Hack me, Help me, Get me into school

[kjconcepts]

Thanks ahead of time for taking a look at this. Before the obvious is pointed out, that my direct patient contact is massage and not accepted most places, the school to which I am applying is aware of this. In my defense, I am not a Ritz Carlton masseuse, not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

 

 

Helping people with their health-related problems and offering preventative care has been one of the two major focuses of my adult life (the other has been music—in itself a therapy of sorts.)

 

 

I was an overweight child—not surprising after having been raised in the Deep South on a meat-filled , deep-fried diet. What is surprising is what I did about it. Antithetical to my culture, I taught myself about nutrition, took up cycling and lost 50 pounds. I realized then that I could do pretty much whatever I set my mind to do and that I had become a self-directed person.

 

 

That knowledge served me well. In junior high, I attended a concert given by the high school jazz band, the director of which was an accomplished trumpeter. His rendition of a Maynard Ferguson tune convinced me I was going to be a trumpeter. At band tryouts, I was told my “lips were the wrong size for trumpet” and instead was directed to saxophone. Though new to the instrument (in fact a year behind the other students) I caught up to the others in one semester and soon made Second Chair. I was soon invited to solo at State and Ensemble competitions and made All-State Band every year. After being asked to sit in as a guest saxophonist on a Bizet selection with the prestigious Charlotte Youth Symphony, I set my sights on becoming a member of that orchestra. When I found out that saxophone was not a standard instrument played in that ensemble, I learned to play the bassoon—perfect for the woodwind quintet of the CYS. I soon won my chair in the Symphony and ascended to First Chair in the Charleston Spoleto Festival Youth Symphony. I went on to receive my Bachelor of Music degree from Florida State University and my Masters of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Even before graduation, I auditioned and won the position of Assistant Principal Bassoonist of the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra.

 

 

Again I had achieved what I set out to achieve.

 

 

After eight years with the Philharmonic, I decided it was time to pursue another long-dormant passion: science, particularly biology. My interest had been kindled (again in high school) when I had a teacher who was heavily involved in the South Carolina Academy of Science. He was also an avid birder and helped me complete my Senior Science Thesis –an independent study of the dominance in the Pine Siskin, a North American bird of the Finch family. I was selected to present my thesis at the State Conference.

 

 

As an adult, I realized I had not lost my love of biology but wanted to learn more about my own species—humans. I began exploring my interest by attending lectures on science and health and found that I had a deep-seated interest in helping people overcome their health problems, through natural pain management and nutrition. I determined that the quickest avenue for breaking into the health field was to be found by becoming a Massage Therapist. I attended massage school and passed the State and National license exams, learning anatomy and physiology in the process, and was soon hired as a Medical Massage Therapist in a Chiropractic clinic, where I saw up to 40 of the doctor's patients every week, for such problems as low back and neck pain, shoulder immobilizations, plantar fasciitis and TMJ.

 

 

In the first three years of my work, I took over 200 CEU's, furthering my knowledge of structure and function. To expand my services, I went back to school and earned my Esthetician's license (learning much about human skin and the circulatory system in the process) later became a certified Personal Trainer and (under the license of a Doctor of Oriental Medicine) became a certified First Line Therapy Education, allowing me to legally consult clients about nutrition.

 

 

Along the way, though, I discovered that I wanted to be more fully able to address a patient's problems than just through massage, nutrition or exercise. I arranged to spend time observing patients in acute care and began to lean about orthopedic surgeries and their outcomes. I added to my knowledge of the human body and all of its systems (not just its musculature) and realized that, though I was planning to take the next step in my evolution and become a Physical Therapist, it was the field of medicine, in all its permutations, that interested me. What I truly wanted to become was a Physician's Assistant.

 

 

I think I would be a very good one .I am competent, efficient, and careful –a good listener and a quick study. My years of experience treating patients debilitated by pain has helped me develop a comforting and intuitive “bedside manner” that would prove useful in any Physician’s practice. I am eager to beginning my studies to advance to next level of providing care and look forward to helping alleviate patients' suffering.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for an opportunity to do so.

[Just Steve]

I think you will offer a very nice balance in a classroom and eventual practice. Good luck in your endeavor.

[mackjacks]

One thing that I hear pointed out on these forums over and over: use Physician Assistant, not the possessive Physician's Assistant. The only way I could see using the latter is if the website of the program you are applying for uses this form (likewise, if you were applying only to Yale, use Physician Associate in your PS).

[IdahoPA]

Actually, words like "message therapist" and "physician assistant" and "physical therapist" should not be capitalized when used as a general noun. They are only capitalized when used as a title. Likewise, I don't think "state" and "national" should be capitalized, either. Nor should "chiropractic." You get the idea. If you are going to use abbreviations, you first have to write what they mean. Yes, anyone reading your paper likely knows what "TMJ" is, but the first time they are used they should be written out.

 

Examples: I want to be a physician assistant.

Physician Assistant Mark Smith volunteered in Ghana.

I worked for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for three years. NBC was __________.

[chiaroscuro27]

I really, really like how this statement is developing, and not because I'm both musician and a former personal trainer!

 

You've done a great job of detailing your journey without being dramatic about it. It's not complete, but it's one of the best drafts I've seen.