Hometown: Placentia, California, USA

Undergraduate School: Private, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Major: Biological Engineering

GPA: 5.0

MCAT: 35.

Medical school admissions essay advice

My first exposure to medicine began with my aunt, an acupuncturist. I spent a lot of my childhood in my aunt’s clinic “helping” diagnose patients. I became intrigued by this “magic” called medicine—she pressed certain parts of the body to make pain disappear. Even as a child, I was perceptive of people’s suffering—if they were sad, I wanted them to tell me about it so I could take some of the burden; if they were hurting physically, I wanted to extract their pain. No one deserved to be in pain. I thought medicine could fix that. I saw doctors as heroes who sacrificed themselves to help people conquer sickness and death.

As I grew, my view of medicine changed from a fantasized profession. I saw medicine as a protector when it rescued my dad from prostate cancer my sophomore year in high school. I saw it as a tyrannical force that dangled a carrot of a cure when my closest aunt stayed with my family throughout her chemotherapy treatment for ovarian cancer. I saw it as a traitor when it seemed to sit idly by as another aunt passed away from brain and lung cancer my junior year at MIT. It was an ever-present force that guided some people through personal challenges and brought out others’ darkest insecurities.

My perspective broadened when I saw medicine deal with a tragedy that affected an entire community. The Boston Marathon bombings positioned me close to an emergency situation where I saw rapid medical attention on a vast scale. That day, medicine was a true north that allowed people to navigate their way when they felt lost and alone. But it also called for sleepless nights as doctors and nurses in the Boston area put their lives on hold to help. While the world saw the miracle of the survivors, I caught a glimpse behind the scenes, where the bombing took a heavy toll on the medical community. Medicine couldn’t solve every problem; it couldn’t make sense of the senseless violence.

There are, however, many real world medical problems just waiting for innovative technology to create a solution. I formed a team at MIT whose goal is to invent a portable, non-electrical IV warmer for trauma patients. The bombing validated the necessity for our device, which facilitates medical treatment on the field, whether in Afghanistan or in the heart of Boston. I’ve led my team in bringing the project from concept to prototype, where our next step is to finalize a field-ready product. Through this experience, I’ve discovered parallels between engineers and doctors—both are problem solvers. In medicine, a patient presents a puzzle of symptoms that the doctor must then decipher to reach a diagnosis. It isn’t all about the final result. It’s just as much about the creativity and challenging thought process behind the science.

Having always experienced medicine at the forefront of technology and treatment, I wanted to immerse myself in medicine’s most raw form—without the hospitals and fancy equipment. I spent my last two winter breaks in Ecuador and Peru for MEDLIFE, volunteering at mobile clinics. The stark contrast between the medical facilities I was accustomed to from shadowing and the communities we served was astonishing. It was through this more personal involvement that I came to realize people aren’t just puzzles to be solved; they are stories to be told.

One such story unfolded in Lima one day when I noticed a woman standing quietly to the side, as though something was troubling her. When I approached her, she responded in Spanish, “See the broken glass on the top of that wall? They built that wall to keep us out of the richest community, hoping we will disappear if they can’t see us.” When I stood by that woman, I suddenly saw through her eyes—medicine was an exclusive commodity she could never afford.

In South America, I was able to understand different cultures and relate to patients on a personal level. Whether it was consoling a patient who just found out she needed surgery or teaching kids how to use my camera, the opportunity to empathize with the patients, helping make their day a little better, allowed me to admire medicine beyond all the pure science. It wasn’t all about the grand gestures; we weren’t trained to treat patients. The small, unspoken things mattered just as much—that we knew they were having a bad day by reading their facial expressions, that we tried our best to understand their language and culture, even that we cared enough to play soccer with them knowing it would only embarrass us.

In reflection, I have tried to understand how, in a world of uncertainty, I absolutely know that I want to be a doctor. What began as an idealistic vision of doctors was transformed by how I saw medicine touch those closest to me. My perspective broadened as I learned the science behind medicine and saw it through the eyes of an engineer and volunteer. Through my experiences I have come to love medicine—flaws and all. It has become an intrinsic part of who I am.

Analysis

Felicia explores her complex relationship with medicine throughout her essay. With anecdotes that explore loss and suffering of loved ones, she brings forth a very crucial point: medicine has its flaws and cannot solve every problem. Her change of heart from this perspective occurred after the bombing at the Boston Marathon, which helped her appreciate what medicine could do, amidst its imperfections. She unfolds in the following paragraphs her attempt to make the medical field more accessible and more impactful through her volunteer experiences in mobile clinics and her pursuit of developing an efficient warmer for trauma patients.

Overall, Felicia expertly communicates how, despite the flaws of the medical field, she is not discouraged—rather, she is motivated to find innovative ways to fill the current gaps. This demonstrates to the reader that Felicia is both passionate and a problem solver. With this nuanced understanding of Felicia’s relationship with medicine, the reader understands that she is truly dedicated to making a difference in 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