Biomedical Engineering by Hannah

Biomedical Engineering by Hannah - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

As a young girl, I had no idea what I wanted to do in the future. Flitting from one interest to another like a butterfly in a garden, I found an impossible number of paths and fields I wanted to explore: marine biology, painting, and astronomy, to even clownery (or whatever the official name may be). At first, this wasn’t a source of concern for me or anyone else; after all, I was just a kid. But as time passed, and I crept closer and closer to senior year of high school, I realized that I had a short period to choose what type of path I wanted to take on for university and (maybe) the rest of my life. Conveniently, during my junior year, I was accepted into a summer program that would allow me to explore what would become my first choice major: biomedical engineering. After a few weeks of aiding a graduate student’s research in a bioengineering lab, I realized I had finally settled into something I was comfortable and eager to pursue. I found that studying the human genome, body, behavior, and ways to improve them was how I wanted to contribute to building a better future for people.
It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but my fascination with biomedical engineering seems to grow constantly every single day. From a simple cough to cancer to allergies to cilantro, any medical condition and facet of an individual all stems from how their body has been programmed to function and process both internal and external factors. This interaction between cells, tissues, organs, and even different people is what captivates me and pushes me to learn more. However, searching for answers online at my small, black desk can only do so much to satisfy my need for answers. Because of this, I turn to my university to help my pursuit of biomedical knowledge; professors, academic resources, and peer discussions can give me so much more than what I can do on my own.
Now, I am a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin. I was accepted into one of the most competitive majors nationwide and am ecstatic about the start of my four-year journey diving into Biomedical Engineering. As cliché as it sounds, I’ve always been determined to grow up and make a difference. Although I didn’t always know how I would do that exactly, I have worked tirelessly in whatever I do so I can continue moving forward and making progress. As the saying goes, however, “You can’t help other people without first helping yourself”. I want to be in a stable position in which I can support myself, my aspirations, and my family so that I can move on to being able to help the people around me. As much as I know that I will always try to progress no matter the circumstances, receiving scholarships like these could help me in my aspirations to leave a lasting impact on the world.