July 28, 2008

• Personal Statement 4th time’s the charm

  Thanks for all the feedback thus far…looks like I am mostly fixing up grammatical errors now. Definetly dont want to make any of those, as one of the doctors i used to work with told me he actually mis-spelled ophthalmologist on his residency application. That would be…embarassing, to say the least

  If you had to give up one of your senses, which would it be? What
  single way of experiencing your environment would you cling to at all
  cost?
  For many, I suspect the desire to see would be retained at the expense
  of the other senses. We are visual creatures, after all- isn’t it said
  that seeing is believing, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder? One of my hobbies is photography,
  an incredibly sight oriented art form. And the first and most important lesson
  in photography is to focus, in order to best direct the attention of the
  audience so they can see and experience the situation as you did.

  
  My first view of medicine was panoramic, and I tried to take everything
  in at once with a wide, unbiased view. I transported patients in an
  emergency room, I performed research with a chiropractor, I worked as a
  technician
  assisting with LASIK, anything that would give me a  glimpse into the
  world
  of healthcare. While my exposure to each field was limited, the one
  that
  ultimately contributed the most to my development was the time I spent
  interning for my ophthalmologist.

  
  At first, it was just another healthcare-related job; Once I zoomed in however,
  I noticed how happy everyone seemed to be. The elderly man having
  cataract surgery so he can pick vegetables at the farmers market, the
  father bringing in his daughter for her first contact lens fitting, the
  woman overjoyed to find a botox injection would restore the sight previously hindered by her droopy lids. 
  Even the doctors appeared as if there was nowhere they would rather be
  than reassuring  a patient about dry eyes, or excitedly scheduling the
  LASIK
  appointment for a new patient. The entire atmosphere was friendly,
  relaxed, and above all, personal. The doctors really knew their
  patients, not just as a differential or problem list, but as people.

  
  Just prior to leaving for medical school, I underwent LASIK myself, a
  patient with an in depth knowledge of my condition but no less
  concerned about someone cutting open my eye, regardless of the size of
  the blade. The doctors, along with their staff, provided just as much
  information and support as if I had walked into
  their office devoid of any technical knowledge.  I left to begin my own
  medical training with clearer vision in both body and spirit.

  As I went through my
  third year, I enjoyed the majority of my rotations, especially the ones in which I had more opportunity to interact and follow up with a patient
  beyond the initial admission, learning more about them than just the
  reason they came to the hospital. Despite that, I never seemed to feel that one “ah-ha!”
  moment, that snapshot that we are all told will come to us when we have found
  the right field.

  
  Until, that is, I decided to revisit the field of ophthalmology, doing a rotation near the end
  of my third year. All of a sudden, everything seemed to come into
  focus; no matter how many patients I saw, or how complicated they were,
  I felt confident and the days just seemed to fly by.

  
  It is said that hindsight is always 20/20. While I didn’t know it at
  the time, my early experiences in ophthalmology focused my interest
  enough to try it again in medical school, only to find that both my
  desire and enjoyment of the field has been magnified a hundredfold.
  Everytime I use my digital camera to capture a random face, or set up
  my tripod to shoot a landscape, it reminds me of how happy I am to have
  “perfect” vision and how I would like to work toward giving others that
  same opportunity. So I am taking my shot…all that remains is to see
  what develops.

  So there it is…I have read all your suggestions, and left onyl a few elements unchanged as a matter of personal preference. The hardest part of my optho app is now done. Not the most nerve wracking, just the hardest
  

  • 2:53 pm
  • 3 Comments