Medical School Admissions Essays

 

  • The MD Program includes substantial content in Clinical Public Health (population health, health systems science, health policy, and community health) to prepare GW graduates for an expanded scope of practice required to be successful 21st century physicians. What are your specific interests and experiences related to that aspect of the MD Program? (350 characters)

 

  • Talk about how I will be involved with the student wellness advisory council on campus in the upcoming year and how it ties into my interests of this medical school.

 

  • What is your most meaningful clinical experience to date, involving direct patient contact? (350 characters)

 

  • Here is my personal statement to reference:

 

Where am I?”

            This was a question that Jane asked me often. When I started working in hospice care, I was assigned to, Jane, who was suffering from dementia, for my training period. She could barely remember her name and where she was. She would apologize for confusing facts as I talked with her. She was also recovering from a stroke that had affected her speech, further hindering her communication. When I first met Jane, it was difficult for me to see how I could meaningfully help her. Nevertheless, after a short while, I started understanding her needs by looking beyond her dementia and stroke symptoms. Hospice care showed me the fundamentals of medicine: caring for others by addressing their physical, emotional, and social wellness needs.

As I focused on improving my communication with Jane, I grew to understand her needs better and we established a close connection. As a result, this caregiving experience opened my eyes to my growing interest in medicine. She was polite and tried hard to communicate with me even when she couldn’t remember basic things. Once, on a day when Jane had complained that she was sad and did not want to do anything, I asked her to walk to the cafeteria with me instead of taking lunch alone in her room. At first, she smiled and told me she did not know where the cafeteria was. Then, to my surprise, as I got up to collect her lunch and bring it back to her room, she told me that she had changed her mind and would walk to the cafeteria because she knew I would bring her back safely.

After interacting with Jane and completing my training, I better understood my role in hospice care and medicine. I fully appreciated the importance of this type of care. My responsibilities in the hospice care program included feeding, bathing, and spending time with residents. Before joining the program, I had considered these tasks merely routine. I have seen this when I shadowed in the ER, and saw the basic needs that were attended to and untilI realized the trust the patient had in the doctor in caring for the patients’ social,mental, emotional well being and making sure they are ok throughout their time at the hospital until the patient is discharged. However, Jane showed me how vital they are to patients’ health and emotional wellbeing. She told me she felt alone since her daughter worked in another state. They rarely talked and she did not have any other family. Jane told me that the time we spent together made her feel better and she came to think of me as family. Her words made me realize that healthcare comprises all aspects of an individual’s life, including their physical, emotional, and social well-being.

My interest in medicine was a product of my newfound understanding of the critical role of medical practitioners in their communities. I had always been interested in working in an area in which I could help people make holistic improvements to their lives. My experience in hospice care emphasized the holistic care aspects of medicine. I helped ensure patients’ physical well-being by ensuring that they followed their prescriptions, bathing them, and feeding them. In addition, I cared for their emotional and mental well-being by communicating with and spending long periods of quality time with them.

I am eager to continue this work as a medical professional. When I informed Dr. Kim, the hospice care manager, about my decision to become a medical professional towards the end of my time in the program, he told me that my interest must come from deep within. His statement made me realize that I am indeed deeply interested in this field because my decision emanated from my internal perspectives and experience with patients. Although my environment had guided me to this decision, it broadened my perspective about the possibilities of different fields of medical care. Dr. Kim became my mentor and taught me more about the physician’s role in integrity, continuous improvement, and prioritizing patients’ well-being and needs.

My primary objective in becoming a physician is based on my hospice care experience, Dr. Kim’s mentorship, and my inherent beliefs and principles: to improve patients’ comprehensive wellness by addressing their physical, emotional, and mental health needs. My interactions with Jane illustrate how much patients require this approach to improve their well-being. I hope to give many more patients the same quality of care by applying a holistic view to my medical practice.

This medical program is another stepping stone towards achieving my goal. The program will equip me with the necessary skills, knowledge, and competencies to become a better medical professional in my community. My hospice care experience reinforced my commitment to my career as a medical professional. As a result, I am eager to join this program in my journey to becoming a health care professional. I am also eager to work with my peers in this program as we share our experiences, perspectives, and beliefs about medicine. These integrations will improve our competencies in medical practice. In addition, I will work with them on various research projects to expand my proficiency in the medical field. These aspects will enhance my capacity to help my community through disease prevention and health care promotion strategies.

 

  • Describe how current issues regarding advocacy and social justice have impacted your motivation for medical school? (500 characters)

 

I am not sure how to answer this so I hope you can answer this in the most profound way possible.

 

  • What makes you a unique individual? What challenges have you faced? How will these factors help you contribute to the diversity of the student body at GW? (750 characters)

 

  • Talk about How I am indian and being a minority in this country is difficult with the discrimination faced with my culture and then discuss about the factors that help contribute to diversity and how I am apart of the indian Cultural Exchange club at Augusta University, which I will provide more details about it below :
  • I am an American citizen with Indian ancestry. As a minority group member, I have been surrounded by homogeneity throughout my life. Despite the singularity of this aspect of the situational features that define me, I have always strived to draw on my cultural background to promote diversity. I will be the president of the Indian Cultural Exchange of Augusta University from 2022 to 2023. During my first two years as a member of this on-campus non-profit group, I served as the entity secretary. As part of my duties, I was charged with planning and hosting Indian cultural events at Augusta and inviting everyone on campus, notwithstanding their background, to each occasion. The year 2022 saw us hold our most successful event: Garba, the festival of dance and Holi, the festival of colors. It had a large turnout of individuals from diverse backgrounds, allowing us to leverage the opportunity toward creating social solidarity and cohesion, cultivating social inclusion, and strengthening civic pride and tolerance. I was also the comptroller of the Student Government Association at Augusta. In this role, I helped fund an on-campus diversity event to advocate for additional diversity-oriented classes. Furthermore, I conducted surveys to understand students’ desired changes in the context of diversity. Aside from these engagements, I have partaken in several other diversity promotion activities that, collectively, I could exploit to support and promote diversity and inclusion, ensure continuous self-development, and broaden the scope of my peers’ understanding of other cultures at Columbia. In light of my background and experiences, I feel prepared to effectively navigate the challenges – for instance, internalized stereotypes, communication barriers, and patients’ healthcare beliefs – that hallmark provider-patient interactions against the backdrop of cultural differences. Overall, I am confident that I am positioned to render culturally-sensitive care in a society on a trajectory toward increased cultural heterogeneity.

 

  • What is your specific interest in the MD Program at GW? What opportunities would you take advantage of as a student here? Why? (1750 characters)

 

Use the GW Mission Statements and write based off of that.

  • Educating a diverse workforce of tomorrow’s leaders in medicine, science, and health sciences.
  • Healing through innovative and compassionate care.
  • Advancing biomedical, translational, and health services delivery research with an emphasis on multidisciplinary collaboration.
  • Promoting a culture of excellence through inclusion, service, and advocacy.
  • As a globally recognized academic medical center, GW embraces the challenge of eliminating health disparities and transforming health care to enrich and improve the lives of those we serve.