I was raised in Tehran, but I moved to Canada in 1998 when I was ten. Doctors have been my heroes since childhood. An avid daydreamer as a child, I often spent hours each day conjuring up fantasy visions of myself as an essential doctor, working alongside my colleagues and arriving at a diagnosis as a team. Finding cures for diseases also ranked extremely high among my early fantasies. My fixation with physical health also led to actively taking up bodybuilding by the time I was eighteen. I even started training other interested individuals, sharing the scientific aspects of bodybuilding with them. I would carefully study the science behind every exercise and always be incredibly careful to produce complimentary diet plans. Since I am graduating this October with an Honorary BSc Degree in Biology from XXXX University, I now have great confidence that I am well prepared to enter medical school and have the right level of determination, high motivation, focus, and drive to excel in your program.
I was always interested in the diseases that struck our family. I did my best to learn everything I could about them; cancer survived by my uncle, the physical disability suffered for so long by my mother, and the near-death of my father all keenly reinforced my interest and exposure to medicine while still a child and especially a teenager. My mother tells me that she would rather be able to run for 10 minutes than inherit ten million dollars. These events have left me serious beyond my years, dedicated to my studies, and most keenly interested in becoming a physician. My family's emotional and financial difficulties during the first few years of our immigration were complicated. I matured very quickly so that I could work, beginning at 14. The first job I had was wearing a cardboard box shaped like a house to attract the attention of oncoming traffic to the new residences being built in that area. I would wear 4-5 layers of clothing to withstand the chilly weather during winter. I hated and constantly fought the stigma of being on welfare. When a big bully stole my bike, I decided to take Taekwondo classes in addition to Karate and ended up winning two gold medals at the 2003 Canadian Junior Taekwondo Championship at the age of sixteen. A year later, I also won gold in the sparring competition and the pattern performance at the 2004 Ontario Gran Prix Taekwondo Championship held at Humber College. Due to numerous knee injuries, however, by 2005, I could no longer compete in sparring competitions; I served as a judge for some time.
The most significant contribution that I could make to society would be to help the most vulnerable protect their health throughout their lifetime, cure them of their ailments, and help them make wise choices that make medical intervention unnecessary later. I see a medical degree as a giant leap forward to a life of service. I look forward to devoting my time and talents to the care of the medically underserved. I want to be remembered not just as a great doctor but also as a great citizen.
I passed through many critical life-changing events that helped solidify what I see as my destiny to become an excellent physician. Only one year into our immigration from Iran to Canada, my dad had a heart attack while he was on his way to deliver a pizza to a customer. I was eleven and had only been studying English for one year, but I immediately began checking out science textbooks to decipher what had gone wrong with his heart. Soon, I began to understand much of what I was reading.
My passion for the mysteries of the heart has also long been enforced by my mother´s heart disease, thought to be a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy. Watching my mother suffer over the years, losing her ability to move and sinking into ever greater agony, has been a bulwark for my studies. I have spent countless hours studying her biopsies and genetic test results in a never-ending search for clues to better understand her rare disease. I have to know that I at least tried. I have spent so much time studying at hospitals that since I have gotten older, I have occasionally been mistaken for a medical professional by patients seeking basic information. At the same time, I declared that I was only a student, the feeling of trust and the warmth of the handshake from these patients stayed with me.
I feel strongly that the greatest asset that I have to offer to medical school is my keen, highly refined sense of social responsibility. I do not look at medicine to make a good living; I am much more attracted to the challenge and fulfillment of service. I spend a lot of free time on the Internet reading about the selfless activities of physicians who donate their time to the group Doctors Without Borders. They are fully modern-day heroes, and I most fervently seek to emulate their heroic sacrifice, nobility, and determination to protect those who suffer. I hope to one day join their cause.
Medical School Admission Personal Statement, Canada
Comments