Personal Statement Reviews would be appreciated :)

[Courttany]

Everybody wants to have that single moment in time where he or she can say he or she have had an epiphany. A single instance where they can look back and say, “Right There! That is where I decided I would be a physician assistant (PA).” Of course, who can tell if that moment is on career day? Alternatively, maybe while sitting getting your school physical? Alternatively, perhaps waiting for the doctors to deliver your niece and watching the organized chaos of the medical staff working so close together?

 

I hear the screams and laughter all around, and while I listen to my voicemail, it all seems to stand still. In 6 quick seconds I realize my world is about to change, “Irv was in a car accident meet us at the hospital.” I quickly look around at the flashing lights of the Ferris wheel and tilt-a-whirl and try to find my friends. The 40-minute drive to the hospital is all a blur, as is most of the night waiting for my mom to hear the doctors tell us my dad is going to be okay. 20 hours of surgery later and the doctor comes to the waiting room and informs us he is stable, but unconscious and asks us to sit down. He tells us suffered permanent damage to his spine and will remain a T4 paraplegic. He lingered in the coma for five days after surgery before waking. We stayed in the ICU for 12 weeks and transferred to a rehabilitation center for six months before he was released to come home.  

So I guess my clarifying moment was right then at 14 sitting in the ICU I decided to be a PA. Of course, at the time I knew I just wanted to be a medical professional. I immediately began volunteering at the hospital and worked very closely with nurses, MDs, PAs, and NPs in both the emergency department (ED) and an outpatient gastroenterology center. I went to high school with high honors and dual enrolled at the local community college and in the evenings spent my time volunteering at the hospital. After graduation, I moved onto the University where I double majored in sciences and studied every night to ensure I could learn all I could in the two short years I would be there. I actively volunteered with a free health clinic, another ED, and frequented Habitat for Humanity build sites.

 

I genuinely valued the PA profession when I became health center manager and worked closely with the practitioners scheduling their workflow and seeing how each one treated their patients according to their personal background. I learned the main differences between all the professionals and decided that being a PA suits my tastes and skills. Having already completed my bachelor’s in sciences I knew I was more interested in the diagnostics and physical/biological aspects of medicine over the nursing approach and did not want to become a registered nurse. The most important decision for choosing the PA profession was the ability to change specialties. With that diversity, I knew I could consistently immerse myself in any field and have the opportunity for consistent growth and change. 

 

The role of a PA is continually evolving, whether working closely with the physician in a primary office or more independently in the ED or surgical services. While shadowing in a multitude of specialties I loved that ultimately every PA has a different job depending on their partnership with their respective attending physician. I have seen the close-knit consultations in a primary neurologist office where patients would first be seen by the PA and the two would consult, and the attending would close the visit. To the independence of the emergency PA who saw his patients and simply consulted only if needed. I know I worked best with a team and loved the relationship each PA had with his/her attending.

 

While working in the laboratory for two years, I truly got involved in the patient's care plan. Getting to sit and talk with each patient in the hospital let me see the diversity of each setting. Instead of being limited to a few patients I was privileged with seeing every patient in the hospital and getting to know most of their personal backgrounds. Watching the cancer patients come in and out of the hospital got me to know them each best. Seeing some go into full remission and leave the hospital permanently was the most rewarding. Moreover, yet the single patients that come in month after month to our patient make just as big a mark in my heart. I get to hear their stories of growth, in family and health. They come to our doors and request certain phlebotomists knowing that they care for them as individuals, and I am always delighted to have those brief, heartfelt conversations.

 

To be a bright light for a patient during their stay is a blessing for both of us. To find a passion worth living and to be able to choose that passion as your career is utterly blissful. It is with all these memories and tragedies that life has thrown in my direction that I know being a PA is fitting for me, and I know that I will treat each and every patient by being a light to look to on their path to health and sickness.

 

[janegood]

Hi! I think you've got a good personal statement but it's not a good idea to post it like that for anyone to copy it or for admission committee to find it plagiarized because it was posted on internet. 

[yoshiyoshi]

I think your personal statement but it can use some paraphrasing for the first paragraph to make it smaller because you already talk about your reasons why you want to become PA in the next paragraph. Or you can delete this paragraph. It's too general.

 

Everybody wants to have that single moment in time where he or she can say he or she have had an epiphany. A single instance where they can look back and say, “Right There! That is where I decided I would be a physician assistant (PA).” Of course, who can tell if that moment is on career day? Alternatively, maybe while sitting getting your school physical? Alternatively, perhaps waiting for the doctors to deliver your niece and watching the organized chaos of the medical staff working so close together?

 

 

Otherwise, the personal statement is great. Hope you did well!