Hey there! I am short-listed for interview to study medicine in NUS :)

This is my personal statement for studying medicine.

My desire to study medicine stemmed on my longing to improve people’s lives. After achieving many things (sporting medals, academic certificates and other accolades), I am starting to become jaded about personal achievements. The more awards that I have achieved, the emptier my feelings becomes. It feels as if something is amiss about personal achievements and glory. After all, these awards are only concerned about my own self, as an individual. I finally come to the point where self-actualisation has to be my ultimate goal in life. I want to live my life for people; to serve people with all the talents that I have.

Undoubtedly, there are many ways in which we can serve and improve people’s lives. A civil engineer can contribute by constructing sound infrastructure that will facilitate the movements of people and essential goods. A food scientist may research on cooking oil with lower level of cholesterol and saturated fat which could potentially save millions of lives each year by reducing the risk of contracting cardiovascular-related diseases and stroke. However, I prefer to work along the medical line as a doctor. Being a doctor is magical. One can bring lives back to critically-injured victims of traffic collision by proper use of his medical knowledge and surgical handwork. Even though I may not have any first hand experience with any doctor who has saved the life of anyone close to me, I am aware that doctors are doing noble job and always try their best to help and save people’s lives. Besides, I love to be surrounded by and deal with people. I remember, how much pleasure I can derive from the appreciation of the residents of the old folks’ home after helping them out during CIP. Even as I am working as a dental assistant, I am very pleased that patients thank me for making his dental treatment less dreadful and more enjoyable. Each appreciation that I receive motivates me to work better and better.

Besides, I see studying medicine as a call of duty that has to be answered and I believe that every individual that is capable to take up the challenge to be a doctor has to do so. I count myself to be fortunate that I am studying in Singapore and thus exposed to a pool of choices for my career path. Imagine that I were a Brazilian boy who grew a village and always played soccer every day afterschool. How likely is the probability that I will ever think of studying medicine? This prompts me to think that if global individual ranking is to be made for my age group, it is safe to say that I stand a high chance to be among the top 25 per cent (of course, this artificial ranking is made based on many factors such as financial abilities, family issues, access to knowledge and information, sophistication of teaching and learning resources, and overall academic performance). Given the disadvantages and lack of resources, although the other 75 per cent may have the intention to improve and save people’s lives, they may not bear the same chance of succeeding as the 25 per cent group. Therefore, I see that the onus is on the best 25 per cent group to take on the heavier responsibilities by rendering themselves to take on the more difficult career path; one example is to be a doctor.

Thirdly, I see being a doctor can greatly facilitate me in achieving my dreams. As I have mentioned earlier, the feeling of being jaded has leap-frogged self-actualisation to be my ultimate goal. My wish is to devote my energy and brain to improving people’s life. One day, I read in the TIME magazine that approximately 4,000 people are dying each day due to lack of clean water. Do the math, in every minute, approximately three of our fellow human are dying. It breaks my heart whenever I read statistics like this. Ever since, I’ve decided that I will put my life into working on installing clean water system across Indonesia first and then start moving from there. The greatest challenge is how to actualize this dream. I realize that I need massive amount of funding. Therefore, I need to start getting people sensitized by this issue and get them involved with me in this project. Being a doctor allows me to relate to people from all walks of lives; from poor to rich, from clerks to managing directors, from house makers to conglomerates, from newly-born children to dying old men, from healthy to chronically-ill people, people from all races, religions and cultural backgrounds. The spectrum is amazingly wide. It covers almost all layers of our societies. I could influence and mobilize these people, you can imagine how plausible my dream could become.

I am fully aware that the path to be a doctor is extremely arduous and long. However, I believe that just like discipline, I can always condition myself each day to be stronger and more ready to face the challenges ahead. As days gone by, I believe that I am closer to the man I want to become and more optimistic that I am closer to achieving my dreams.