my ability to communicate with people from different ages and backgrounds. Correspondingly, I am looking for a multidimensional experience for my medical school training. I am impressed by the Yale Medical School's commitment to public service at both local and international level. The treatment of the least privileged is perhaps the best reflections of societal philosophy. Within my own experiences working with homeless individuals, I found responses ranging from privately funded shelters (United States), to government-sponsored clinics (Germany), to legalized obligation of financial support from the family (Singapore). Each society undertook a different response because obvious solutions rarely exist, but being an active community member and volunteerism developed my sense of empowerment. Through Yale's involvement in New Haven projects and refugee camps in Macedonia, I see a similar commitment to action and philosophy of altruism. Yale also provides a unique research environment with interaction and collaboration between different departments. Although I have always been involved in research, my time abroad fostered interest in new questions. In Southeast Asia, I could see recent changes resulting from globalization, sparking my awareness of how improving health in communities affects development, and vice versa. I am also interested in population genetics; with recent advances in genomics, it is possible to explore anthropological questions like migration patterns with biological tools. Even if I do not ultimately choose to pursue a career in research, my mind will never stop questioning and trying to solve problems, and I appreciate how Yale advocates the pursuit of lifelong learning through independent research. Finally, I am struck by the sense of camaraderie between the Yale medical students. Because of the absence of grades and class ranking, the atmosphere seemed less about competition, and more about communication between students to help master the material. Within my own schooling, my peers were often my best educators - on several occasions I learned more from a single conversation in a hallway than an hour in the lecture hall. Similarly, I understood the most from courses when I studied to learn the material, not to pass an exam, and I value the large degree of autonomy and personal responsibility granted in the Yale program. I believe that Yale Medical School's approach to education and its access to resources will provide the best opportunity to develop and refine my skills as a future physician. Thank you.
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Essay Question:
Major Essay: Personal Statement: AMCAS Prompt: III. Personal Comments Consider and write your Personal Comments carefully; many admissions committees place significant weight on this section. Some questions you may wish to consider while drafting this essay are: Why have you selected the field of medicine? What motivates you to learn more about medicine? What do you want medical schools to know about you that has not been disclosed in another section of the application?
I would like to introduce you to a very special friend of mine named "Lumpy". He isn't much to look at; his head is made from a special effects silicone product alled 'Dragon Skin' and houses several balloon catheters which simulate cancerous nodes in the mouth and neck. Lumpy also lacks a body. You see, Lumpy is actually a medical device, the result of my belief that there had to be a way to detect oral cancer in people before it was too late. The idea of Lumpy was sparked after I read a rather startling statistic while waiting in the lobby of my dentist's office: 85% of the people suffering from oral cancer are diagnosed when the tumors are considered 'late-stage' and have progressed beyond the point of medical aid. The article continued on to state the mortality rate of oral cancer is higher than that of cervical cancer, cancer of the brain, liver, kidney, or malignant melanoma. I was rather taken aback by this, knowing that oral cancer treatments are typically 80% effective when discovered early and detecting unnatural lumps in the mouth seems straightforward. After probing a bit further, I finally uncovered the root of the problem: oral cancer detection training was practically non-existent in dental schools across the country. These facts were difficult for me to fathom . . . How could a malady be so treatable, yet completely ignored? I decided to investigate the possibility of creating a cancer model; a device that would mimic various stages and types of oral tumors and could be used to train dental students and physicians in early detection methods. I took it upon myself to fabricate such an instrument, and thus Lumpy was born. In order to make Lumpy as life-like as possible, I worked with a dentist who specialized in geriatric lymph carcinoma. Shadowing the oral cancer specialist gave me the opportunity to interact with patients and exposure to many different types of tumors and diagnostic techniques. I was able to replicate each of these morphologies in Lumpy, creating the most versatile and realistic repertoire to train physicians and dental students alike. This dynamic device was computer-controlled and could inflate balloon catheters that were filled with various substances to imitate a particular tumor's feel and appearance. Although I interacted with hundreds of individual patients, when I reflect back, one unique encounter comes to mind. It was during this experience that I came to know Sid, an elderly smoker who had developed severe lymph cancer in his mouth and trachea. With very few treatment options available to him, Sid had accepted his prognosis and decided to devote his remaining time to spreading the word about oral cancer and the dangers of smoking to others. Due to the severity of his condition he was hardly able to speak, instead he communicated through gestures and facial expressions that I soon learned to interpret. In spite of this handicap, he became a stout advocate of oral cancer detection and opened his heart to hundreds of other cancer patients. It was during one of our many conversations that the topic of oral cancer detection was brought up, along with the lack of screening mechanisms and public awareness regarding the disease. Over the course of our discussion, I brought up Lumpy, describing his purpose and implementation in the near future. Sid was very supportive, and thought Lumpy was a brilliant idea. He even lent a hand to ensure that representative stage-three tumors were as realistic as possible. This process involved several iterations of comparing his tumor to the simulated one, until we both felt confident that we had created a clinically accurate model. My interaction with Sid was bittersweet. He was suffering from a disease that could have easily been treated had it been caught earlier, and yet he was happy to know that through his efforts fewer lives would be lost. Spending time with Sid reminded me that treatment is both physical and emotional. I realized that medicine isn't just about MRIs or antibiotics; rather there are many aspects that contribute to the process of healing. There are many people like Sid who will benefit from the implementation of Lumpy; their cancer may be diagnosed at an earlier stage, resulting in more encouraging prognoses and an improved quality of life. After two years of development, Lumpy is patented and visiting dental schools across the country to demonstrate several detection techniques and tumor types. The success of this project stemmed from combining several different fields, the synthesis of engineering, mathematics, anthropology, and medicine. My experience with Sid and Lumpy reinforced my belief in the therapeutic nature of the patient-doctor relationship.
