It’s only a matter of time before we must succumb to our ailing bodies and drag ourselves to the doctor. Careers in healthcare are going to last as long as there are people living to their next birthday. Certainly, the field of medicine has changed as patients become more and more dissatisfied that their physicians are people that make mistakes too. The glory days of medicine are over, but for those who love serving their community and watching people overcome their illness, there is no better field.

Of course, that is how I see it. When I was a young boy, I would often play with my siblings at my grandparents’ home. Hide and seek was common and I often used the basement to find refuge from the seeker. Ironically, at the top of the basement stairs on one of the old wooden steps was a tall asparagus jar filled with fluid and a floating frog. It always seemed weird to think that the frog just remained suspended there for years, peering out at all the passerbys. I chuckled when I found out my father had bought it when he was a young boy, but was too afraid to dissect the amphibian. It did not take too long to find a book on dissection or the appropriate tools to perform the operation.

Talk about instant success. I was so enthralled by the experience that I chose to pursue medicine as a future profession. Almost twenty years later, here I am, on the verge of entering medical school to achieve one of my greatest goals. Certainly the task was not little as it took years of study to pass the premedical sciences. If I were to walk away from college with only the knowledge of a textbook in my bank of experience, it would be hard to honestly say medicine is for me.

Countless hours were spent at the local hospital, volunteering in multiple capacities. While attending school full time, I would spend my evenings in radiology, wound care or the emergency department building interpersonal relationships and giving of my time freely. Volunteering and keeping up with my studies, I used my spare time to bring in some money performing research in a chemistry laboratory. Now that was busy!

Upon graduating from my undergraduate institution, Brigham Young University, I gained employment at the hospital in the emergency department. I work full time as a technician gaining valuable experience and insight into medicine and modern healthcare. The process of taking the Medical Collage Admission Test (MCAT), applying to various MD/DO programs, and interviewing has been an intense exercise. When that letter of acceptance finally arrived in my mailbox, a sigh of relief could not only be heard, but felt too. At least until the matriculation process and classwork starts.

It comes down to following your greatest ambitions and not letting anything get in the way of what it is your really want in life. Don’t let somebody else tell you what you can and cannot do, that includes the admissions committees.