Personal Essay Example: My Goal of Becoming a Doctor

When I chose to continue my athletic career into college as a part of New York University’s Varsity swim team, I decided it was time to set lofty goals for my last four years of competitive swimming. I dreamed of winning a conference championship. I knew it was going to be difficult. I needed to balance my academics and eight training sessions a week, which itself totaled to approximately twenty-five hours a week of grueling workouts and team commitments. Everyday, I challenged myself to kick harder or pace my repetitions a tenth of a second faster. The sport of swimming taught me how to have the discipline to work towards a long term goal in the face of setbacks. When a shoulder and elbow injury prevented me from swimming at the 2019 NCAA Championships, my setback inspired me to swim faster, become stronger, and break this challenge down into smaller ones, building up to my original goal of a conference championship. Achieving a goal of this size was going to happen through my day-to-day choices. I gained great respect for the human body, its limitations, and the proper care it needs to be successful. Similar to a machine, without the right parts and fuel, it fails to do what you want it to accomplish. The following year, I supported my body by giving it the proper fuel and training so I could achieve the goals I set for myself. At the end of the next season, I trusted my training and choices I made over the past year. I truly surprised myself with my accomplishments. I won two individual championships, two championships as a part of relays, and set two team records at the 2020 United Athletic Association Conference Championships. My fellow teammates voted me “Most Improved Athlete” for the 2019-2020 season in recognition of my resilience.

Practicing medicine is similar to swimming. Swimming is a unique sport because the culmination of your year can come down to your performance in a 60-120 second race. A dive just a tenth of a second late or a flipturn half a second early can ruin the entire race. I needed to have confidence in my training when I dove in for a race. Everyday, a doctor has to make decisions based on the culmination of their learning and clinical experiences. They need to trust that they have prepared enough for the tough decisions they have to make, sometimes in seconds, which have the power to impact their patients’ everyday lives. For this reason, being a doctor is a privilege. I trust that, similar to swimming, I will put in the necessary work and more to prepare myself for the future.

I was not always certain I wanted to be a doctor. As a child, I was terrified of the doctor’s office. There were so many scary objects and unknown people, and I never knew why things were happening to me. As I got older, my fear lessened because of wonderful doctors who saw my fear and explained that everything they do carries a purpose. Once I learned that every exam, blood tube, and instrument had a purpose, I became interested in what each of those told the doctor about me as a patient. For many people, attending a doctor’s office is still an unnerving experience and my past fears allow me to empathize with them. Many times when new patients come to my research team’s office, the Division of Rheumatology at NYU Langone Orthopedic Center, they have been seen by varying specialties before landing in one of our exam rooms. They are anxious from the uncertainty of what diagnosis they hold or the impact it has on their quality of life. I have seen how a doctor should advocate for these patients, provide them with individualized evidence-based treatment plans, work as a team with other specialists on complex cases, and above all be an outstanding listener. They are relentless in searching for answers for their patients to help them feel better. In my current position as a research coordinator, I try to emulate these amazing doctors by thoroughly explaining our research studies and the purpose behind every procedure and specimen collection. My goal is to ensure patients are at ease and explain how every questionnaire or sample collection contributes to our research, which will hopefully one day help others like them. 

The best lesson I have learned from my athletic career and working in clinical research is that even though you may be successful, there is always more to do. In medical school, I want to repurpose the same diligence and grit that allowed me to succeed in athletics towards being a tenacious doctor and passionate advocate for my future patients. As I embraced my athletic career, I fully welcome that in medicine, everyday can be a challenge. The hard work, long hours, and sacrifices that it takes to pursue a long-term goal are all familiar to me. This fact comforts me in my decision to pursue medicine. Instead of hours training in a pool, I will be studying for my future patients, so that I may better serve them and provide them with the best healthcare I can in times of pain and uncertainty. The life lessons of discipline, time management, and resilience that I developed from athletics have prepared me for this next stage of my life as I continue to pursue medical school and my next long-term goal of becoming a doctor.