Please help!!!
Hi everyone! So 5 of my applications are already sitting in front of admissions officers, but I have yet to even finish my Brown app. The only thing I have left are my 2 PLME essays, which are for Brown's undergrad-med school combo program. They need to be mailed by December 12, so I was wondering if you could like read them and give me a little feed-back. This is honestly the place I want to go, and a major reach for me, so any and all help will be very much appreciated!
Thanks, I love you all!
~Carla
ESSAY 1:
Most high school seniors are still unsure about what they want to do with their lives. I made my decision before I entered kindergarten.
When I was little, I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents. They used to always tell me that I could be anything I wanted. That is the reason they came to this country from Italy- to follow the American dream. When I told them of my profound interest in the way the human body works, they encouraged me to become a doctor. There was no discussion of how much work it would be or how much I would be paid. There was never even any pressure from anyone in my family. They simply bought me a pretend doctor kit and let me perform check-ups on them. I’m sure they assumed I would outgrow this desire, as most small children do, but it stuck. In fact, my interest only increased as I got older. I was the only girl in my freshman biology class to enjoy the dissection labs. The summer after sophomore year, I watched the dissection of a cadaver and was more than intrigued. I’ve spent scores of hours volunteering in hospitals, trying to soak up as much information from doctors and nurses as possible. I find the human body to be the most interesting subject in the world. I want to know everything about it- how it works and how to make it function properly when it just won’t. I consider medicine my passion- I’ve just always been drawn to it.
I feel that PLME would be the perfect place for me to pursue a career in medicine. Since I am positive I want to be a physician, I don’t feel like I need to go to a liberal arts school for four years before concentrating on what I really want. Plus, Brown has a reputation for having one of the best medical programs in the world. I know that at PLME I would get the education I need to become a great physician so that I can begin helping people and really pursuing my passion.
ESSAY 2:
When I think of physicians, the feeling that comes to me is not warm and fuzzy. I see unnaturally white lab coats and smell overly sterile rubber gloves. I do not enjoy trips to the doctors. I hate the jargon used and the way that visits are often rushed and impersonal. More than anything, I hate the way that I like to trust in what someone with “MD” after their name says, only to find out later that they were completely wrong.
What’s interesting is that I haven’t always had these thoughts. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, and was not one of the stereotypical children who feared yearly physicals. However, one morning when I was in 7th grade, I was rushed from school to my pediatrician’s with a fever of 104º. I found out I had pneumonia and ended up being out of school for almost a month. My illness was nothing close to serious, but I hated that none of the doctors seemed to be trying very hard to make me feel better. They simply felt around my rib cage, listened to my breathing, and wrote out a prescription. A simple get well wish would have been very much appreciated.
Sometime during the week after my diagnosis, the “sinus infection” my grandfather had been battling for over a month suddenly turned out to be brain and lung cancer. I was angry that tests had not been done sooner, and couldn’t help but think that he may have lived longer if treatments were started earlier. The only thing worse than these thoughts was when my family was told he would be going home the next day because he was doing so well. He passed away that morning. Although I now realize this was no one’s fault, I despised the false hope that my family, including my grandfather, had.
So if I have this much disliking towards physicians, why do I still want to be a doctor? Because I know that my sensitivity could make a difference for one child who just wants to be told that they will be okay from a supposed expert. Because I want to help improve lives. Because I want to counter my negative view of physicians by proving once and for all that not all of them are stereotypically cold.
Thanks, I love you all!
~Carla
ESSAY 1:
Most high school seniors are still unsure about what they want to do with their lives. I made my decision before I entered kindergarten.
When I was little, I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandparents. They used to always tell me that I could be anything I wanted. That is the reason they came to this country from Italy- to follow the American dream. When I told them of my profound interest in the way the human body works, they encouraged me to become a doctor. There was no discussion of how much work it would be or how much I would be paid. There was never even any pressure from anyone in my family. They simply bought me a pretend doctor kit and let me perform check-ups on them. I’m sure they assumed I would outgrow this desire, as most small children do, but it stuck. In fact, my interest only increased as I got older. I was the only girl in my freshman biology class to enjoy the dissection labs. The summer after sophomore year, I watched the dissection of a cadaver and was more than intrigued. I’ve spent scores of hours volunteering in hospitals, trying to soak up as much information from doctors and nurses as possible. I find the human body to be the most interesting subject in the world. I want to know everything about it- how it works and how to make it function properly when it just won’t. I consider medicine my passion- I’ve just always been drawn to it.
I feel that PLME would be the perfect place for me to pursue a career in medicine. Since I am positive I want to be a physician, I don’t feel like I need to go to a liberal arts school for four years before concentrating on what I really want. Plus, Brown has a reputation for having one of the best medical programs in the world. I know that at PLME I would get the education I need to become a great physician so that I can begin helping people and really pursuing my passion.
ESSAY 2:
When I think of physicians, the feeling that comes to me is not warm and fuzzy. I see unnaturally white lab coats and smell overly sterile rubber gloves. I do not enjoy trips to the doctors. I hate the jargon used and the way that visits are often rushed and impersonal. More than anything, I hate the way that I like to trust in what someone with “MD” after their name says, only to find out later that they were completely wrong.
What’s interesting is that I haven’t always had these thoughts. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, and was not one of the stereotypical children who feared yearly physicals. However, one morning when I was in 7th grade, I was rushed from school to my pediatrician’s with a fever of 104º. I found out I had pneumonia and ended up being out of school for almost a month. My illness was nothing close to serious, but I hated that none of the doctors seemed to be trying very hard to make me feel better. They simply felt around my rib cage, listened to my breathing, and wrote out a prescription. A simple get well wish would have been very much appreciated.
Sometime during the week after my diagnosis, the “sinus infection” my grandfather had been battling for over a month suddenly turned out to be brain and lung cancer. I was angry that tests had not been done sooner, and couldn’t help but think that he may have lived longer if treatments were started earlier. The only thing worse than these thoughts was when my family was told he would be going home the next day because he was doing so well. He passed away that morning. Although I now realize this was no one’s fault, I despised the false hope that my family, including my grandfather, had.
So if I have this much disliking towards physicians, why do I still want to be a doctor? Because I know that my sensitivity could make a difference for one child who just wants to be told that they will be okay from a supposed expert. Because I want to help improve lives. Because I want to counter my negative view of physicians by proving once and for all that not all of them are stereotypically cold.