1.

Pip Knight
Why a career in science journalism interests me

I am a hopeless romantic when it comes to sciencewooed by its stories, moved

by its choreography. Science, for me, flickers alive when its charged with narrative and
steeped in imagination. So while I believe in the power of working science, I also
believe in hatching stories out of the stuff that zips through particle accelerators and
churns in centrifuges. Science writing lets me pursue those tales, and in the process,
commit to a chase that never ends.
I think a part of me was teased into that chase long before I knew science writers
even existed. In seventh grade, I took on a year-long project investigating Fitch Barriers,
the yellow sand-filled barrels placed by exit ramps and highway dividers to cushion the
impact of car accidents. Little had been published about these barrels at the timenot
even a Wikipedia page. So I got in touch with the Vice President of Engineering for
Energy Absorption Systems and prodded him with questions. I corresponded with CA
Highway Patrol officials and plowed through high school physics tutorials, parsing the
mathematical relations between momentum, acceleration, and kinetic energy to
demystify the magic behind colliding vehicle and sand.
The science intrigued me, certainly. But the real thrill came as I sat before a blank
document, prepared to craft a story about barrels that harnessed the laws of physics to
save lives. My audience was a graying journalism teacher who hadnt touched physics
in decades; I was a writer hellbent on pitching it to her just right. And pitch it I did
that was the only time a teacher personally thanked me for writing a paper.
As a Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior major, I can tell you how to read
an electrocardiogram, or how to measure muscle contractions with a force transducer.
But I can also tell you that if you cut open a freshly dead frog and thread a copper wire
buzzing with current through its heart, the purple jewel of an organ swells and recoils
to a cadence, atria convulsing and ventricles yawning open as blood is gulped from
chamber to chamber. Fine vessels marble this lone sign of life pulsing in a sprawling
gutscape, and if you stare long enough, it almost seems to wince with each throb.
All this you can find scrawled into the margins of my lab manual.
Science writing lets me straddle polar worlds: humanities and the sciences. It
allows me to live by paradox, to reconcile life as both a mechanism and an art. It lets me
draw out the elegance of science without crippling its credibility.
I realized how much all this means to me, bewilderingly, when a fire burned
through my apartment one quarter. Because in my sick, homeless, and insurance-less
state, I worried more about capturing a story for my science journalism class than I did
about recovering thousands of dollars in damage and lost items. I was a fool, by normal
standards.
But arent all romantics?
2. Jafar Jaclose

As the daughter of refugee immigrants from Vietnam, my parents have always

been, and continue to be, an integral part of who I am today. Growing up, my parents
always stressed that maintaining a strong family and community would be essential to
my survival in America. They also emphasized that everyone deserved our compassion
and empathy regardless of their situation and never hesitated to share anything we own
with both our relatives and less fortunate strangers. Despite the fact that we often
barely had enough money to pay for our own living expenses when I was younger, my
parents still consistently donated spare clothes, food, and money to local shelters and
individuals on the streets.

These experiences throughout my childhood helped me become more aware of

the different types of social inequities that exist in the world. In addition to poverty and
homelessness, I also witnessed racism and discrimination against people of color,
sexism, and even violence against women regularly in school, in my neighborhood, and
on TV. As a result, my determination to understand how to address these different
community issues continued to grow as I got older. In high school, I became involved
with various community-based projects, which ranged from collaborating with canned
food/coat drives, interning for a family care physician, and even facilitating outreach
efforts to educate 4th graders about the importance of health and nutrition. Each service
project taught me more about the different cultural values and experiences among a
diverse group of individuals. Additionally, my accomplishments with each project
helped me see how compassion, dedication, and knowledge could positively impact the
same communities I helped.

When I began my undergraduate years at UC Davis, I continued to actively

dedicate myself to several other community-based projects. As a first-generation
Southeast Asian college student, I am privileged to have been a student leader and
representative for various organizations such as the Asian American Association and
have even served as a peer educator for the Cross Cultural Center. More importantly, I
have been a group mentor at various conferences for the student-run organization,
Southeast Asians Furthering Education (SAFE). In SAFE, I provide support through
guidance and mentorship for individuals within the Southeast Asian (SEA) community
to ensure their academic and holistic success. From working directly with younger
college-age and middle school students, I have seen numerous students become
confident leaders in their own communities. Their accomplishments helped me realize
that I absolutely love working with youth; I still continue to find an immeasurable
amount of satisfaction in providing my students with the knowledge and resources that
will empower them to strengthen our communities as well as pursue a higher
education.

From my science coursework and experiences with serving numerous

disadvantaged communities on campus, I discovered a way to reconcile the compassion
and empathy I have inherited from my parents with my passion for youth education
and mentorship. I want to pursue a career in primary care so that I can continue to help
the underrepresented communities I was exposed to when I was growing up. Because
of my educated perspective from working closely with different communities, I am also
able to use my experiences to understand how cultural factors and social inequities
perpetuate health disparities within the healthcare field. Earning my EMT certification
and volunteering extensively in the Child Life (Pediatrics) department at the UC Davis
Medical Center helped reinforce my understanding of the significance of primary care.

Committing a significant amount of my time to both my community projects and

schoolwork for the past four years has not been without its own share of obstacles. In
between coping with the death of a friend, mental distress from ongoing harassment
threats, and working nearly full-time to offset living expenses, extended periods of
depression caused my grades to suffer these past two quarters. However, seeing my
personal problems manifest into tangible consequences forced me to accept that I
needed help getting back on track and gave me time to reflect upon my future
ambitions. Overall, this brief detour has only tested my resolve to continue pursuing
medicine; I will persevere in light of these past few months because I know that those
grades do not represent my determination to serve underrepresented communities nor
do they reflect how I have proven myself to be a mature, consistent, and reliable student
and community leader in the past.

Using community building and education as the foundation of my ambitions, I

will be able to provide numerous marginalized and uninsured communities with
greater access to quality healthcare and educational resources as a primary care
physician. This will allow me to work even more closely with patients to better
understand their needs and further develop realistic ways of addressing the various
health disparities across different demographics. Through medical school, I will be able
to obtain the necessary skills to successfully treat patients in a clinical setting as well as
become an important advocate for effective disease prevention.

3. Scout Finch Waiting for Tomorrow

As I saw nothing outside my window, no co-workers, no semi-trucks, and no

forklifts, nothing but an empty slab of concrete, I became more confident in my decision
to pursue medicine. Usually working in the scale house during the summer meant
hours on my feet trying to receive hundreds to thousands of bins, each filled with
recently picked peaches. Sometimes, it involved hours on the phone troubleshooting
some paperwork, human, or mechanical error, while trusting the office work to the co-
workers I helped trained. I enjoyed the urgency of receiving the fruit before the lines of
semi-trucks blocked off the street adjacent to the facility, but the pace was the only real
challenge. So, as the summer and peach season approached its end in 2012, I waited
alone for a couple dozen peach bins and I thought about someday becoming a doctor. I
thought about interacting with people, helping them overcome their ailments, finding
myself regularly challenged by knew unknown problems, and being validated through
my efforts to reduce patients mental and physical discomforts. That day, compared to
staring out the window, a career centered on compassionate patient interaction seemed
perfect. Of course, I did not decide my life in a day.
My interest in becoming a doctor was sparked the summer after high school,
when my dad received his second DUI. He was admitted to the emergency department
for some minor injuries that resulted during his arrest. At the hospital, I felt out of place
because my family could not afford this care; my parents are seasonal farm and factory
workers. I appreciate my background, because my parents hard work has instilled me
with a strong work ethic from an early age, but in that moment, I worried about how
our socioeconomic status might affect his care. Much to my surprise, the doctor treated
my dad like anyone else. The doctors concern for my familys well-being and the
personal attention he gave my dad ultimately provided me with the impression that
everything would be okay. I remember the comfort and reassurance the doctor brought
me and my family and how that moment left me admiring the impact that doctors have
on their patients. I grew up assisting my mom and brother in tending to my dads work
related injuries and monitoring his diabetes but it was only after the hospital visit that I
understood the satisfaction that came with assisting someone during his most
vulnerable moment.
After that visit to the emergency department, I started testing my decision to
pursue a career as a doctor by volunteering in various clinical settings. The experience
that has taught me the most about patient care is my work at Knights Landing Clinic.
The rural clinic primarily serves the uninsured and undocumented farm working
community of Knights Landing. My most memorable experience was nothing more
than shadowing a medical student during a thirty minutes assessment of an overweight
Hispanic woman. The woman had high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes and
without the clinic, she would not have seen a healthcare provider for her conditions.
There were no invasive procedures, just a blood draw following her assessment. It may
not make for as exciting a story as watching a neurosurgeon in the emergency
department, but it was still more memorable. Her lifestyle and her limited access to care
reminded me of my own parents and the fear that comes with not having access to
healthcare. I am glad to be part of the team of undergraduates, medical students, and
preceptors bringing her healthcare access, because I know my parents could just have
easily been in her shoes. The ladys resemblance to my parents makes me surer of the
positive impact healthcare providers have on their patients through one-on-one
interactions.
The only major challenge on my road to medical school has been the thought of
getting too close to patients. During my junior year of college, I started volunteering
with an organization called Citizens Who Care for the Elderly. It was meant to be an
opportunity to socialize with elderly individuals, keep them stimulated, and give their
caretakers some time off. I took an in-home-respite care position with an active woman
in her mid-nineties, initially knowing little other than the fact that she had dementia. I
grew close to her while she grew distant from herself. Then, after eight months of
visiting her, I had to stop and for some time, I found myself upset by the events that
had unfolded. It was not the thought of death that scared me. I had dealt with death
multiple times while volunteering in the UC Davis Emergency Department. What was
hard was seeing her in a state between life and death and not have any means of
making the situation better. It took some time to accept this darker side to medicine, but
I ultimately came out of it more aware of the limits of science.
I do not want to become a doctor because I have some nave image of doctors
being superheroes. I know it is not a perfect profession. Like my summer job at the scale
house, I know every career has its ups and downs. Even the memories that push me
toward medicine are not the most uplifting but at the end of the day, I cannot imagine
anything more satisfying than serving people during their most helpless moments.

4. Lily Iris
Please describe what inspires your decision for becoming an optometrist including your preparations for
training in this profession, your aptitude [natural ability] and motivation, the basis for your interest in
optometry, and your future career goals.

It was an ordinary night in high school, and I was watching a television show when
something landed in my eye. It was extremely painful, so I rushed to the bathroom
mirror to take a look. As I searched for the cause of my pain, the bathroom light
reflected perfectly off the mirror, and, as if for the first time, I saw my own eye. I saw
the topography of the eyes texture and balance of color. After retrieving the eyelash, I
rushed to my family members to take a look at their eyes also. Because I have dark
brown eyes, I had always overlooked the different parts of my eyes, but now I realized
that eyes are fascinating structures. This was an awakening to my future in optometry.

I still think the eyes are the most beautiful feature any being possesses. I have
solidified my passion for eyes through my anatomy and physiology classes, the
foresight club, pre-school children vision screenings, and my two optometric
internships. Because of my experiences working with an optometrist, Dr. Lisa Heuer, I
have been able to engage in most aspects an optometry practice can offer. I spend most
of my internship directing check-ins, making charts for patients, pre-testing, adjusting
glasses, answering phone calls, and most importantly, sitting in on Dr. Heuers exams.
If I am not in the front office, I spend my time in the back checking the patients
insurance and learning how to bill for the days work. My internships and vision
screenings have presented me with many experiences that establish why optometry is
the right choice for me.

My fondest memory was a Tuesday night after all the patients had left the office.
Dr. Heuer called me into the testing room and asked if I had ever seen retinal pictures
before. I never had. I sat down and gazed at all the pictures of patients retinas
displayed on the screen. I had no idea what I was looking at. Twenty patients retinal
pictures were exposed, all different, varying in color, vessel width and rigidity, and
macula size, yet all representing the same structure. I recall asking so many questions
about what can be gained from a picture like this, and my optometrist simply replied,
The eyes are the window to the body. From the practice I gained since entering
college, I know that we must look deeper to know the whole picture. The eyes, which
look one way on the surface, have so much to tell us. Looking at pictures of the retina
can reveal the health of the whole body. We can see if the patient has high blood
pressure, diabetes, macular degeneration, and other medical conditions. The optometric
field is not just focused on vision acuity; it encompasses the overall health and wellness
of an individual.

Aside from my internships, I take pleasure in contributing to the community. The

optometry field allows me that chance to become involved. In collaboration with the
Prevent Blindness Organization, I am able to participate in vision screenings for
preschoolers, ages 3-5. Vision screening is pre-testing children for discrepancies in
appearance of their eyes, behavioral conflicts, and also complaints of blurry vision. As
Community Outreach Chair in the Foresight club, I have the privilege of scheduling
and meeting students at the different preschools as well as assisting in their future.
Their future not only includes the ability to see well, but also the effect vision has on
learning, communication, as well as interaction with others. Having the opportunity to
work with such young children has allowed the development of basic skills and hands
on experience in screening.

I enjoy coming to my internship knowing I will learn a little bit each day. I am able
to appreciate my passion for the eyes and to share my hopes of becoming an
optometrist with patients, family, and friends. My next step is to succeed in optometry
school, not only to learn the material but also to learn how to be a great optometrist.
Then, I plan to utilize all the knowledge gained from my prior years and apply that in
becoming a effective optometrist by helping others vision improve and spreading the
importance of health and eyesight.

5. Jane Doe
When I was six, my friends had successfully convinced me that the dentist was
evil. I recall sitting anxiously on the stained leather chair thinking back to the torturous
stories my friends told me about their visits to the dental office. I was a gullible kid
going to the dentist for the first time; I believed my friends when they told me that the
dentists life mission was to steal teeth away from kids and the tooth fairy. I did not
expect to come out of the office alive or with all my teeth intact! Meeting Dr. Tsang,
however, was not at all what I pictured; we quickly developed a close doctor-patient
relationship. Trust developed as we conversed throughout the appointment; I was no
longer afraid and convinced that he wanted to steal my teeth. The visit turned out to be
one of my favorite memories I look back to as an adult and was the earliest event to
spark my interest in dentistry.
Entering college twelve years later, my career pathway seemed like a dark tunnel
that could take infinite turns. I knew I wanted to pursue a pre-health career because I
enjoy helping people; however, dentistry was merely a possibility that had interested
me at a very young age. As I explored my occupational options through internships,
seminars, interviews, and panels, I came to realize that dentistry was not only a
possibility, but the perfect profession for me.
I discovered my motivation and reasons to pursue dentistry during my first
internship at Hazel Family Dental Care with Dr. Gontarski. Dr. Gontarski had very
close and personal relationships with his patients, much like what I have with my
dentist, Dr. Tsang. I noticed that patients trust Dr. Gontarski because he is sincere and
shows genuine care for his patients health; he offers the best treatment even when
patients are unable to pay for it, and he takes his time to explain the significance of
good dental hygiene to every patient. He also volunteers at a clinic on the weekends,
offering free dental care to underserved communities. I admire Dr. Gontarskis
dedication and the genuine help he offers patients in underserved communities; the
priceless smiles I see patients leave with are what motivate me to pursue dentistry.
Good dental hygiene is an important preventative care that people can partake to
reduce health issues. I want to educate patients on the importance of dental hygiene
and provide affordable dental care to underserved communities. Being part of Alpha
Phi Omega, a community service fraternity at UC Davis, I always try to find
opportunities to help the local community. At every service event, I work with a diverse
group of people and perform different tasks. However, at the end of the day, the
satisfaction of helping someone is always the samepriceless
After my first internship, I discovered how dentistry reminds me of my
childhood hobbies. When I was ten, my mother had a temporary job molding dentures
and sculpting crowns. She would sometimes let me sculpt some minor parts of the
model, but she required precision and accuracy. From this experience, I discovered the
joy of working with my hands on small details; I ended up picking up the hobby of
building model boats. I pay close attention to the small details on each piece as I hand
glued them together. Dentistry, like model boat building, incorporates both art and
sculpture and is an intricate profession, yet many people overlook its complexity.
After gaining an insight from interning at a private office, I continued to explore
other environments working in a clinic and other fields of dentistry such as
orthodontics. Even after 200 hours of internship experience, I still stand in awe,
fascinated by the maneuvers that the dentists utilize to sculpt the perfect tooth. I know
that lack of preventative care is prevalent in many communities, and I want to be a
dentist who promotes and stresses the importance of dental care to my patients.
My passion for a career in dentistry incorporates the challenges, education, and
compassion that the dental field entails. As a dentist, I strive to build trusting
relationships with my patients, provide them with the best dental care opportunities
possible, promote the significance of preventative care, and continue to strive to
provide dental care to underserved communities.

6. Ima Deer

Physicians play the central role in diagnosing and treating diseases. Knowledge of
illnesses is critical in providing patient care; however, medicine is more than an applied
science. In the modern Hippocratic Oath, it is stated that warmth, sympathy, and
human understanding may outweigh the surgeons knife or the chemists drug. This
cooperation between human faculty and science compels my interest. I desire to be a
lifelong student of medicine so that I can become empowered with the capacity to
uncover the complexities of the body as well as advocate for peoples health.

I developed a thirst for knowledge at an early age. When I was thirteen, I began
taking courses in the humanities and social sciences at a community college to close the
educational gap that my traditional schooling could not fulfill. I sought many
opportunities in my earlier years to expand my academic ability, but I quickly realized
that I was only truly satisfied with my studies when I could apply what I learned to
better my surroundings. Therefore, I began aligning my interests with the challenges
facing my community. In high school I was able to achieve this through my work in
developing an initiative to increase immunization rates in underserved populations,
which earned me a $5,000 scholarship. This experience allowed me to realize that I
wanted to pursue a profession where I could have a direct impact on peoples quality of
life. My accomplishments led the University of California, Davis to offer me the Regents
Scholarship, which I gratefully accepted.
At Davis, I majored in the biological sciences to study life and all of its intricacies. I
joined a research group that aimed to investigate the physiology of Giardia lamblia, a
parasitic protist that is a common contaminant of water in third world countries. In the
laboratory, we explored the architecture of Giardias cytoskeleton and its associated
components. Knowledge of these structures allowed us to elucidate a mechanism by
which Giardia attaches to the hosts intestinal epithelium, thereby causing
gastroenteritis. I was further asked to explore stressors that would cause Giardias
cytoskeleton to detach from the epithelium. These experiences furthered my
appreciation for researchs role in medicine as well as for the scientific process.
As my interest in medicine grew, I became involved in activities that exposed me to
the environment and everyday challenges of the medical profession. I began to
volunteer at a free clinic serving uninsured populations. During my time at the clinic, I
was able to practice basic primary care services and expand my knowledge about the
health issues afflicting underrepresented populations. However, what was most
gratifying was seeing the happiness of the people who were helped through their
illnesses. My experiences at the clinic reinforced my dedication to medicine and public
service.
 During the times that I was away from Davis, I had the opportunity to volunteer in
a non-profit agency serving developmentally disabled adults. My responsibility was to
teach the participants independent living skills, including training them in
communication, academics, and general etiquette. I also provided in-home respite care,
which caused me to develop close relationships with the people in the program. I
gained insight into their personal lives and the roles their doctors played in them.
Seeing the continuity in care and catered focus that doctors provided to their long-term
patients has helped me begin to not only understand the intimate nature of the patient-
doctor relationship, but also the honor of being trusted with the wellbeing of others.
I anticipate that the path to medicine will be a challenging journey; however, I
believe that my experiences and my commitment to improving the health of others will
allow me to succeed in medical school and beyond. I look forward to the opportunity to
test the best of my abilities in medical school and to further my personal growth.
7. Elizabeth Faulkner
As a child who spent nearly all of her free time glued to a computer screen, my
eyes rarely needed to focus on very far distances. If something looked fuzzy, I could
easily zoom in or bring my face closer to the screen; all that mattered to me was that I
could respond to my friends via online instant messaging. I would spend hours each
day just chatting with friends. My parents often had to drag me away from the
computer just so I would eat dinner. Of course, after a few months of this routine, I
noticed that my visual acuity had weakened. Instead of sitting back at my desk chair
like I used to be able to do, I practically pressed my face against the computer screen
just to read my messages. I could not see the board in class and struggled to participate
in reading out loud because I needed my book to be mere inches from my eyes. I
knew that I needed glasses, but I had never gone to see an optometrist, and I figured
that if it was anything like a trip to the dentist that it wouldnt be worth the visit. I
would rather suffer in silence than risk a similarly painful experience.
A blessing in disguise came in the form of a vision screening. A certified vision
screening volunteer came into my sixth grade classroom and tested all of our visual
acuities. I knew then that I was busted; I failed the exam miserably and the screener
referred me to an optometrist. To my surprise, the visit to the optometrists office was
pleasant and comfortable. I was quickly fitted with lenses and learned more about what
optometrists do. Contrary to my previous views, optometrists do not torture their
patients with invasive eye procedures or painful testing; in fact, my optometrist never
touched my cornea at all. It provided such an immense relief to be able to see sharply
once again. This visit sparked my interest in the health profession by proving that not
all doctor visits have to result in discomfort.
Years later at the start of college, I still only had a vague sense for which career I
wished to pursue. I decided to focus on optometry by process of elimination: the
veterinarian path would be too frustrating because I could not converse with my
patients, dentists cause too much torment to their patients, nurses do not receive the
respect they deserve, etc. I became certified to participate in vision screenings, like the
volunteer who saved my eyesight years ago, and knew after conducting several
screenings that this felt right for me. Although most children passed the screenings
easily, there were always the few who obviously could not see well. I never knew if
they were like me and simply refused to accept help, or if they were too nave to
recognize their impaired vision. Regardless, it feels rewarding to be on the other side of
vision screenings. I hope to make a difference by detecting a decline in visual acuity
before it worsens even more, just as my screener did for me.

As a sister of Lambda Omicron Xi, a community service sorority, I volunteer at

various events in and around the Davis community. Many of the events are relatively
simple; one of my favorites was the Sierra Forever Families event in Roseville, CA
where we helped to set up booths and game stations for children and their foster
families. It proved to be a humbling experience just to be in the presence of these
families and listen to what obstacles they have hurdled in order to function effectively.
The best part of it, and the reason I continue to volunteer for service, was everyones
gratitude that we were there. I simply helped children with face paint and balloons, but
the families could not stop thanking us for our time and were overwhelmed by the fact
that we were just happy to do it. Optometry, for me, is much the same. I have witnessed
patients come in nearly hysterical from the pain of a corneal abrasion; when they leave,
they are so grateful for the eye drops that have made the pain subside. This gratification
from patients drives me in my pursuit of optometry as a profession. Eyesight acts as one
of the most important tools to perceiving our sensory world; my desire lies in helping to
maintain and possibly restore this means of perception.

8. Mike Tyson
Serving the uninsured patients of Clinica Tepati solidified my interest in
becoming a physician for the underserved communities. I was born and raised in
Sacramentos low-income Oak Park neighborhood. Like many of the patients seen at
Clinica Tepati, my family also faced financial and language barriers that prevented
them from getting regular health care. Seeing the need of culturally competent
physicians in my community has motivated me to stay on a path towards medical
school.

I see myself empowering the Latino community by educating them in order to

help them improve their health. My role as a health educator in the Chicanos Latinos in
Health Education (CHE), demonstrated the effect I can have in improving the health
habits of Spanish speaking communities. I have learned to teach patients about the risk
factors of many common chronic diseases affecting the Latino community. In Clinica
Tepati, I witness the difficulty patients have in understanding their diseases.
Fortunately, I am able to translate for patients and help them understand how to take
their medications. As a clinic manager I have had the difficult task of triaging with
doctors to see how many patients we can see every Saturday, and dread the task of
turning away patients. I saw firsthand the limits of our clinic and its struggles to
provide for an overwhelming amount of patients that needed our care. I cherished our
clinics goal to never allow patients to leave the clinic empty handed. If we cant see
them, we strive to provide them with information of any other resources available.
Many times, I feel like doing more for the patients in the clinic. By being a physician, I
see myself treating and building trusting relationships with patients to improve the
health outcomes of disadvantaged patients.

My passion for the sciences was enhanced by the research experiences I have had
at UC Davis Medical Center. For the past year, I have been part of the Emergency
Medicine Research Associate Program. I was also a research assistant for a clinical
research diarrhea study with Dr. Christopher R. Polage. Being in the hospital and
working with health care providers from different fields has assured my interest in
medicine. More importantly, I am intrigued to see how the illnesses I learned
manifested in my patients and how physicians responded to treat them.

A career in medicine will allow me to be a leader in low socioeconomic

communities by caring for their patients and contributing to the sciences through
research. With a Medical Degree and Masters in Public Health, I see myself addressing
the needs of my Latino community through research. As an undergraduate, I
shadowed physicians in a hospital and community clinic setting. The long days in
Clinica and late night shifts in the ER were always worth it for me. After a long week of
classes, walking into Clinica reminded me of why my hard work is worth it. Working
directly with patients has helped me develop the sensitivity, maturity, and rationale
needed to enter the medical field.

9. Ashley McCraggen
USING YOUR OWN WORDS, write a brief statement expressing your motivation or desire to become a
physician assistant. You are encouraged to save your work often in the event that you are timed out of
the system.

My infatuation with medicine began early. Networks used to show live surgeries
on television and I was obsessed with them. All of the words were complete gibberish
of course; I had no idea what was going on other than the fact that I was looking at
someone's insides and that after the surgery, the sick person would be better. But that
was enough for me. My friends and I would talk about how we would open a joint
practice when we grew up; big dreams for some eight-year-olds. The dream of being a
doctor and a healer stuck with me, though, as my friends lost interest in the profession.
One is now on her way to becoming a marine biologist, the other did not make it
through college, but here I am, still pursuing the dream I had as a child, with some
minor changes.

I began working as a lifeguard the moment I could. I had grew up swimming for
the local swim team and had always admired and respected the older generation of
swimmers who ended up becoming lifeguards. This was the first step toward being a
doctor, and I knew it. Lifeguards are considered first responders in the state of
California, and I knew that it was the perfect job for me. Not only did I get to spend
time working with friends, I got to interact with the community and feel the sense of
responsibility that came with being trusted with someone's life. It taught me that I
would be able to step into the role of lifesaver when needed, and as I grew older and
moved into management positions, it taught me that I wanted to work and interact with
people on a daily basis. It also taught me that I want to work as a team player, and that
asking questions is essential for moving forward and being successful. I had the
opportunity to teach lessons while lifeguarding as well. I worked for the same
organization for a very long time and was able to get to know my students on a
personal level. One of the first classes I taught had a 2 year old boy in it names Ethan. It
was a Mommy and Me class, so I got to know Ethan and his mom well by the end of
the session, and found out that he had a brother on the same swim team as me. Every
summer, I watched Ethan grow older, and he is now on the same summer swim team
that I was on, and I make it a point to chat with his mom every season. Children like
Ethan are the reason I decided that Pediatrics would be the specialty for me. The joy
and accomplishment I felt when seeing him swim his first races was incredible, and I'd
love to see my patients grow up the same way.

I moved away from home and went to college and began my journey towards a
life in healthcare, but along the way, I lost myself. During my Sophomore year I lost my
focus and my grades began to slip. I stopped asking questions and was too stubborn
and arrogant to ask for help when I needed it, and I really did need it. I was taking too
many classes while working too many hours and trying to maintain a social life while
what I really needed was to take a step back and understand that I was stretching
myself too thin. I had tried so hard to finish school in the cookie-cutter four years that I
forgot why I was there in the first place, to truly learn the information I was being
taught. By Winter quarter of my junior year, I was dismissed from school. I was
devastated. All of the work I had put in to getting into a good college and working to
keep myself out of debt so I would not be buried in student loan payments had gone to
waste, and I had no one to blame but myself. I was ashamed I had forgotten my goals,
but in the five quarters that it took me to be readmitted back into school, I regained my
focus and drive to be in the healthcare system.

While out of school, I looked again into the different options that healthcare
could offer. I had realized that becoming an MD was not the path for me through
conversations with doctor friends, who told me about the financial hardships of med
school as well as their constant worries of malpractice lawsuits and lack of an authentic
relationship with their patients because of limitations in their appointment times. I
briefly looked into Nurse Practitioner programs but the conversations with NPs I had
lead me to believe that they often weren't respected as much and that their jobs were to
step in when needed, rather than be a primary physician for patients. This lead me to
the role of Physician's Assistant. I can be a primary physician without the stress and
behind the scenes worries of MDs and with more respect and responsibility than an NP.

There are many reasons why working as a Physician's Assistant is the job for me,
and even more reasons working as a Pediatric Physician's Assistant is better, but mostly
I have a passion for medicine and a passion for children. I strive to be a great PA and
pass on my infatuation to the children I will work with and for.

10. Chris Smith

I was born and raised in a small city of Nepal called Khandbari. I was a fun
loving, outgoing boy, and a good student; I have always been curious to learn more
about human physiology. One day, knowing my interest in the human body, my
brother, a licensed Physician in a town asked me, do you want to see a medical
examination of dead human body, a postmortem. I still remember how I stood still in
front of the smelly dead body while my brother showed me different parts of the body.
That day, I knew the complexity of the human body and the importance of the different
parts of the body. Since that day, I have been fascinated by human anatomy and
physiology.

When I was attending 9th grade in Nepal, I had an opportunity to do volunteer

work in a community health center organized by a non-profit organization, Helping
Hands. This organization provides low cost quality medical relief services to people in
rural villages of Nepal with the help of Western medical doctors and volunteers. In this
program, I worked as an English translator for poor villagers. While volunteering, I saw
them suffering from disease, unable to go to hospitals due to their poverty. This
program really inspired me to do something for poor villagers in the future. Since I was
captivated with the human body, I promised myself that I would become a professional
doctor and help those people in need.

While I was studying in high school in Nepal, I moved to the United States of
America with my family in 2005. Things changed when our family moved to the new
world. I felt lost socially, culturally and educationally. The education system here is
different from the Nepalese education system. Although my environment changed, my
passion to become a doctor never vanished, and my promise to help needy people of
my village never changed. While attending Santa Rosa Junior College, I became
interested in majoring in medical microbiology because I thought it would prepare me
for medical school. My interest in it became deeper when I actually took the biology
forum class, where I attended a presentation by a professional microbiologist. She
showed us an actual study and research in the real world on how microbes affect the
world around us.

Due to my hard work and commitment, I got into the University of California,
Davis as a major in Biological Science with an emphasis in Medical Microbiology. By
taking Immunology classes, I was further fascinated to acknowledge the great immune
system of the human body. However, many pathogens that can still cause human death.
For example, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an infectious
pathogen that is very difficult to treat, and many people have died from it. These classes
taught me the value of being a good doctor and the qualities that a doctor should
possess to treat such diseases. As a doctor, I would like to make a difference in the
community by delivering the appropriate cure to the patient and making positive
impact on their lives. In the future, I would like to work for organizations like Doctors
Without Borders so I can help poor people who cant afford medical service.

Working as a volunteer in the intensive care unit at UCD Medical Center, I

gained an opportunity to observe the interaction of doctors and nurses with patients
while they worked hard to treat them with as much care and support as possible. There,
I learned how to be professional in creating doctor-patient relationships. For instance, I
witnessed the nurses and doctors going through intense pressure where they have to
cure patients carefully. Seeing them working under such pressure taught me the
importance of being calm and careful. Additionally, I have seen patients leaving the
ICU fully recovered, happy, and thankful to the nurses and doctors. In the future, I
want to create these kinds of relationships with patients so they can remember my
generosity forever.

It is my goal to reach my dreams and have a successful career. Through all the
experience I have gained, I feel unbelievably confident in myself that I do have what it
takes to become a doctor.

11. Nikita Hill

I knew that I wanted to be a doctor when I nearly lost my grandfather to an

unknown disease. My grandfather was more of a father figure to me than my own
father. He was a portly, outspoken, and strict man who worked hard to support me and
my brothers. Five years ago, he became extremely ill and no one could figure out what
caused his disease. I was devastated when I saw my once plump grandpa lying on the
hospital bed small and thin like a ten year old child. He was in a grave state and
everyone, including the doctors, thought he was going to die; my family even brought a
priest in to give him his last rites. That night, I left the hospital hopeless and thought
that I lost my daddy. After about two days, Dr. Volmer, one of my grandfathers
many doctors, decided to take a risk by prescribing my grandfather an anti-fungal
medication to try and save his life. Fortunately, my grandfather pulled through and
although recovery took a while, he is still alive and healthy today. Dr. Volmer not only
brought relief to my family, but he also inspired me do be a doctor. Like him, I want to
be able to make a difference in a patients life, but also to bring relief to his or her
family. Thus, this inspiration has been my motivation during my journey through
college.
 My grandfathers experience led me to major in microbiology as an
undergraduate at UC Davis. Initially, I was looking at a major in biological sciences, but
after taking an Introductory to Microbiology class with Dr. Mann, I was amazed by the
complex world of microbes. I was fascinated with the idea that miniscule bacteria like
Streptococcus pyogenes can cause symptoms in humans like pharyngitis or even toxic
shock syndrome. My mind was blown. I began to take more microbiology and
immunology classes to further feed my curiosity. I loved how I could apply
bacteriology to my everyday life; for instance, in my medical microbiology class, I
learned all about Coccidioides immitis, the fungus that infected my grandfather. I
eventually developed into a germaphobe, but I enjoyed having a better
understanding of the relationship between humans and microbes. Choosing to major in
microbiology provided me with a new perspective of science and medicine.

While taking classes for my major, I also worked for the University Dining
Services where I learned leadership and communication skills. I worked for a year as a
cashier and food preparer, but I started to crave more responsibility. Usually, cashiers
are promoted to shift leaders, but I wanted to obtain the manager position so that I
could have more influence in our department. To try to bridge this gap, I started to
shadow the other managers so that I could learn their duties and responsibilities. I
applied for the position and ended up being promoted as a student manager. In my
time as a manager, I learned how to effectively communicate with customers and fellow
employees to ensure that the unit would run smoothly and efficiently. Communication
included listening so I made sure that I listened to what my employees and customers
told me, so that I could understand the situation. I ended up working about 25-30 hours
a week interacting with hundreds of students and using my newfound skills to help
improve the quality of our unit.

After working as a manager for a year, I decided that I wanted to commit my

time in a health-related setting; this is how I ended up volunteering for Bayanihan
Clinic, a student-run clinic. During my time at Bayanihan, I encountered many patients
who needed primary care but could not afford it due to not having health insurance.
For example, one patient that I helped recently came in with ulcers on her leg that
persisted for six months, but she did not go to an emergency room because she did not
have health insurance. I followed her case through and I got to know her better; she was
a hardworking and dedicated caregiver who did not have health insurance because her
husband had died of a stroke a year earlier. After I heard the doctor tell that patient that
our clinic did not have adequate tools to provide her with the surgery that she needed, I
was overcame with a feeling of compassion for her. I wished that I had the tools to heal
her because she really deserved it. Before she left, I made sure that I gave her some kind
words and told her to come back if she had other health issues. Meeting patients like
her inspire and motivate me to stay on the path of medicine, so that in the future, I will
have the power and tools to heal.
 I always hope that my experiences in college have shaped me to be like those
doctors who worked night and day to try to ease my grandfathers pain. Yet, after my
experiences in college I realized that I do not need to impersonate someone like Dr.
Volmer, because the desire to work hard and help people are traits that are part of my
nature. All I have to do is persevere towards my goal of attending medical school so
that I can make a difference in somebodys life.

12. Justin Credible

I recall feeling honored and humbled when, working as a Registered Dental
Assistant (RDA), my patients would address me as doctor. I almost felt embarrassed
correcting my patients, informing them that I was merely the assistant who would be
working with the dentist during their visit. I made it a point to get to know my patients,
make them feel comfortable, and provide them a positive experience while under my
care. This mentality stems from my love of the dental profession which I developed
when I attended the Registered Dental Assisting program at Mt. Diablo Adult
Education. I owe my love of the profession to my mentors and instructors who
endowed me with the same positive experience of knowledge, discipline, and altruism
that drove my conviction forward to work in the dental profession for the rest of my
life.
I was very involved in dental assisting school as a student, tutor, and advocate.
As a senior, I actively encouraged and tutored my underclassmen; I also promoted the
involvement of more men in dental assisting. I worked as an RDA for four years and
completed over 60 hours of volunteer work in Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay
area where I provided care to families of under-privileged communities. I gained a true
appreciation of working in the field, knowing that I was continuously learning and
providing care. I performed my best every day in what I believe to be an environment
that continues to encourage growth and improvement while providing genuine love for
community.
I transferred to UC Davis to further my education and pursue my goal of
becoming a dentist. I fell in love with the community at UC Davis and joined various
professional and cultural organizations. My involvement as an officer in the Davis Pre-
Dental Society developed my leadership, communication, and organizational skills
while sharing my love for dentistry with other members. My active participation in
cultural organizations helped me communicate and express myself effectively as a
leader, which had a strong impact in the type of dentist that I want to be.
My involvement in the cultural organization Mga Kapatid reminded me of home
and increased my appreciation of my roots by teaching me Filipino-American culture
through traditional dance, music, and martial arts. However, my true appreciation for
community came from being a volunteer for the Student Recruitment and Retention
Center (SRRC). I participated in student-run programs that fostered holistic academic
and personal development while raising political and cultural awareness. Through the
SRRC, I understood the experience of contributing to a diverse community.
 Volunteering for the SRRC reminded me of an experience in the summer of 2009,
when Kariktan Dance Company opened for the gala performance of the 31st annual San
Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. I was one of the soloists in the ensemble dance Singkil.
In between the gala and matinee shows, all the performing groups came together
outside the Palace of Fine Arts. A simple lunch gathering turned into a fiesta when
some dancers from Raices de Mi Tierra wanted to learn how to dance Tinikling. I
showed them how to dance while my friends clapped the bamboo poles and sang the
melody. I was surprised to hear the dancers from other groups singing the melody with
us and gathering in to join the dancing. They were so excited to try a dance where they
moved in and out of clapping bamboo poles. After our mini workshop, other groups
taught us a dance from each of their respective cultures. The banda joined us and blared
their festive and colorful music while all the different groups danced. It was so fun and
festive that we attracted tourists passing by to join in and dance with us. The experience
of sharing cultures was very fun, educational, and uplifting. I was so glad that my
friends and I had socialized with the other groups and made everyone there feel like
they were a part of a community.
Intellect and discipline are vital to becoming a good dentist, I but I believe that it
takes more to be a great dentist. I want to be the dentist who is not only a practitioner
and clinician, but also a community leader, teacher, confidant, and mentor. I wish to
attend your institution to continue to grow, learn, and build my love for dentistry. I
know that my positive experience in your institution will inspire me to be an advocate
for your institution and the community.

13. Dr. Acula Von Hemoglobin

Call for help! I shouted to my sister as I got up from my seat. A young boy
had started seizing two rows in front of me on the bus, his stunned mother desperately
begging passengers for help. My name is anonymous. Im here to help. Her frantic
eyes locked on to mine, Whats happening? Ive never seen him do this! Knowing that
a first time seizure could be due to a severe underlying condition, I sprang to action.
Help me lower him to the floor of the bus I informed the mother as I pushed away
her purse so as to protect the boy from hurting himself. I turned the boy to his side and
started timing the seizing event, hoping that it would not persist for more than three
minutes. A crowd of onlookers gathered around us, some trying to help, others just
getting in the way. It was at this point that the gravity of the situation hit me. This was
no longer an EMT practice scenario - this was the real deal. The situation went from bad
to worse when the four minute mark hit. I checked his vitals: rapid pulse and extremely
low respiration rate. Suddenly the boy stopped breathing. After finding a pulse, I
immediately tilted his head, lifted his chin, and started giving him rescue breaths. Two
every five seconds, two every five seconds I rehearsed in my head, over the sound of
the crying mother. I continued for a minute before the paramedics arrived, and I
exhaled a huge sigh of relief as their positive pressure ventilation via bag valve mask
helped the boy breath again. I had saved my first patient.
 TV shows had given me an overly dramatic and romanticized preconception of
medicine. I always thought that doctors lived a fast-paced life of fun and excitement.
However, after helping save this young boy from the brink of death, I experienced the
grim reality of medical care: the sounds of a crying mom, the jerking of a seizing boy,
the shrill cries of sirens in the background. I had experienced the severe stress of
helping someone in critical need and demonstrated that I know how to cope with a life
and death emergency while keeping my composure. I had shown that I was able to take
charge of a desperate situation and help someone who needed help, a skill that was
imparted to me by my studies as an Emergency Medical Technician. Despite lingering
in my memory to this day, I am thankful for the situation I was put in because it has
solidified my desire to pursue a career as a Physician in the field of emergency
medicine.

Entering college, I had a strong interest in the medical field. During my

sophomore and junior year, I volunteered in the emergency department at the UC
Davis Medical Center. There, I was able to shadow doctors and experience what they
experienced on a daily basis. I saw them suture the lacerated lip of a patient after an
ATV accident; I saw them administer insulin therapy to a patient in diabetic
ketoacidosis; I saw them insert a chest tube into a patient who was suffering from
tension pneumothorax; but overall, I saw them treat people as fellow human beings
rather than simply disease-ridden patients. Fascinated by this exposure to emergency
medicine, I pledged to devote my life to it and its ability to make a difference in the
lives of those who need immediate care.

As a volunteer, I was restricted on what I could do, limited by experience and

training. As an EMT however, I have been given the opportunity to do more than just
stand on the sidelines; I can now be more involved in patient care. From applying
pressure on a severely bleeding wound to applying a traction splint on a patient with a
midline femur fracture, I am able to have a more direct impact on the treatment of my
patients. Having experienced situations like these where I had to take control of the
scene and make quick decisions regarding patient care, I have tested my skills and
verified that I can tolerate high stress situations. From these experiences, I have gained
insight on my ability to work calm and effectively under stress and I have learned the
value of teamwork.

The call for help that saved that boys life helped me realize my own purpose in
life. Having experienced emergency medicine first hand by studying as an EMT and
volunteering in the emergency room at the UCDMC, I have found my calling to become
an Emergency Room Physician. I have experienced the beauty of saving a life and the
compassion of those who do it on a daily basis. I look forward to the day that I join
those in this noble profession and help better the lives of those that seek care.
14. Pharmasaurus Rx

When I first got the phone call from my mom, I could already tell something was
wrong by the tone of her voice. My older sister Julie had unsuccessfully tried to commit
suicide by downing half a bottle of Tylenol. Following her abortion, Julie had been
battling depression for the past couple of years. This led to her withdrawal from college
as well as family therapy sessions back home.

After Julies suicide attempt, I made weekly trips back home to LA so I could
play a bigger role in my sisters recovery. Following my sisters discharge from the
hospital, my family went through several months of weekly family therapy sessions,
which helped us to communicate more effectively. As Julies condition started to
improve, she had to face new problemsproblems that came as side effects of her
antidepressant drugs. During her first month on Citalopram, she became anxious and
saw fluctuations in her weight. I was still a full time student, but I constantly looked for
ways to help out. Due to my parents language barrier, I took my sister to the doctors
office and to the pharmacy whenever I was home. When I was at school, I increased my
communication with her and researched new antidepressants that my sister could ask
her doctor about to mitigate her side effects. Julie and her doctor tried a few more
antidepressants before she finally settled on Effexor, which helped alleviate her anxiety.
As I got more involved in my sisters recovery, I became more interested in
pharmacology and specifically in how a drug can interact with the human body to
create a healing effect.

Volunteering in a community pharmacy has strengthened my desire to be a

pharmacist. As an intern at Eagle Drug, I was able to gain more insight into the
pharmacy profession. I mainly filed paperwork and organized drugs, but more
importantly I was able to interact with patients. Although my duties were limited, I got
to observe the pharmacist as she educated patients about medications and monitored
their drug usage. During my time here, I came to realize that pharmacists play a crucial
role in healthcare by maintaining communication not only with physicians, but also
with other healthcare providers. As a volunteer, I was only able to provide assistance to
the pharmacist and technicians. However, my desire to play a bigger role in the
patients lives motivated me in college so that I could continue my education in
Pharmacy school.

My experiences in my community service fraternity have helped me build

teamwork and leadership skills. Through my organization, I partook in many service
events, which allowed me to become more involved on campus and to serve my
community through events such as teaching at the Davis Adult School. My most
rewarding experience in my fraternity was serving as Membership Vice President. As
Membership VP, I was in charge of providing a voice for active members as well as
building their professional and leadership skills. Through the UCD Internship and
Career Center, I was able to work with the program coordinator Ken Barnes. He kept us
updated on ICC workshops and even led workshops for us periodically. Throughout
my term, I also led workshops ranging from resume workshops to roundtables in which
members were able to voice their opinions and offer solutions to problems within the
organization. By working with groups of diverse individuals, I gained an appreciation
for servant leadership, which entails distribution of power and helping others discover
their own potentials as leaders. It was rewarding because I was able to see the members
grow as leaders throughout their time in the fraternity.

In the future, I want to integrate my academic background of genetics into my

career goals of becoming a pharmacist. Pharmacogenetics and molecular diagnostics are
becoming more relevant in health care in chronic cases as well as in day-to-day
ailments. As a pharmacist, I see myself working in a hospital or community setting. I
will become more involved in personalized patient care and break the misconception
that I had while growing up that pharmacy is only about counting pills. I also want to
focus on preventative care and use genetic analysis services to help to monitor patient
records. All in all, as medicine moves towards personal care, synergy between different
healthcare professionals is crucial. I plan to use my experiences to make a meaningful
impact not only on my healthcare team, but ultimately on each of my patients lives.

15. Avery Levitt

I dont remember deciding to be a doctor. A home video shows me as a toddler
running around with a stethoscope trying to listen to the heartbeat of anyone who
would sit still long enough. Medicine was the only career path I ever wanted to follow,
except for a week in kindergarten when my best friend and I wanted to be private
detectives. In college, I began to worry that I had made my mind up too early. I know I
can be rather persistent once I set my mind to something. What if I only wanted to be a
doctor because of a decision I made as a child? In order to ease my mind, I sought out
opportunities to test myself in the medical field; all of which only strengthened my
resolve.
While studying in Florence, Italy I worked at a nonemergency ambulatory
service called La Misericordia that transports physically and mentally handicapped
people. La Misericordia is funded entirely by donations and staffed by volunteers, so
there is no charge to the passengers. I was impressed to find such a successful
organization when disability and illness carry such a formidable stigma in the States.
During my time there, I was lucky enough to meet a vast and varied number of people.
There was very little for the passengers to do, and none of them produced cell phones
as I imagine they would have here, so they would talk to me. I asked them where
Florentines went to eat and shop. I wanted to know everything that was not written in a
guide book. As they talked, I couldnt help but speculate about their conditions. I felt
fairly comfortable diagnosing the elderly woman with a splint on her arm as a physical
therapy patient, but the quiet man with no obvious disability or speech abnormality
perplexed me tremendously. Every Monday on my favorite route, we drove Lorenzo
and Sara home from the hospital. Lorenzo was a young man who seemed to suffer from
cerebral palsy, and Sara was a young woman who exhibited signs of Down syndrome.
Sara would happily talk with me and correct my Italian until Lorenzo inevitably
reached across the van to hold her hand at which point she would scream until I
convinced him to stop. I can think of very few experiences in my life more intimidating
than trying to use my fledgling Italian to placate a screaming woman. The drivers were
invariably helpful, but they were too busy swerving around curving hillside roads and
dodging tourists in the city center to be of much help. Upon my return home I began to
fully appreciated this exercise in communication and patience. Now whenever I need to
make myself understood, I am uncommonly grateful that I get to use my native
language.
When I returned to UC Davis, I began my internship in the pediatric unit of the
UC Davis Medical Center. With the language barrier no longer an issue, my work
became much simpler and yet more emotionally wearing. In Italy I worked solely with
adults with manageable conditions. Now I was faced with sick, occasionally terminal,
children. I have always entertained the idea of becoming a neonatologist, but I have
been unsure if I could withstand working with suffering babies everyday. One night at
the hospital the nurses let me hold a five-day-old baby, Jack, whose mother self-
administered methadone throughout her pregnancy. Jack was being kept in the hospital
to monitor his abstinence symptoms and check for possible heart defects. Periodically,
he would become jittery and cry inconsolably unless he was tightly swaddled and held.
The first few times this happened, I could hardly stand feeling him tremble, but then I
started thinking about the people who could help Jack. I would have happily held him
for the next day or week until his tremors went away, but I wanted to cure him. I
wanted to be able to order the right tests to ensure his tachycardia was caused by the
withdrawal and not a heart condition. I wished I could explain to his mother what her
son was going through and why it was so important that she breastfeed. I was curious
to know how methadone affects endogenous opiate production and brain development.
I cannot imagine a more rewarding and simultaneously stimulating field of study as
neonatology.

16. Seppy Teethman

Dear Jon,

My loving brother, it feels like an eternity since cancer took you from us. To say
that I miss you is an understatement. Today, however, I write to you on a more cheerful
note. I have found my calling in life: dentistry.

Do you remember how diabetes caused Grandpa to lose all his teeth by the time
he was 53 years old? Even as a preteen, I could feel Grandpa's pain during every meal.
His premature edentulism, a condition that enfeebled Grandpa before his time, could
have been prevented had there been a good dentist in town. When Grandpa left us, I
continued to see the same need for dental care in every single one of the five nations I
have either lived or performed community service in. Even here in the United States, I
have worked with the residents of Sacramento, a city with many underserved
communities, who do not have sufficient access to dental care. Inevitably, this
inadequacy in the provision of dental service to many-to people just like Grandpa-
inspired me to take an in- depth look at dentistry.

Thus, I began an internship offered by a diverse group practice called Hughes

Dental Group. Unlike engineering, medicine and other professions I had explored,
dentistry simply resonated with me on every note. I was fascinated! I would catch my
inner- Michelangelo mentally sculpting and delivering every single crown the dentist
prepared. The fillings were the armor a master blacksmith fits to the soldiers of the city
gates. It was gratifying to witness how common dental procedures like curing a
debilitating toothache or adjusting a misaligned denture can provide such immediate
relief to patients. And then, there was the science of the profession. The neurological
targets of the anesthetics, the chemistry of the sealants, the anchorage physics of an
extraction - I was in intellectual bliss every time my dentist revealed the science behind
his art. However, as comprehensive as my internship was, it could not expose me to
what I saw in my dental trip to Costa Rica.

This trip was similar to the summer I spent in rural Nicaragua teaching general
hygiene. However, this time we were providing dental hygiene care, and it was all run
by students. As we non-invasively cleaned over 800 mouths in just a week, I learned
that I enjoy working with my hands in a dental setting just as much as I enjoy Persian
calligraphy, sketching, or playing guitar! We also distributed eight suitcases full of
dental supplies, and I wish you had been there when the priest held our hands and said
a powerful prayer of appreciation.

Jon, if that is the difference we made as young college students, just imagine how
much good I will do as a skilled dentist. In fact, what I rarely saw at Hughes Dental was
painfully common in rural Costa Rica: the poorest oral health you can possibly imagine.
While some of us were shocked, I was only reminded of Grandpa and his need for
dental care. I was inspired to become a skilled dentist-a dentist for the community.

My passion in serving the community is in no small part due to you, my brother.

While it was challenging enough to take care of family, academics and employment
after your passing, I also continued your fight against cancer by becoming part of the
bridge between the students of my university and the UC Davis Cancer Center.
Inspired by you, I organized numerous outreach events that not only built on the
leadership skills I had gained as a Resident Advisor, but also helped me discover my
talent and delight in uniting strangers for a benevolent cause. This joy has grown so
prevalent in my life that it has shaped my aspirations as a dentist. In my dental
experiences I have noticed a trend of caring dentists who donate their time to treat the
uninsured. I would take great pleasure in organizing and leading such efforts on a large
scale.

Upon your ascent away from us, I approached religion for comfort. While I did
not subscribe to any particular religion, I did find great guidance in the spiritual
teaching of an Indian mystic, Meher Baba. "To love God in the most practical way,"
teaches Baba, "is to feel for others the same way that we feel for our dear ones." Too
many times I have wished to heal my dear ones, like you, but was unable to do so.
However, becoming a dentist will allow me to not only heal others, but also to do so in
ways that will always fascinate me. Big brother, you will be happy for the path I have
chosen, as such a life is simply the most fulfilling I can hope to lead.

17. Sylvia Dickinson Atwood

During my second year of college, I began to volunteer at Willow Clinic, a
student-run clinic that serves the homeless communities of Sacramento. The work at
clinic was fast-paced and could get very stressful, especially with patients who
struggled with both physical and mental health problems. However, my experience
there opened my eyes to the possibilities within the role of the pharmacist. As I learned
more about medication, its effects, and its distribution to patients, I began to develop
my passion for pharmacy, its role in helping the patient ensure his health, and my
responsibility to act as a bridge between the patient and the mysteries of his medication.
Because of the increased use of machines to distribute medicine, the role of the
pharmacist is constantly evolving. I believe that pharmacists must now be able to
provide a service that machines cannot: the essential human touch while helping
patients with their medication. For example, the volunteers at Willow implemented
electronic alternatives to prescribing medications to improve accuracy and
effectiveness. During one of my shifts at the pharmacy, however, I caught and fixed an
incorrect prescription before the medication reached the patient and prevented any
serious consequences from occurring. Also, as a member of the pharmacy committee, I
taught about the effects and uses of drugs to not only possible patients, but also other
members of Willow. Even as a volunteer, I demonstrated that although technology can
reduce error, human interaction can still be more effective and useful.
After joining Willow Clinic, I began to participate in more extracurricular
activities that would improve my skills as a pharmacist. At clinic, a detailed
explanation, both written and verbal, of how and when the medicine should be
administered had to accompany every prescription. I began to participate in internships
involving learning how to communicate complicated ideas in a simple, effective
manner. As an intern with Adventures in Science, a science education outreach
program that develops and presents science lessons to seventh graders, I learned how to
use backwards design to implement a lesson that would engage and interest the
students. I also began to do clinical research that involved interaction with many
patients, ranging from listening to their journeys with multiple sclerosis to informing
them about clinical trials for new medications. At Willow Clinic, I joined the Healthy
Breast Committee and the Willow Education and Retention Committee; I taught
patients about breast health and breast cancer in the former and about common diseases
that plagued our patient population, like diabetes and hypertension, in the latter. This
new awareness of the importance of effective communication in healthcare, especially
in pharmacy where one miscommunication could cause death, culminated in a decision
to double major in Communications. All of these activities cultivated a passion for
health education and a realization that as a pharmacist, I could employ all of the skills I
have learned about working in a team environment to transfer often complicated
knowledge about medicine to patients.
Going into pharmacy was never the plan; in fact, I used to have no plan at all.
After attending a highly competitive high school where every friend seemed to be on
the pre-health track, I entered UC Davis as a science major and told new friends at
orientation that I was planning to go to medical school only because everyone else I
knew was a pre-med student. I went through the motions of preparing myself to enter
healthcare by taking the appropriate classes and participating in healthcare internships.
But my heart was never into it, and this shows on my school records: my grades from
the first half of my college years are average at best, and I floated from one
extracurricular to another.
Even though I used to be disillusioned about careers in healthcare, I believe that I
have finally found a passion that is essential to securing the health of all patients. From
joining Willow to becoming a member of the Pre-Pharmacy Club, I developed a love for
how pharmacy joins healthcare, education, and communication in a bundle to present
to patients. As a pharmacist, I want to provide patients with the necessary medication
and instruction they need to stay healthy even after they leave the hospital.

18. Kelly

Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school. The available
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If you want to have a normal healthy life with your high blood pressure, medicine
alone is not going to fix it. It takes self-determination and a change in lifestyle. These
two sentences have played over and over in my head since the medical director at the
Paul Hom Asian Clinic said this to a patient. From this interaction, I have further
understood that the medication your physician prescribes to you is not the sole way to
become healthier. This is especially the case when you are diagnosed with a condition
that will affect you for the rest of your life, such as high blood pressure. The medical
director was trying to teach the patient that to help live with the condition requires
more than just pills, but it also requires a life style change such as making better food
choices. Teaching others requires a skill of being able to relay information in an
appropriate manner.
I have always enjoyed tutoring other students because I am able to help contribute and
make a change in their lives. I am currently a learning assistant (LA) for Chemistry 2C
at UC Davis. This is a new program that offers undergraduates that have previously
taken the course, to help facilitate learning during the discussion section. One of the
main task as a LA is to help guide the students to the answer and to facilitate group
learning. In one of the sections that I assist in, there is a group of a students that sit in
the back right corner of the room. I was walking around the room and observing the
students working in groups. While walking, I notice that the back right corner table was
making glances towards my direction, as if they wanted to ask a question, but was too
hesitant to raise their hands. I walk over to their table and began to ask them how they
were doing with the worksheets. With just a small personable act of going towards their
table, a trust was form. This trust has helped to spark their interest in this course and to
achieve confidence that they could do well. Not only has this trust helped them succeed
in this particular chemistry course, but I think it also has helped to give them the
confidence to not be scared to ask for help when they do not understand a question.

When trust is gain, then both parties of the relationship is able to open up and be more
personable to one another. Establishing a relationship between a physician and patient
is important because it allows the patients to be honest about how they were feeling. In
Asian cultures, seeking for help is out of the norm. Asian people have a lot of pride in
themselves, so they believe that they could fix everything by themselves. I volunteer at
the Paul Hom Asian Clinic and encounter many patients like this. At clinic, I have
observe the physicians helping to bridge the cultural gap to help the patients feel safe
and be able to trust the physicians. As a volunteer, our main job is to help translate for
patients. This is one of the ways to help them feel more comfortable because they are
able to talk to someone in their own language. Personally, when I am able to help
translate for these patients I feel like I am speaking to my own family. There was this
one time when a miscommunication occurred between a physician, patient and
volunteer. I was just walking to the receptionist table, when one of the patients I have
helped multiple times before asked me why they have not been seen by a physician yet.
I thought that was strange as well and decided to go help check on their status. I return
later with good news that somehow their file was placed in the finish for the day pile,
but there would be a physician to see them immediately next. When the patient was
seen, the physician explained that their diabetes were not being control by the
medication. The physician suggested that they should start on insulin. At first the
patient was wondering if it was possible to not take insulin and to just increase its
dosage. The physician had to explain that the patient was already taking the maximum
dosage for that medication. After some further explanation about insulin, the patient
had agreed to the new treatment plan. I went over to our pharmacy portion of the clinic
to ask for an application to sign the patient up for insulin. The co-director at the
pharmacy told me that the patient had been seen earlier in the day by a physician and
refused to the new treatment plan. I began to explain to the co-director that when I
spoke with the patient, the patient was hesitant to start a new treatment plan, but
agreed to it because it was beneficial to their health. This miscommunication that occur
could be due to a lack of explanation or understanding of the issue at hand. This is why
it is important to help form a trust with a patient because otherwise their health could
have been severely compromise. I believe with the bond that I had form with the
patient previously, had helped the patient to better understand the circumstance, that it
was important to start the new treatment plan to better control their diabetes.

I want to teach patients how to live a healthier life and it begins with good
communication skills. Being able to adapt in different communication styles allows a
physician to be more versatile to better serve the needs of the patient. This is also why it
has led me to choose the field of a family practice physician. A family physician is able
to form that bond because they are able to see the patients at more of a regular basis. I
want to teach patients at an earlier age to help prevent diseases such as diabetes and
high blood pressure. I believe that giving good care to patients involves not only to fix a
momentary issue, but to help the patient be able to prevent diseases or be able to live
with a condition and still have a full life.

19. Amy Jenner

My father sat slumped over the driving wheel in his car that was lodged between
two trees on our driveway. Shaking, I quickly dialed 911. Paramedics and firefighters
arrived and rescued my father from the car, rushing him to the hospital. My father had
suffered his first diabetic hypoglycemic episode. The doctor explained that my father
would have slipped into a coma and passed away if he had been brought in even ten
minutes later. I was ten at the time; however, my fathers traumatic incident sparked
my passion for medicine.

As an advocate for my fathers health, I often researched symptoms, remedies,

and health guidelines to educate my father in order to prevent future diabetic
hypoglycemic episodes. I enjoyed the knowledge I gained and the trusting relationship
I began to build with my father about his illness. Thus began my interest in biology and
my pursuit of a college education in biological sciences, with an emphasis in
neurobiology, physiology, and behavior. My interest in biology and medicine further
developed as I began my first internship.

I was first exposed to a bustling emergency room as a research associate for the
emergency department at the UC Davis Medical Center. Despite the chaos within the
emergency department, I learned to effectively communicate with physicians, residents,
nurses, research coordinators, patients, and their families about various sensitive
research studies. I gained valuable medical knowledge about trauma patients, medical
protocols, and medications from physicians and residents. However, the most
significant lesson I discovered was the disparity of healthcare access between the rich
and poor. I encountered numerous homeless patients who qualified for our long-term
research studies; but, from our conversations, I realized these patients were unable to
afford overnight hospital stays and risked their health due to monetary issues. I
recognized the need for free healthcare services for underserved populations and
sought for opportunities to facilitate this change.

I became a volunteer at Willow Clinic, a student-run clinic providing free

healthcare services for the homeless population in Sacramento, CA. Our clinic was able
to provide prescriptions and referrals to provide healthcare to our patients. I remember
one particular patient, Victoria, who sought our help for her ongoing cough. With the
guidance of Dr. Han and our medical students, I was able to listen to her lungs and we
were able to diagnose her with pneumonia and referred her to the hospital. Several
weeks later, Victoria visited and revealed that she had seven water bottles worth of
fluid removed from her lungs. The sight of her beaming smile and the disappearance of
her cough were priceless. Unfortunately, I realized too many members of underserved
communities, like Victoria, do not obtain the healthcare services they deserve.

Striving to increase my efforts to serve underserved populations, I joined a

medical team in rural Mayan villages in Cancun, Mexico. Similar to our Willow Clinic
patients, our Mayan patients were deprived of healthcare services because of both their
financial status and remote location. Due to the language barrier, I spent months
beforehand learning Spanish in order to communicate effectively and to earn our
patients trust. I remember Alex, an eight year old boy who was filled with laughter
despite his abdominal pains. Fortunately, we were able to diagnose him with
appendicitis and rushed him to the nearest hospital before his appendix would erupt. I
remember Alexs terrified pale face as Dr. Mendoza gently cupped his hand and
reassured him that everything would be fine. Besides the plethora of knowledge,
experience, and memories that I gained from my trip, the most valuable lesson I learned
was the power of communication and reassurance.

In addition to my desire to provide healthcare to underserved communities, I

also enjoyed the application of my knowledge about physiology and biochemical
systems to each patients case. I became particularly interested in neuroscience and
recently became a research assistant for Dr. Ghetti at the Mind and Development lab.
Our research conducts MRI scans on children to study the correlation between the size
of their hippocampus and their retrieval memory potential through various activities.
Like Dr. Mendoza, I am able to relieve a childs fear of an MRI machine through
communication and reassurance. I also briefly volunteered in a research laboratory, and
although it was quite an educational experience, I realized I enjoyed clinical research
more because I am able to intertwine my medical knowledge and communication skills
to interact with patients.

My passion for a career in medicine incorporates the challenges, education, and

compassion that the medical field entails. As a physician, I will aspire to build a trusting
relationship with my patients, provide them with the best healthcare opportunities
possible, and continue to strive to provide healthcare to underserved communities. My
fathers incident still resonates in the back of my mind, reminding me about the
delicacies of life and wondrous powers of medicine.

20. Alicia Spinnet

It wasnt until my senior year that I began to be interested in medicine. I had a

close friend who had just applied to medical school, and I began to wonder why she
was so enthusiastic about going into such a difficult field of study. I had also never
been inside a hospital before, and was curious to see what it would be to work in one. I
applied for an internship at the UC Davis Medical Center and received a placement in
the Prosthetics and Orthotics department. I quickly adapted to the fast-paced
environment and thrived on the difficulty of working with burn patients, stroke
victims, and other patients who we encountered during the day. While I loved my
duties, I was more interested in the doctors we would briefly see and talk to, the ones
who had ordered the orthotics for their patients. I saw that they were the people who
had the final say in what happened to their patients.

Although I did not have much interaction with the doctors, their role in the
hospital intrigued me. I began to research medicine online to try and find out more
about what it took to become a doctor. I realized that doctors had to be smart, intuitive,
determined, hard-working, and confident in their abilities, traits that I admired. I
mentioned to my boss Peter, the Chief Orthotist, that I was becoming interested in
medicine, and, without a second thought, that he thought I would make a great doctor
should I chose to pursue it. Bolstered by his confidence, I continued my research to find
out if going to medical school was the next step in my career goals.

I applied for another internship and received one working in the MICU. There I
got to observe both doctors and nurses interact with patients on a daily basis. I also got
more time to talk to the patients myself, which I loved. It made me happy to be able to
clarify what was happening to someone who was confused and scared, and I always
walked around the rest of the day smiling because I was able to help someone.
Sometimes it was hard. One day a patient crashed, and I helped out as much as I could,
running to get more Lactate Ringers from upstairs and taking blood samples down to
the lab. Although moments like those were scary, I found that I worked well in those
scenarios by calmly helping with the patient, monitoring phone calls, and talking to the
family all at the same time.

During this time, I began to attend any event I could related to medicine. I also
read any article I could find about medicine. I found something that further sparked my
interest but also distressed me: article after article, speaker after speaker, talked about
the miscommunication between doctors and patients. Dr. Wen, who had written a book
of the subject, told us about the fatal mistakes caused by doctors who had not listened
to their patients concerns. I saw this happening in the MICU as well. Doctors would
ignore patients just because they were loud if that had dementia, dismissing them as
crazy. One day, I observed a doctor taking the time explain to a patient that her
cancer was spreading. He helped her understand what was happening to her body, her
treatment options, and the ramifications of those options. I then realized that the
miscommunication I had read about could be erased.

I believe that my future now lies in medicine. I want to be like the doctor I
overheard, and bridge the gap between doctor and patient. I believe that the best way to
do this is to be a doctor. I want to help people, but I also want to make patients feel as
comfortable with the process as possible. I believe that taking the time to listen to a
patient can clear up most confusion, and can also reveal details about a patient that one
might not get from looking at a chart. I will become a doctor so that I can help people
through everyday interactions.

21. Tess Richards

My right eye burned as I continued staring at a black dot, anticipating the
swoosh of air to make contact with my eye. When it did, I blinked and felt relief. My
annual eye check up was almost over. As my optometrist reviewed the results of the
tonometry test, she asked me what career I was planning to pursue when I entered
college. As a high school senior, I had not given it much thought. I enjoyed learning
about biology and chemistry but was unsure what field I was interested in. She began
to tell me about her job and how much she enjoyed being able to own her own business
and interact with patients daily. This piqued my interest and I decided to research more
into this profession.
When I was a sophomore in college, I interned for Dr. Kubo in Sacramento. This
internship solidified my desire to pursue optometry. For each patient during my shifts,
I assisted in the entire process of the eye exam from greeting the patient in the waiting
room to reviewing the results of the glaucoma test. During the exam, I was allowed to
explain the purpose of each instrument and to advise the patient on proper eye care.
Having poor vision myself, I want to educate others of the importance of taking care of
their eyesight. My lack of concern with appropriate lighting greatly attributed to my
weak eyesight. Working at the receptionists desk gave me the opportunity to converse
even more with patients while performing administrative tasks. I handled patient
intake while answering phone calls, scheduling appointments, and filing paperwork. As
an intern, I learned the importance of running a successful business and how to
communicate well with others.
In my junior year of college, I interned for an optical lab and learned about the
production of lenses. While the private practice dealt more with patient care, the optical
lab functioned like a factoryeach person was assigned to a station and each station
was crucial to the development of the product. When one employee called in sick, my
co-workers depended on me to take over his station while also completing my assigned
tasks.
In order to further pursue my interests, I volunteered for the Emergency
Medicine Research Assistant Program at the UCDMC. This opportunity allowed me to
experience the hectic and fast-paced environment of a hospital. During one shift, three
trauma patients involved in a multi-car accident were rushed into the emergency room.
Medical staff bustled in and out of the room to treat them. Most patients in the
emergency room have a short stay and I needed to request the attending physicians
approval to enroll patients in research studies. I learned how to efficiently communicate
with physicians and to approach patients with delicate questions. While it taught me
how to deal with stressful and chaotic situations, I prefer the relaxed and personal
atmosphere of a private practice.
Working in a plant sciences lab, I assisted in many research projects. One of my
most challenging tasks was when my supervisor assigned me to train my co-workers.
Since they were my peers, it was difficult initially trying to balance between
commanding their attention and maintaining a friendly relationship with them.
Through delegating tasks and making quick decisions, I gained skills that I hope to use
as a future optometry student.
Becoming an optometrist will fulfill my personal and career goals. Working in
the health field will not only allow me to help people but to also educate people about
the importance of taking care of their eyesight.

22. AG Sanchez

My younger brother was born immunocompromised with severe asthma.

Growing up, I had to take care of my brother as my single mother worked tirelessly to
provide for our family, making sure we had everything we needed, which included
inhalers. By the age of 5, my brother had already contracted whooping cough and
Henoch-Schnlein purpura. Not only were the infections difficult for our family,
misdiagnoses perpetuated a mistrust in western medicine. My family used herbal
medicines to treat problems and it was only when symptoms worsened that we asked
for help from a western doctor. I came to UC Davis as a pre-medical student, hoping to
advance my knowledge so that when I became a doctor, I would not make life-
threatening mistakes that scare families into not wanting to seek help, because I know
western medicine does help if infections are treated properly.

Initially, I came to college studying genetics, learning how our body was capable
of repairing double-stranded breaks and which genes activated certain mechanisms. I,
however, was not learning enough about genetic diseases, which I had assumed the
major would focus on. Each time I talked about my major, someone would assume that
I would go into research, so I would correct him or her about my plans for becoming a
doctor. The genetics lab I had taken was exciting, but I was not sure if my option as a
researcher was better than being a doctor.

To find out, I interned in the emergency room at Sutter Memorial Hospital. Here,
I felt the possibility of being a doctor outweigh the research career because of the
personal contact you had with patients. I learned how to properly attach an EKG to a
person, I witnessed a spinal tap on a young child, I assisted in calming patients during
central venous catheter insertions, and I even observed an obstetric surgery. When the
ER was quiet, I was usually the first to attend to a patients call button or run to the lab
to drop off samples. I worked closely with patients, techs, nurses, and doctors every
week. What I loved most was how doctors made their patients feel, comforting and
heard. I wanted to be the person whom patients could trust to help ease their
discomforts. I learned that compassion was key to being a great doctor, not just what I
knew, so I wanted to keep pursuing this dream.

The spring quarter of my third year, Dr. Robinson, the introductory

microbiology professor captivated me with his stories of bacterial infections. I finally
understood how some illnesses were contracted and the tales behind each one. I
decided then that I needed to know more and talked with my advisor about switching
majors. In the microbiology labs, I learned to identify bacteria and the steps it took to
uncover the identity of unknown bacteria. My passion for medicine was finally
reignited by the major change. Taking medical microbiology courses, I was able to
focus on diseases and how bacteria affected the body and why bacteria would cause
certain symptoms. I excelled in this field of study just like my love for it.

Now that I understand how infections work and what it is like to work in a
hospital, I want to take what I have learned and enrich it, so that I have the knowledge
to properly care for others. I want to be considerate and thoughtful when treating
patients, listening to their stories so that I will not miss an important symptom that
could lead me to the patients problems. I know that western medicine is good and I do
not want any families, especially those from other countries to mistrust it because of
mistakes like my family had suffered. The key is knowing how to properly talk to
people from other cultures.

23. Tenzin Gyatso

A physician in this day and age needs to be fully knowledgeable of the

physiological nature of the human body, and how to help people who suffer. As
humans, all we require is that our bodies remain at homeostasis, and that the necessary
functions for the preservation of life remain consistent. These include breathing,
digestion, thought, and essentially all processes required to go about our daily routines.
The role of a doctor in society is to help others remain at their fullest potential and
reduce suffering to allow maximum productivity. As a result, a doctor must be able to
listen intently to his patients, focus on their needs, and help come to a solution that
really does effectively help the patient. The word to stress is effectively. One aspect of
healthcare that really distresses me is the fact that some doctors are very quick to
prescribe medications to patients that will potentially help them in the short term, but
for long-term mental health such solutions may not be so effective. A doctor should
listen to what a patient is going through and be able to utilize knowledge from multiple
fields of healthcare to assist the patient in achieving a more comfortable and productive
lifestyle. I believe that through all my experiences in healthcare, I have come to possess
the skills required of a doctor to efficiently and thoroughly help patients in need.

My first experiences in the healthcare field were in high school when I

volunteered at Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose. My interaction with patients was
limited to offering snacks and beverages, as well as small talk. But what I realized was
that even something as seemingly insignificant such as small talk really helped the
patients with their mental strength. Listening to what the patients have to say, allowing
them to vent about their condition, and offering positive advice and encouragement
helped patients bear the stay in the hospital. Having a proper bedside manner is an
extremely important facet of being a good doctor, because at the end of the day we are
all human, and we want to share our pain and suffering with each other, a cathartic
experience that allows the alleviation of stress. Talking to patients and seeing their
mood improve after a small chat or after giving them some juice and jello really touched
me on a deep level.

In college one of the first things I became involved in was as a volunteer for the
Gastrointestinal Lab in the UCDMC. There I was able to learn how to prep materials for
surgery and properly sanitize rooms before and after surgery. This experience allowed
me to learn the strict guidelines by which healthcare must be carried out with, and the
quality of work expected. Even one lapse in discipline in sanitizing the endoscopes
could have drastic effects for the patients, and this disciplined attitude is something that
I have carried with me onwards from the volunteering experience.

My job at Classical Notes on the UC Davis campus taught me proper customer

service. Healthcare is a service industry, built on the satisfaction and loyalty of
customers. I have experienced dealing with all sorts of customers, both cheerful and
stressed, and always made it my goal to not let them leave without being fully satisfied
with my quality of work, and ensure their business again. This is an attribute important
for a doctor to have, because as a doctor who sees all varieties of people everyday, he or
she must strive to offer the same quality of care for each and every patient regardless of
their mood. I remember once I redesigned a poster 4 times for a customer until it was
exactly as they wanted it. It was a frustrating task, but as a proper employee I never let
the frustration show, and in the end was rewarded by the customers happiness with my
work, and the assurance that I would have their business again.

My most recent experience has been working at the Center for Compassion and
Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University. This work has been more of
the administrative office-type, where I must diligently answer emails, organize our
team's goals and read over academic papers such as grant proposals for research. These
are the back-office skills that doctors need to possess, when doctors aren't with patients
they are in their offices handling administrative duties. One issue in healthcare today is
getting in contact with doctors, who are so busy that they often can't even answer
emails. When a patient needs to get in contact with a doctor, the experience should be
made as simple as possible.

My reasons for becoming a doctor are to help my fellow man. I feel that everyone
has a right to health and happiness, and doctors are the medium for acquiring those
virtues. Through my experiences in hospitals, in the operation room, in customer
service and in medical back-offices, I believe I possess the skills to be a successful doctor
in the healthcare industry.

24. Apollo Strong

When most people envision a vacation to Hawaii, they imagine beautiful white
sand beaches accompanied by the soothing sound of clear blue waves gently sweeping
the shore. However, when I think back to my trip, a much different image is evoked.
Far removed from the typical Hawaiian scenery, I stood at the bedside of a famous
artist. She was completely paralyzed from head to toe, except for her eyes. Her name
was Peggy Chun and she suffered from ALS.

What brought me to the doorstep of Peggys house was a painting of hers that
hung in my familys htel room in Hawaii. The painting was of a simple Hawaiian house
similar to her own. I was curious to learn more about Peggys artwork and to hear her
story.

I was fifteen years old when I met Peggy. I had never heard of Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) -more commonly known as Lou Gehrigs nor had I seen
someone affected by the disease. I kept asking myself how this happened to her and
why there was no cure for this disease yet. I was shocked, but intrigued at the same
time. My initial impression was that she was trapped, a prisoner of her own body.
Peggy showed me her highly advanced computer program, which enabled her to
communicate by tracking the movement of her eyes across an onscreen keyboard. At
the time, only three of these keyboards existed.

Peggy wanted to know more about me so I told her that I going to be a

sophomore in high school, I played water polo, and that I was interested in becoming a
doctor. Despite her computerized voice, Peggys response resonates with me till this
day. She told me, I believe that you can help find the cure to ALS and one day this
disease will be a distant memory. I was immediately overcome with a great sense of
reverence and in response was only able to utter out, I will. As we left her house, my
interest in medicine began to slowly develop into a genuine passion.

Research paves the way for future medical discoveries, such as cures to crippling
diseases. Six years after formally meeting Peggy, I sought an opportunity to work in a
laboratory that focused on ALS research. While my previous lab experiences
highlighted the importance of accuracy, precision, and adhering to lab policies, I gained
a newfound respect for the power of research at this particular lab. Dr. Nicholas
Maragakis, the principle investigator, emphasized the significance of how successful
research projects can transcend into everyday medical practice and significantly
improve a patients life. This creates a tangible connection between research and doctor-
patient interactions.

To further understand this connection, I shadowed Dr. Maragakis as he made his

rounds in the neuromuscular disease clinic. I was exposed to a diverse group of patients
differing in their ALS progression. Although there are usually grim outcomes when
dealing with this disease, Dr. Maragakis always found a way to lift the patients spirits
regardless of whether they were first diagnosed or told that they only had a few more
months to live. I truly admired his ability to connect with his patients even though on
an average day he saw close to 15 different individuals. Through my time spent in the
clinic with Dr. Maragakis, I realized that empathy is was what truly separates the great
from the average physician.

Sadly three years after initially meeting Peggy, she passed away in the comfort of
her own home surrounded by her family and friends. Since meeting her, my desire to
pursue a career, as a physician has never wavered because I am obligated to full the
promise that I made to Peggy several years ago.

25. Charlie Jules

Thirty-two pairs of eyes stare at me as I stand in the front of the room. I address
the audience with what I like to believe is a strong voice and announce the agenda for
the day. When I had addressed everyones questions, everyone gets up and begins
dancing. Now, as a reader, you may have first imagined a classroom setting. However,
the third sentence may have thrown you off since a typical classroom does not involve
dancing. The description of the setting was for a typical dance practice for a dance crew
that I have been a part of since the start of my undergraduate studies. As a co-director
in my last year of college, I have experienced the team from the perspective of a teacher
by helping the members to improve their skills and to build team bonds. The skills I
learned helped to shape my career path to becoming a teacher. The similarities between
a classroom setting and a dance studio setting made my experiences relevant to my
future career.
As a team member and leader, I have had to constantly communicate with the
team and listen to others ideas and opinions. I observed the strengths and weaknesses
of the members and sought ways to help each to improve. In relation to teaching, it is
important to treat all members as individuals and to understand them on a more
personal level. I noticed that individuals progressed at different rates, and it was
important to cater the practice agenda and techniques to accommodate all. Just as we
cannot expect to make a dance in one day, we cannot assume students can improve and
learn the material all in one day. Learning is a process that takes time before test
administration, just as dance is a creative process that requires preparation before stage
performance.
 The skills I learned from being a part of a dance team play a large role in how I
organize my life. Throughout the year, I coordinated the agenda for the practices and
made sure the information reached all members of the team. I learned that time
management is especially important since there must be a balance between academics,
dance, work, and internships. However, I realized soon upon entering the team that I
am willing to do anything for something I am passionate about. If I have the drive to
continue doing something I love, then I will pursue it despite the negative consequences
on my physical well-being. I apply this mentality to my academics and my future career
as a teacher by reminding myself why I am doing it. I know that in my future
profession, I would like to help others and to pursue something I am passionate about.
Though my initial goal was to study medicine, I realized that there are other ways to
apply my scientific knowledge and communication skills. It was not until after I
completed most of my pre-medical prerequisites and built my extensive resume did I
discover the option of becoming a teacher. I find myself more satisfied knowing that I
had helped others achieve their goals and had fostered their desire to improve
academically and personally. Though my personal aspiration to enter medical school
has diminished, I find that I am much happier with helping to nurture the younger
generations desire to learn.

And so I decided to try out a career in teaching by enrolling in the Math and
Science Teaching Program (MAST). The MAST program allowed me to enter a
classroom and essentially be a teachers aide. Most recently, I requested to teach at a
high school physiology and anatomy classroom. As an intern, I had the opportunity to
teach the class as a whole as well as tutor small groups. In retrospect, teaching the high
school students is no different than leading a group of thirty-two dancers. I find myself
standing in the front of the room and speaking to a group of individuals seeking to
grow and learn. Looking into a group of dancers is similar to looking into group of
students in that both groups have a drive to improve in some way. Watching a group of
dancers going strong even after five hours of dancing and seeing the eyes of the
students light up when they grasp a difficult concept are two of the best feelings in the
world. Teaching in both a dance studio and classroom solidified my aspiration to
become a high school physiology and anatomy teacher. My goal is to inspire
individuals to push themselves further and have them leave the room with a newly
learned concept.