future
AMCAS II Ex.3 — Project 10 Years Essay
Along the way through your secondary applications you’ll hit a “Project to the Future” question in some incantation. This was one of my favorite prompts to reply to, it hopefully it will be for you as well. I know it sounds like I speak blasphemy to even imply applying to medical school can be fun, but honestly there is are some satisfying parts to the process. This prompt happens to be one of them. If you put this prompt into context, up until now you were just a premed scrabbling across the prerequisite and MCAT mind field. For a lot of applicants, this is the first time you’ll have a moment to realize that you’re actually applying to medical school (bravo you!). Now, this question should get you thinking, “Just what am I going to be up to in 10 years?”. It’s a fun question, imagine yourself with your white coat freshly pressed to get the vomit out, but it’s okay because you’re a doctor!
Also, don’t worry too much about i you’ll change your mind about your specialty; most people change their mind anyways. Though, you do want to have a tone of keeping and open mind or being flexible while driven. Make sure to check the school’s website for more specific information like how their institution can fit into your projection.
For the things I tried to catch in this entry were:
1) Involve the school and their abilities into my projection. There’s a cat and mouse game of BS between some applicants and admissions. My advice: don’t play the game, find legitimate reasons why going to that specific program is a plus. Don’t go into detail about the school, you’ll have another essay prompt to do that; instead just remember the school and you are intertwined after acceptance.
2) Show what you know about medicine here. I decided to project the imagery of me becoming a doctor. I suppose the only thing you have to worry about is that your 10 year or future projection makes temporal sense.
3) Remember that you’re selling yourself here as well, so remember that you need to sound like you’ll be an asset to medicine later. This doesn’t mean you need to cure Amyloid Lateral Sclerosis or cancer (though I hope you do), you should acknowledge the little victories in a physicians life — and I do mean little victories.
4) Remember that you will be asked this again during the interview, and maybe even expected to elaborate on several points. Interviewers who have access to your entries and their notes to them tend to ask really good follow up questions, at least that was my experience. During the interview, if your secondary was genuine then that can be pretty out-right fun; if you pulled it out of the ether then it’s down-right miserable.
As a future alumnus of Cookie Monster Medical University I see my medical career being devoted to serving the local and national community. As a Awesome-ologist attending I would help promote positive patient health outcomes by collaborating with a team of medical professional. Although I loathe the disease, I would enjoy the long term relationships I could develop with patients, allowing me to holistically treat the individual. My undergraduate research experienced combined with new experiences during medical school would prepare me for interpreting new research to be used with my patients. I would stay involved in the local community, working with other physicians and health professionals to encourage preventative screening of cooties for the under-served population of Honeybunville, empowering individuals through knowledge. At the same time I’d support and mentor residents and medical students, passing on the lessons given to by my predecessors. I have a strong belief in the link between research and medicine so I would like to get involved in clinical trials, as drugs studied at the bench are later medicines to be dispensed by a physician.
–end—
Note, in case you’re curious I did notice, “promote positive patient”, that is “P.P.P”. I sort of had contempt for the fact that I had to use those words in lieu of saying “I like to help people”, so I decided to make it almost acronym like to make both I and the reader feel better about the cliche term — I live on the edge. =D
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