Internal Medicine :: Medicine College Admissions Essays

Internal Medicine As I grew up in the town of Vallabh Vidyanagar (India), I always had the ambition to become "doctor". As a young schoolboy, my family members encouraged and motivated me to follow my dreams. When I was a child, my grandmother suffered from Heart Failure secondary to Mitral Stenosis. I remember watching the doctors examine her using the "Stethoscope" and I became curious as to what they were listening. I always wanted to put the earpieces in my ears. As I moved to secondary school, my elder sister went on to medical school, and she would often discuss anatomy with her friends at home. This served to heighten my curiosity about the human body. Later I followed in my sister's footsteps and joined medical school. My interest grew deeper when I began to dissect the cadaver. I enjoyed it so much that I used to go to the lab during my lunch break hours. With physiology and biochemistry, I learned how complex and integrated the human body is. Pathology, microbiology and pharmacology together gave me a fundamental understanding of the human body in diseased state. As I began my clinical rotations I found them all interesting; however, medicine always was a favorite of mine. In my final year of medical school, I presented a case study about "Mitral Valve Stenosis with Regurgitation". Among the listeners was my professor, who is also the Chief of the Department of internal medicine. At the end of my presentation, he asked me a few questions about my case study and concluded the session with words of praise. He stated that I was thorough in my history taking and examination and that I analyzed the patient's condition perfectly. I think that it was this personal interest in medicine that has always motivated me to attain excellent marks in Medicine. During my clinical rotations, I saw that internist must be well versed in subspecialty areas such as cardiology and critical care. In addition, the internist must be an expert in the essentials of primary care medicine that incorporates an understanding of disease prevention, wellness, substance abuse, mental health and other non internal medicine subjects. When I was posted in ICU during my internsh ip, my consultant was treating an HIV positive patient for an extended period of time through many ups and downs. I understood then that the internist not only needs extensive knowledge and skill in diagnosis and treatment, but also humanistic qualities of integrity, sensitivity, empathy and compassion.