Hometown: Monterey, California, USA

Undergraduate School: Private, Harvard University

Major: Neurobiology

GPA: 3.9 out of 4.0

MCAT: 38. PS: 13, V: 11, BS: 14.

Sample medical school essay

By integrating skills I have gained from conducting translational neuroscience and organic chemistry research, caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and studying the brain on molecular, cellular, and systems levels, I want to help alleviate one of society’s most burdensome and significant issues: mental illness.

My interest in the brain started in high school when I had the opportunity to investigate the neural correlates of music performance with electroencephalography (EEG) in Scott Makeig’s computational neuroscience lab at UCSD. An avid musician, I was fascinated by how the brain could represent complex behaviors such as emotional perception of music. This fascination with neural processing eventually pushed me to pursue neurobiology at Harvard.

My freshman year I saw a flier calling for student volunteers to work with people with AD. Interested in neurology, I saw this as a perfect opportunity to learn more about brain pathophysiology. Every week I would go to the nursing home to meet my resident—talking, performing music, or even playing croquet. I learned a lot about caring for people with dementia, experiencing firsthand how simple actions such as communicating with facial expressions and touch, and being flexible in conversations, made a big difference. As I learned these lessons, however, my assigned resident also became my friend. I found myself practicing piano pieces for the first time in years to play for her. Being recognized, a simple action many of us take for granted, became a highlight of my day. When I attended lectures about AD, I no longer visualized patients without faces, but instead saw my friend. She brought personal relevance to my previously abstract academic world, and I began to see medicine as a future vocation.

I wanted to learn more about the interface of academics and medicine and looked for ways to study the mechanisms of the brain in a clinical context. I found such an opportunity in Diego Pizzagalli’s translational neuroscience lab at McLean Hospital, where I utilized EEG to study clinical depression. In the process, I gained direct insight on the current state of psychiatric research, the clinical research environment, and how to think critically about unsolved problems. More importantly, by applying my research skills and neurobiology coursework in a clinical context, I experienced firsthand how my passion for academic learning and intellectual curiosity could directly fuel a career in medicine.

In order to better understand clinical practice, I contacted physicians at Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System and Massachusetts General Hospital where I shadowed neurologists and cardiologists. I observed regular check-ups, emergency room procedures, surgeries, and the differences between private clinic and hospital environments. The most memorable aspects, however, were the raw vulnerabilities patients revealed. I saw a wife emotionally leave her husband before heart surgery and watched a surgeon complete the procedure. I listened to a distressed couple discuss options for their disabled child because home care was too demanding and met a woman frustrated by her recent aphasia. The thought that I might be able to respond to these vulnerabilities as a practicing physician was powerful.

In my sophomore year, I attended a lecture titled “Resuscitating Psychiatric Drug Discovery” by Dr.  Steven Hyman, former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Anticipating hearing about exciting developments from the head of psychiatric research at the Broad Institute, I was surprised to hear him instead state that there have been no new mechanisms in psychiatric drug development since the 1950s. Aspiring to enter psychiatry, I was frustrated but thought of ways to train myself to address this pressing need. One of his main points was that drugs bind to brain receptors and interact with catalytic enzymes, yet there is little emphasis placed on the catalysis involved in prescribed drugs. To develop this mechanistic intuition and deepen my understanding of catalytic chemistry, I joined Eric Jacobsen’s organic chemistry lab where I have been working to design and discover small-molecule catalyst systems for the ester hydrolysis reaction. Designing, synthesizing, and screening catalysts parallels much of the drug discovery process, and I hope to be able to apply these skills in the future to psychiatric drug development.

I am committed to pursuing a career in medicine. My coursework has prepared me to approach medicine with perspectives from psychology to organic chemistry, and caring for nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s disease has given me intimate familiarity with patient care. Shadowing has taught me the physician’s perspective, and clinical research has shown me how to mediate collaboration between medicine and academia. In medical school, I look forward to exploring how I can integrate my skill sets to best respond to patient vulnerabilities. Although I am most interested in mental health–related fields, I am eager to explore different fields of medicine and to broaden my knowledge in both the lab and the clinic. By doing so, I hope to learn how to maximize my contribution to medicine and my impact on future patients.

Analysis

The strength of Perry’s essay lies in its clarity and structure. Right from the beginning of the essay, Perry makes the reader aware of his primary motivation for attending medical school: his passion for mental health. He then proceeds with a carefully curated chronological set of specific moments and experiences, which each not only shine light on his empathetic, curious, and driven character but also contextualize the evolution of his interest in medicine.

What is remarkably effective about the way he describes each experience is how he reflects on his learnings and then acts upon them. With each transition, his ability to take ownership over his own learning both in and outside the classroom becomes evident, as does his self-aware and impact-oriented nature.

His final concluding statement sums up succinctly his qualifications and the skills and perspectives he can bring from his multitude of experiences. In tying them to his goals for medical school, he finishes off his already strong essay with a clear message: he is both ready and eager for a future in medicine.

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