Final Draft Personal Statement Final
Traveling and Medicine
Eric Nguyen
University of California, Davis
5/18/2015
UWP 104F:
Writing in the Health Professions
Theresa Walsh
APA Citation Style
Word Count: 839 words
Character count: 5,264 characters
On this scorching hot summer day, I climbed exhausted through the bumpy, mosquito-infested path to the run-down Tanzanian orphanage, anxious and unsure of what to expect. My mind was pacing with questions and scenarios: Will I be capable of helping the orphanage distribute malaria vaccines? Will handing out mosquito nets be hard? What if the children don’t like me? What if I get fired? What if I hand out the wrong vaccine? What if somebody accidently dies? A half hour later, these questions were momentarily forgotten as I was being served scrambled eggs and Peri-Peri chili sauce over fries while listening to the orphanage director, Mr. Genoshi, talk about his medical experiences in giving emergency aid to Rwandans during the Tutsi genocide. In the following weeks, I spent hundreds of hours in sweat, distributing mosquito nets and anti-malarial vaccinations to orphans and local villagers. By the end of the trip, I realized how much I enjoyed giving medical aid to less-fortunate individuals. It was the smiles on the orphans’ faces when I provided them with food, stories, and vaccination shots that made me decide to pick the medical field.
Traveling has also influenced my decision to pursue medicine by exposing me to impoverished areas, desperately in need of health care. For example, on a recent trip to Southeast Asia, I visited a small island village on the banks of the Mekong. This impoverished village boasted a large fabric shop in its center where many children worked in dirty, polluted and depressing conditions sewing clothing for foreign travelers. Many of these children had diseases covering their face, such as scabies and lice, with little or no access to health care. After a discussion with the owner of the shop, I discovered
Eric Nguyen
University of California, Davis
5/18/2015
UWP 104F:
Writing in the Health Professions
Theresa Walsh
APA Citation Style
Word Count: 839 words
Character count: 5,264 characters
On this scorching hot summer day, I climbed exhausted through the bumpy, mosquito-infested path to the run-down Tanzanian orphanage, anxious and unsure of what to expect. My mind was pacing with questions and scenarios: Will I be capable of helping the orphanage distribute malaria vaccines? Will handing out mosquito nets be hard? What if the children don’t like me? What if I get fired? What if I hand out the wrong vaccine? What if somebody accidently dies? A half hour later, these questions were momentarily forgotten as I was being served scrambled eggs and Peri-Peri chili sauce over fries while listening to the orphanage director, Mr. Genoshi, talk about his medical experiences in giving emergency aid to Rwandans during the Tutsi genocide. In the following weeks, I spent hundreds of hours in sweat, distributing mosquito nets and anti-malarial vaccinations to orphans and local villagers. By the end of the trip, I realized how much I enjoyed giving medical aid to less-fortunate individuals. It was the smiles on the orphans’ faces when I provided them with food, stories, and vaccination shots that made me decide to pick the medical field.
Traveling has also influenced my decision to pursue medicine by exposing me to impoverished areas, desperately in need of health care. For example, on a recent trip to Southeast Asia, I visited a small island village on the banks of the Mekong. This impoverished village boasted a large fabric shop in its center where many children worked in dirty, polluted and depressing conditions sewing clothing for foreign travelers. Many of these children had diseases covering their face, such as scabies and lice, with little or no access to health care. After a discussion with the owner of the shop, I discovered