I Want To Pursue Medicine

Many years ago, I promised myself that I would never pursue medicine. At the time, the only thing I knew about the field was that my parents could never afford to see a doctor—even when they were sick. That’s when my older brother, my greatest role model, started his college career and gave up his passions for what ended up becoming a short-lived attempt at becoming a physician. He had believed that he was making a rational decision, as he was determined to escape the financial struggles of our immigrant parents. Realizing that my brother 's failure arose from his lack of passion, I decided that I would find a different path by pursuing something that I love. Entering college, I founded a small video game development company and started …show more content…
After a brief exchange, I departed, knowing that I could not change the woman’s life with a single act of kindness. Nevertheless, I felt a lasting sense of gratification. Being present in someone else’s moment of need was more fulfilling for me than anything that I had previously done in computer science, which, despite being an exciting approach to problem solving, can be rather impersonal. After this moment, I set out in search of opportunities that would allow me these gratifying experiences, and I soon began to challenge the longstanding promise that I made as a …show more content…
At first, I envisioned the hospital to be a place of triumph, where physicians, equipped with ingenuity and the powers of modern medicine, battled disease and saved lives; however, the realities of medicine were sobering. For instance, while volunteering at a hospice, I encountered a terminally ill cancer patient: a veteran of my father’s age. He and I had little in common, but we bonded as I helped him around on his wheelchair while we discussed everything from NASCAR to Star Wars. Each week, I inquired about his symptoms, hoping that his condition was not as grim as doctors had reported it to be and that there was still a chance of recovery. Shortly after introducing me to his family, however, he passed