Rough draft #2 of Personal Statement..Input greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Kelli22]

I'll take all the help I can get, thank you all for reading it!

 

Passion is manifested in many ways depending on the person, the attraction, the goal, and the purpose. For me, Ralph Waldo Emerson said it perfectly, “Passion rebuilds the world for the youth. It makes all things alive and significant.” I am fortunate enough to have two passions that make me feel alive and bring color to my life; healing and family.

 

 

Throughout childhood, I knew I wanted to be a healer. I grew up in a close-knit Irish family and my grandfather claimed he always knew when we weren’t feeling well because he could see it in our eyes. He would say “let’s get those Irish eyes smiling”, meaning make us feel better, and proceed singing the Irish tune, which always brought a little twinkle back into our eyes. It was then I knew I wanted to make people feel better the way he did for us; I wanted to bring the twinkle back into others eyes. Needless to say, I am a horrible singer, so that wasn’t an option, but I did love nurturing animals and people back to health. I brought countless creatures into our house, insisting I needed practice being a “doctor”, including birds, turtles, even a baby mouse (my Mom was not pleased with that “patient”).

 

As I got older, my fascination with health and medicine deepened. However, I did not know where my place was exactly in the broad medical field. To direct my search, I thought about what gives me happiness and it was easy to list what I loved; figuring out puzzles, learning new things, living a healthy, balanced life, and most of all bringing the twinkle back into others eyes. Therefore, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be in a position that diagnosed, because of the puzzle-like process and learning that advances each case, as well helping people improve their overall well-being. I did research on various medical careers, talked to doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners, and thought about my own experiences as a patient. When I was treated by PA’s, I always felt like they listened to me knowledgably and open-mindedly and that they took pride in giving me the best care. There was a similar and unique type of care PA’s shared, and it is the care I hope to provide; to listen, discuss, and treat corroboratively. Moreover, I want to keep my other passion, family, a priority in my life. I want to have time and ability to help my parents as they age, be an involved mother, and have a strong relationship with my spouse, and I knew, for me personally, being a PA would be the best way to achieve these goals. Therefore, I left for college with the dream of becoming a physician assistant.

 

In college, I worked hard right away to balance my academics, job, and personal life. By establishing good time management skills from the start of college, I continually maintained my grades and my job, as well began working in research for an internal medicine-pulmonary lab, where I gained a different, yet beneficial, perspective in the medical field. In the lab, I broadened my understanding of the science behind medicine and also got a better understanding of different careers in medicine, working with MDs, PhDs, PAs, nurses, and others. I also regularly attended Pre-PA student organization meetings and became involved as a co-president of the organization. I embraced the opportunity to keep learning more about the profession and meeting new PA’s that speak at our meetings. These experiences and shadowing different PA’s exposes me to the vast possibilities the PA career holds, and that concept continues to be exhilarating and motivating.

 

Junior year, I became a nurse aide caring for patients in their homes. Each of my clients had unique personalities and medical problems, so I learned invaluable interpersonal and medical skills. I loved having a relationship with my clients and knowing their lives were enhanced by my care. I recently transitioned to a nurse aide job on the medical cardiology unit at the University of Iowa Hospital and have gained yet another perspective of the medical field working in a large, dynamic setting. I am still “new” and every day brings more knowledge and respect for health providers; I am proud to be part of such an amazing team of people and look forward to the day when I can offer more skills to the patients I meet.

 

My time spent volunteering at Iowa City Free Medical Clinic has also intensified my respect for health care providers and my passion to be one myself. At the clinic, we give care to improve the lives of people who are less fortunate and I have amazing gratitude for the humbling experiences the clinic has offered. It has become evident to me that everyone deserves good health or as others say “smiling eyes”. I am blessed to have a passion for healing that brings my world alive and hope for the opportunity to apply my devotion to healing as a physician assistant.