Personal Statement

Nam Vo
Personal Goals: My Pathway to Become a Pediatrician
Learning from my parent's difficult circumstances with English and my baby brother's experience with pneumonia, I am motivated to get a college education to become a pediatrician.
Coming to America, my parents struggled with the language barrier. Speaking broken English, my father had to work as a low-paying carpenter to support our family, while my mother went to English-learning classes. At the same time, my mother had to stay home and take care of me after I was done with elementary school because we could not afford a babysitter. At home, my mother always studied for her English classes past midnight, while pushing me to do better in school. I had to ask my teachers for English and math textbooks to take home so that I can have extra practice because my mother knew I needed it to catch up to other students. Both my parents worked hard under dire circumstances in order to get accustomed to their new lifestyle. Looking at how my parents struggled, I knew what I needed to earn: a college education for a better future. I have taken steps necessary, such as enrolling in a college-bound program, AVID, and studying for my classes to earn the best grades that I can get. As a result, I have received the Principal's Honor Roll award for all four years in high school and Student of the Month award out of all the twelfth grade students. Even with the difficulty of not speaking fluent English, I continued to work hard with the support and encouragement from my parents.
While inspired by my parents' encouragement, an experience with my baby brother has sharpened my determination to get a higher education. On Thanksgiving night, when I was in seventh grade, my parents had rushed to the emergency room with my one-month-old baby brother who had trouble waking up the whole evening and had a hundred and three degrees Fahrenheit fever. Later that night, I learned that my brother had been hospitalized because he got pneumonia from the cold I had passed to him. The next morning at the hospital, I helped translate some of what the doctor had told my parents since they did not fully understand what he said. From what the doctor told me, I was scared of what would happen to my brother. I saw my little pale brother lying in the infant care unit with IV lines connected to his hands. At that moment, I wished to make my brother healthy again. From having to translate for my parents and seeing my brother sick, I realized my clear goal in life: I will go to college and get education in medical field to help sick children. As a pediatrician, I can make a positive change on a child's life. I can help children stay healthy by giving them all necessary vaccines and treat them whenever they get sick. My family's experiences have solidified my desire and pathway to become a pediatrician.