Surgery was my dream long before it became real life in medical school. I had begun to appreciate the enormous scope and depth of the field of medicine while still a very young man, and my suspicions have been confirmed. The vastness of what we have still to learn refreshes my spirit and inspires me never to become complacent, always struggling to make surgery as efficient and effective as possible. This struggle sustains my sense of dignity and self-worth, making each day a joy to live. I am a 27-year-old Indian man who now lives in New York, with the Indian equivalent of the M.D. Degree. In addition to English and Hindi, Telugu was my mother tongue and my primary language of study until it was changed to English while I was in high school. I preserve the rich flavor of my native India and have overcome many obstacles in my quest to become entirely professional in English communication. During in my first year of medical school, I used to accompany my mom, who is a pharmacist, whenever she went to health camps, to check blood pressure and draw blood from patients, thereby learning a lot from my mom. I also formed a student organization and my classmates dedicated to conducting free blood donation camps, and health information camps. We also adopted a small slum area Nandanavanam and operated weekly health and immunization camps, along with an aids awareness, and Malaria eradication programs. I had the privilege of helping several of my senior colleagues in this period who were working on their thesis projects, collecting relevant patient data, reviewing pt charts, working in a government-funded community hospital, a multi-specialty hospital , and I am presently working on two clinical research projects related to trauma at XXXX Medical Centre.
I have had an excellent opportunity to demonstrate my command of the clinical knowledge-based and have been exposed to a wide variety of cases during my time of service at XXXX General hospital, one of the biggest in South India. I am incredibly proud of my high level of dissection skills combined with my extremely high motivation for practicing surgery. My clinical rotations, in particular, have brought surgery home to me as much more than an art form; as also an act of love and solidarity that I find most gratifying. As someone who loves the arts, I greatly admire how surgery balances art and science, almost as in a dance, requiring the highest levels of concentration and skill. I see difficulties as challenges, which draws me to surgery in particular. Surgery is my stage, and becoming an ever-more skilled and practiced surgeon is the life course that is the fullest expression of my spirituality and artistry.
I have a sharp, well-trained eye and a quick mind, born from a long love affair with art, puzzles, and a broad spectrum of intellectual challenges. I set high standards for myself, and am I fervently believe that the capacity to be critical of one's own work is central to the total level of success possible in surgery. In addition to possessing the qualities required of an aspiring surgeon, I believe that I also have the fortitude that accompanies having passed through many trials through which I have matured emotionally and professionally into someone who is highly adept at operating at an optimal level under moments of enormously high pressure.
I seek a position with a surgery residency program to have the opportunity to cultivate further my maximum potential, a program such as yours with the structure and discipline required for advancement. I would be pleased to participate in research as a component of the residency program. My primary interest, however, is clinical training and an opportunity to struggle towards an ever fuller appreciation of the science of surgery. I look forward to becoming part of your program, where residents support one another and attending physicians are pleased to share their wealth of knowledge and expertise. I spend my spare time outdoors, and exercise rejuvenates me for a return to my rotations. I have worked as a volunteer with a community health center, thus better appreciating how health care is rooted in the community. I am a hard worker, and especially drawn to creation, pencil sketching, dancing, swimming in summer, teaching my child, and having served as a cultural coordinator in inter-medical college sports. Surgery is my life, and my greatest pleasure is to make direct and profound contributions to the patient's health. I measure my satisfaction with life through the enormously profound way that I treat great responsibility, often the patient's life. I ask you to help bring my heart to the fullest level of satisfaction possible by giving me the chance to give my all to your program, working with people of diverse backgrounds and groups; I am a trained listener and processor of information with studied levels of concentration in surgery, balancing art, science, and the human will to triumph against the ravages of disease.
