Skating on thin ice - Harvard - Example medical school application essay
Hometown: Nampa, Idaho, USA
Undergraduate School: Public, Boise State University
Major: Health Sciences
GPA: 4.0 out of 4.0
MCAT: 516. CP: 128, CARS: 125, BB: 131, PS: 132.
Example medical school application essay
Behind all action lies a driving force; a love; a passion. That 200 × 85–foot rink enclosed by hard, wooden boards and transparent plexiglass grabbed ahold of me at a young age. As I laced up my skates, pulled the jersey over my head, and walked down the dark tunnel towards the ice, I visualized myself playing in the NHL; my ultimate dream. I dedicated most of my life to pursuing this ambition, including fifteen years of commitment to training coupled with the sacrifice of living away from my family during and after my high school years to play in the top AAA league in the U.S. At nineteen, I had the opportunity to earn my spot on the top junior team in the U.S., where I would have a chance at being drafted into the NHL. Following the final game of training camp, I stepped off the ice and walked into the locker room. I sat there, soaked in sweat, looking around at the other players. It was silent. The door creaked open and the head coach listed off the names of players he wanted to meet with and mine was first. I briskly changed and took a long walk down the hall towards his office, unsure of what to expect. He expressed that I had great skill, but they needed younger players. Instantly, my hockey career had ended.
Although this unexpected outcome hurt, it allowed me to appreciate how my dedication to hockey, my first true passion, molded me into a strong and capable team leader. I remembered the passionate feelings of playing hockey as I pushed forward in pursuit of a new profession. After pondering the career possibilities a college education could provide, I enrolled in a university and established my new life much different from the routine of practices, training sessions, airports, hotels, games, and meetings. At that time, I sought the feeling of overwhelming purpose and joy that hockey once served. I searched for a challenge that held my interest as deeply as the ice, something I could strive to improve at each day. It was not until I shadowed a sports medicine physician that I rekindled my passion but in a new direction. I became fascinated by the patient interactions and problem-solving required and realized that by pursuing medicine I would need to rely on my focus, hard work, and dedication.
To test the waters of medicine, I worked as a home hospice volunteer where I met my first patient, Brad. We met each week to watch movies together, discuss life stories, and talk about his love for football. Often, he expressed how much spending time together brightened his day. Comments like these, along with his personal requests for me to pray for him, were the moments that emotionally touched and fulfilled me. Over time until his death, I experienced the feeling of improving his quality of life by simply treating him like family. Through our interactions, the void left by the absence of my hockey career became occupied by a new passion: serving others.
I understand the path to becoming a physician requires extensive sacrifice and commitment. I am excited about the challenge, just as I had been when training as an athlete and entering college as a first-generation student working two jobs to support myself and finance my education. However, I wanted further confirmation that my passion for medicine would pass the test of time before dedicating my future to it. I decided to gain clinical experience as a scribe in the ED. One late Friday evening, the glass sliding doors of the ambulance entrance opened as a young woman was rushed into the trauma bay. She had become asystolic just prior to arrival and appeared to be about my age with a bruised face, spattered with dried blood. The nurse sat on top of her performing chest compressions while the doctor prepared to run the code. Shortly after transferring her to the trauma bed, the physician attempted resuscitation; nothing saved her life. The buzzing of the flat rhythm strip was the only sound present.
Witnessing the physician and EMS staff lose a patient served as a firsthand experience of the emotional challenges associated with medicine. However, through that experience, I realized death may sometimes be an inevitable outcome in medicine, as loss is sometimes an inevitable outcome in life. My desire to pursue medicine grew stronger because this situation reinforced the vast opportunity I will have as a physician to largely impact the lives of my future patients, even though there will be moments when saving a life is out of reach. In those difficult times, my passion for serving others will push me forward.
Medicine is about striving towards betterment, just as I had done with my previous dream. I look forward to the challenges ahead and the rigors of this journey. Through my experiences, I have developed several traits, including dedication, work ethic, and ultimately handling loss, all of which have prepared me to overcome the adversity that lies ahead. And just like hockey, although each inch forward is accompanied by sheer strength of will and passion, the progress is worth the effort.
Analysis
A.S. describes an impressive successful life-goal pivot that proves to be a testament to their passion and strength of character. They take care to describe the place hockey had in their life so that the unfortunate tryout outcome is clearly established as a catastrophic setback. It is impressive, then, that A.S. was able to make an abrupt turn from athletics to medicine, which they make clear was no small task by describing their pathfinding journey in college.
This journey is recounted fluidly and to a level of personal detail. The logical transition from sports to sports medicine is explained early on and addresses the prime question around A.S.’s circumstance: “Why medicine?” The subsequent patient stories and emergency-room observations grant further detail and depth to their journey and validate their interest in medicine.
Throughout the essay, A.S. takes care in attributing this transformation to character traits of dedication, passion, and strength of will. They recount challenging moments, like witnessing the loss of a patient, and reflect upon these moments as steeling their commitment to helping others through medicine. This delivery affirms their personal values and asserts that their athletic discipline is translatable to medical rigor.
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