The Medfools Med/Peds Sample Residency Personal Statement Library is now open!
These example IM/Peds residency med/peds personal statement samples are here for your viewing pleasure (fully anonymous). We’re hoping to add more in the future, including Pre-Med personal statements. If you’ve got one to add to the free library, don’t forget to contribute yours.
MED-PEDS PERSONAL STATEMENT
She was 74 year old and presented with abdominal pain and dysuria that had been ongoing for two months. A CT scan was eventually done which showed multiple liver metastases with a pancreatic mass. Gina had incurable metastatic pancreatic cancer. But she still found a way to smile through it all.
She was the most angelic little girl, only four months old. Yet in those few months she had already been through a lifetime of trials and tribulations. By the time I met Leslie she had been diagnosed with biliary atresia and a Kasai procedure had been performed. She had her good days when she smiled as I walked into her room, ready to play. Then there were the days when her eyes looked yellow and sad and all she wanted to do was take a very long nap. I felt helpless; all I could do was rock her to sleep but I knew that somewhere in that little girl was a tremendous will to survive.
These experiences among countless others have helped influence my decision to pursue a career in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics. I cannot relieve the ailments of every patient that crosses my path. What I can do, however, is provide a comfortable safe haven and a listening ear. Every encounter is an opportunity to learn. It may not always be about science or the advancement of health care. It may be something as simple as learning that a little boy has a dog named Ponce. These simple nuances that foster a good doctor-patient relationship that is so vital to the practice of Med/Peds.
The essence lies in the journey, not the destination. My journey started in a very distant land. Born in a small country on the West coast of Africa, I spent my formative years where I saw limited medical resources put to tremendous use and stretched a long way. My experiences in these countries exemplified from an early age, the vitality of primary care. As a child, the only physician I knew was an uncle. In my mind he is the epitome of a physician. He not only treated many people in the community from the very young to the very old. From malaria to cholera, hypertension to diabetes, he handled it all. This was my vision of what a physician was supposed to be: the center point of care; one who could treat any ailment across all ages and remain an integral part of the community. In medical school, I found these qualities in Med/Peds. One of the beauties of medicine is the opportunity it renders to meet people of various backgrounds and cultures. The beauty of Med/Peds is that you not only meet people across all ages and walks of life, but thatyou actually build a relationship with all of them.
Early on, I knew I was interested in primary care. In my first year of medical school, I was accepted into the Primary Care Track program. Over a two year period, I spent one
afternoon a week with a Family Medicine physician. The moments I treasured the most were walking into the room of a two year old for routine well child care immediately after having seen a woman with depression and substance abuse. I valued the interchange and the opportunity to not only examine the physical but also the mental and social aspects of their lives. However, the moment I felt most alive was being a part of a team on the wards and solving the myriad of complexities that is inpatient medicine. I was as intrigued by the seven year old girl in the PICU with an asthma exacerbation as I was by the forty year old man with cellulitis presenting in diabetic ketoacidosis.
I want to be intellectually stimulated and to learn something new each day. No field in medicine can provide me with such an immense wealth of knowledge as Med/Peds. I welcome the challenge of a combined residency and look forward to a lifetime of learning. Patients like Leslie have taught me about the will to fight, and to know at the end of the day that I have given my very best and nothing less. From Gina, I have learned to smile in adversity. My goal is to receive superior training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics that will lay the foundation for a meaningful career in both an academic and community setting. From my family I have learned the values of hard work, determination, dedication and versatility and from my patients I have learned perseverance and compassion. These qualities will serve me well as an internist and a pediatrician.
