Why I am Majoring in Medicine by Taylor

Why I am Majoring in Medicine by Taylor - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

Out of nowhere, the first car: I heard an incredibly loud bang and I instantly knew, then it happened again, and again. My father quickly pulled over to the side of the road, but I'll never forget the fear I felt watching that white Chevrolet pickup truck make its way into the side of our car. Sparks flew everywhere along with the driver who we later found out was strung out on drugs.

With tear-filled eyes, still trying the best I can to comfort my little sister. We were now pinned to the side of the road and
waited for an ambulance. As I lay on the backboard with wandering eyes, fighting the bright pale lighting threatening to black out my consciousness in the chaos around me, I observed every minute thing, from the constant drip of the IV to the monotonous beat of the heart monitor. Little by little, I became less concerned with the state of my physical body or the pain, but became curious about everything new going on around me. This complex world of tubing, oxygen masks and who my mother would always call “heroes” in scrubs, just thanking God and the providers that we were going to be okay.

When I finally left the hospital and arrived back home, I ventured up to my room, and opened my laptop, just trying to gain some sense of understanding, and my new focus began: an obsession that little did I know, would turn into a passion. My search history is filled with medical jargon that I could barely spell back then, but for the first time, I felt genuine intellectual interest in something. From that day forward the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up? '' never took me by surprise. “A doctor,” I’d clearly state.

Upon entering 6th grade, when we had the freedom to choose our own electives for the first time, health science was my first pick. I’ll always remember the passion my teacher Mrs. Blake had for teaching that class as it only helped my passion for the subject flourish. The end of 8th grade came, and it was time to choose courses for high school. I couldn’t wait to take biology knowing it was a prerequisite for the clinical class that was so highly sought after at my high school, at the end of sophomore year we had interviews, and out of 120+ applicants, I was one of the 40 chosen for the class. We traveled to the hospital 3 days a week experiencing numerous specialties and learned how to implement patient care skills. On the first day of hospital rotations, I met again with the traumatic world I experienced the night of the car accident in the ER, only now from a different perspective via the doctors.
Learning to perform different skills like taking an EKG, or assisting with wound care, was taking a big step towards my childhood dream. Learning first-hand and flourishing in this place as I started my journey to become a “hero in scrubs" myself, I reflected back to that little girl who had so many questions that day in the car, to now knowing more of the answers and wanting to cultivating others' fascination with the field, at the same time I learn to save lives, is in my belief, no higher purpose or goal.