Marginalized - Harvard - Medical school personal statement tips
Hometown: Portland, Oregon, USA
Undergraduate School: Public, Portland State University
Major: Public Health
GPA: 3.99
MCAT: 515. BB: 131, CP: 128, CARS: 127, PS: 129.
Medical school personal statement tips
I grew up in a small, coastal town on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Port Angeles is a close-knit community that fits the cliche of the town where everyone knows each other. In 1990, my father came out as transgender. Being five years old at the time, the concept of gender identity was unknown to me. My father, who uses the pronouns they/them/their, was seen as deviant and psychologically disturbed. My family suffered as a result. The amount of discrimination my father experienced as a result of their gender identity was astonishing. Workplace discrimination left my family struggling to make ends meet on my mother’s pay. Social discrimination alienated my family from the support structure we had developed in our community. Medical discrimination prevented my father from obtaining necessary gender affirming and routine medical care.
At the time, I did not have an understanding of why my father had to leave my hometown. I did not know the systemic discrimination that my parents faced as they attempted to keep their relationship intact. I did not know that my father was being refused care from their primary care physician. As I got older, I inquired about the circumstances surrounding my father’s departure and health issues. My mother described the difficulty of getting medical care for transgender individuals. I learned about the barriers to care that the transgender community routinely experience. As a condition of treatment, my father was required to see several counselors; finding one that would even discuss their gender identity was a feat in itself. After receiving the necessary letters certifying that my father was mentally competent to make the decision to transition, they faced another barrier finding a physician that would treat them.
My personal experience having a transgender parent led me to research health disparities faced by the transgender community. I discovered that the experiences of my father were far from unique. Studies such as the National Transgender Discrimination Survey detailed the abhorrent amount of discrimination that the transgender community faces in a clinical setting. Further, I learned about the negative health outcomes that were associated with the lack of access to medical care. Physical abuse, depression, drug use, prostitution, and suicide were all associated with the inability to receive medical intervention. These findings hit me hard as I could see the hardships that my father and family faced in these statistics. At the same time, I saw these findings as an opportunity to improve the lives of the transgender community so that other people would not have to experience the same discrimination.
During my freshman year of college, I wanted to become involved in research that addressed transgender health disparities. I was not aware of the extent of the gaps in research regarding this topic. Without an established project to join, I decided to create my own research proposal and find a faculty member to help. My proposal was to conduct a health needs assessment of the transgender community in Portland, Oregon. Similar studies had been done in other cities, but not Portland, which has a relatively large transgender population. I found a faculty member in the School of Public Health who was eager to take on this endeavor and mentor me through the process.
Community involvement in the development of this project was essential, which led me to become a member of the Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU’s) Transgender Health Program (THP) committee.
The THP had recently been established by faculty at OHSU and has been instrumental in increasing access and awareness of transgender-related medical care in the state of Oregon. I began at tending monthly meetings, grand rounds, and town-hall events that were hosted by the THP. During this time, I met Dr. Aaron Ziegler, an Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology, who conducted a longitudinal case study of a transmasculine patient who elected to forgo hormone replacement therapy due to socioeconomic reasons. Dr. Ziegler brought me on as a volunteer researcher where I conducted a meta-analysis on voice masculinization protocol for transmasculine patients. Through the guidance of Dr. Ziegler, I wrote a manuscript that analyzed the current clinical protocol and its shortcomings in addressing the communication needs of transmasculine patients.
Through the THP, I built relationships with several physicians who are active in providing gender affirming care. I observed the difference that these physicians make in the lives of their patients across a wide array of specialties; urology, endocrinology, internal medicine, family medicine, and otolaryngology. What I witnessed defied the findings of the National Transgender Discrimination
Survey. I found that, despite the social stigmas that surround gender identity, there are physicians and researchers who are actively making a difference in the lives of this community. My desire to become a physician was solidified by these experiences which have inspired me to help improve the lives of medically marginalized communities so that no one has to experience the discrimination that my father faced.
Analysis
Travis does an excellent job exemplifying his passion for medicine through a personal outline of some significant events that led up to this essay. He begins with a pivotal event early in his life when his “father came out as transgender” and describes his recollection of the challenges his family had to face. What is so incredibly powerful about his particular recounting is how evident his frustration is. He keeps his sentences concise and explicit and uses the repetition of phrases like “I did not know” to build the rhythm, momentum, and impact of his words. In doing so, he effectively conveys the strong impression this experience had on him and the close personal connection he feels to the issue of transgender health disparities.
Travis continues to further impress as he describes how his family’s struggles inspired and fueled his passion for improving the lives of medically marginalized communities. He writes about his independently coordinated research project and his community involvement in increasing awareness about these issues, among other accomplishments. In connecting each of these accomplishments back to his family, he not only gives them additional weight and significance but also demonstrates his strong sense of passion and initiative.
Travis strikes the optimal balance between personal narrative and measurable accomplishments in his essay and effectively shows how their relationship delineates both his interest and commitment to the medical field.
From 50 Successful Harvard Medical School Essays edited by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson. Copyright (c) 2020 by the authors and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group