Admission Essay - Medicine
All my life, I have wanted to help people, even if they didn’t know how to help themselves; this has led me to my current passion for psychology, particularly as I apply to this post-baccalaureate pre-med program. My education has strongly prepared me for this career path – I recently graduated from St. John’s University, which greatly emphasizes the importance of service to others and strong moral values (attributes which I hold dear). I graduated with a degree in psychology (GPA of 3.83), taking full advantage of this program to expand my knowledge of the field and bring me to where I am now. Currently, I work as a volunteer for Project Hospitality, and am in the process of starting my own research.
Getting to this extremely fortunate place in my life was not easy; my early life had its own unique struggles. I grew up with my mother, who was diagnosed with both bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. Most days, she would stay hidden in her room and was barely able to take care of herself, much less any children. These disorders crippled her ability to communicate with me and be the mother that she wanted to be. My brother and I were never privy to her disorders, so to the best of our knowledge Mother was just mad at us, and nothing was wrong. We never questioned her behavior, since we did not know that was abnormal.
After I grew up, and had already started a political science major in college, our mother revealed to us that she had been in an out of psychiatric wards all of her life; this explained the constant absences and her strange behavior. No matter what she did, she simply could not turn her life around and get a handle on her disorders. When I heard her talking like this, all I wanted to do was to find a way to help her; I knew I didn’t know how. However, that was the moment I decided to learn everything I could to prevent other families and people like her the help they need with chronic mental illnesses. Soon after this talk with my mother, I switched my major to psychology and decided to pursue that career path.
Once I started studying psychology in greater depth, my passion for it also grew. At first, it was my intention to attend grad school and pursue a Ph.D. in the field in order to conduct research; however, after some consideration, I decided that I wanted to play a direct role in diagnosing and treating patients suffering from these disorders. While research is an admirable field, I felt that my energies and skills would be better used in a direct practice context. Through this line of work, I can help the people who need assistance now, and reach out to these individuals to make a direct difference in their lives right now.
I see the pain in my mother’s eyes every day when I visit her - she is desperate for help, and I know others are too. With the help of a post-baccalaureate pre-med program, I am certain I can gain the training and experience necessary to offer that help. No one should have to suffer from chronic mental illness as my mother does; I wish to do whatever I can to alleviate that suffering and make this world a better place for people like her.
