MEDICAL SCHOOL DRAFT THE OSTEOPATHIC REMIX POST #1: Because AACOMAS wants it in 500 words. Because D.O.'s don't have time for jibber jabber when there's work to be done. My task is to explain why I chose "OTHER (HEALTH CARE RELATED)" under the question about how would I describe my previous career/experience, before going on to the rest of the essay. Let's listen in.

I have selected "OTHER" as my answer to Question #12 because I have worked a clerical support position in a public hospital for the past seven years.

Working in the hospital, I have been exposed to a wide variety of physicians, including osteopaths. D.O.'s have always impressed me; they are, in general, more down-to-earth than their allopathic counterparts, equal in intelligence but less arrogant in the application of their intelligence. Perhaps this is due to the large number of nontraditional applicants osteopathic schools attract; one can learn traits like compassion and humility working outside the sometimes closed world of medicine more quickly than within it.

I am a nontraditional applicant myself. I started out wanting to be a writer, and ended up working a nondescript office position at my local hospital. I am also, at 29, somewhat older than the average applicant. A third point of interest is that my father is a physician. These unique experiences have prepared me for medical school, each in their own way. For example, the flow of information within a hospital or a medical practice depends on clear verbal communication, where my skills as a writer will be an asset. My relative lack of youth does, hopefully, suggest a degree of maturity on my part, that I am well prepared for the choice I am making, and willing to work hard to succeed. The fact that my father is a physician means I have grown up around medicine and understand its unique rigors and stresses better than most people.

These qualities lead me to believe I am a prepared applicant for training as a physician. I haven't always thought of myself this way. It is a role I have grown into, given how much exposure I have had to the profession over the years, at home and in my working life. There just seems to be so much opportunity in medicine, if you're willing to work for it. I find psychiatry inherently interesting, though I am not sure I would enjoy it in practice. Infectious diseases as a specialty sounds fascinating, and seems the closest to the type of theoretical biology I am studying in school right now. I love the idea of the family practitioner, jack of all trades, working out there on the frontlines of medicine (and osteopathic schools famously turn out fantastic family practitioners.) I'm sure other specialties will appeal to me as I learn more about them. The medical degree opens up so many options for someone willing to be industrious, able to relate to people in need, and committed to the high standards of the profession. It is my belief I can live up to all those qualifications, and I hope my academic record and personal history provide strong evidence that I am a good candidate for the medical degree.

--Eh. May be a little long on the specialty stuff vs. the rest of it. I'm not bullcrapping about D.O.'s, though; I never met one who was a jerk.