Forensic Pathology: Starting From the Bottom by Haley

Forensic Pathology: Starting From the Bottom by Haley - February 2019 Scholarship Essay

I can only imagine what anyone thinks of me by just reading the title of this essay. Simply telling anyone what I plan on attending college for raises eyebrows and creates an awkward pause before the other party can find something encouraging to say and try to hide their shock. Forensic Pathology has been something that I have been interested in all my life, even if for the longest time I did not know the name of the career or everything it includes. It is a unique and competitive field that focuses on performing autopsies and solving the mystery of someone’s death.
Like with any job, you have to start from the very bottom and work your way up to pursue a career in Forensic Pathology. However, it is more difficult to seek out a professional in the career and find out what you are supposed to do to get where they are. For doctors and nurses and pretty much everyone else it is easy to converse with a professional in that field and find out from counselors what you are supposed to do in college to achieve that. I have had to rely on google to see what courses I need to focus on taking to get to the most difficult conquest of all: medical school. Counselors have helped me with picking a major for my Bachelor degree, but they only achieved that because they knew that regular doctors normally purse a major in natural sciences. Basically, I have some college plans, but I will mostly be winging everything to the best of my ability.
A Forensic Pathologist is a medical examiner that performs autopsies in cases when someone dies unexpectedly or traumatically. This involves a lot of science, and a lot of problem-solving skills. Thankfully, I already have pretty good experience with both of these things. As a senior in high school I have probably had more experience with Forensic Science than most people that plan on competing with me for a career in the field. I am in a club called HOSA-Health Occupations Students of America- and I compete against others in my region, state, and nation in a category based in Forensic Science and have made 1st, 2nd, and 5th place. My involvement with this club has helped me gain confidence to do other things, like running for leadership roles and doing college classes along with my high school ones. This has helped me get accepted into Florida Southern College to achieve my Bachelor degree in Fall 2019 after I graduate high school with my Associates degree.
These huge achievements just in high school have helped me downsize my college plans a lot. I have a total of eight to ten years of school ahead of me because a medical examiner must obtain a Doctorate degree. I will be spending two of those years at FSC to achieve my B.S. degree in Biology; in the meantime I plan on pushing myself to become more involved than I was in high school and try new things that could look good on my application to get into the next step. My goals for the next step is to move North where I plan to stay and work somewhere in the New England area. My number one choice right now is the private school Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Not only does this school have a master degree in Forensic Science, but they also have an amazing partnership with the Center for Forensic Science Research and tons of hands-on experience for the program.
The biggest quest is to be accepted into medical school. As of right now I do not know what medical school I want to attend, but I know that I will try to go somewhere near Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. I have always loved American history, snow, old historic homes, so the New England area is my dream. Attending school in these states will hopefully help me get in to intern and finish my residency with local pathologists, and eventually lead to me being hired by the same area.
Continuing a path filled with involvement in amazing things and seizing unique opportunities are my plan for the next eight to ten years. Forensic Pathology is a career field that is very competitive, so the best of the best and the individuals with the most potential are the ones that succeed. Keeping a good application that stands out are my goals and all of my college plans were made to help me achieve that goal. This next decade will be filled with hard work, multiple graduations, ups and downs, and a lot of fun.