"You're application has been submitted"

DONE AND DONE!! We did it. Rachel and I stayed up until 1:53 a.m. to completely finish the D.O. medical school applications. Oh it feels so liberating. I honestly can say that I feel an actual weight off my shoulder. It feels so good! I think it would be neat to show you my personal statement.

I am so grateful for everyone that contributed, Mom, Dad, Jess, Robbie (faithful Robbie), my lovely and caring wife who works full-time for this family, and the many doctors that have shown the way for me. Oh, I feel so great. I sure hope I score well on this second MCAT! How great to have these submitted.

It was the bottom of the ninth and the Snow Canyon Warriors were up by just one point. To solidify the win we had to stop the opposing team’s runner on third base from scoring for two more outs. In right field, I crouched with my eyes keen on the batter. I reviewed in my mind what I would do if a fly ball were hit to me: “hang back, sprint forward, catch and fire it to home.” With my hands sweaty and my heart beating steadily, I prepared for this pivotal moment in the state play-off game of my senior year. “Crack!” went the ball off the bat; the ball was up and coming to me. I stayed back, came through sprinting, caught the ball on the run and threw it with all of my might to home plate. The ball went whizzing straight to the catcher just as the runner slid. “OUT!” yelled the umpire. I had just made the winning double play for our team! As we sprinted back to the dug-out our fans were going wild. When I passed by the coach he smacked me upside the head and said, “Way to go Hendu.” He always called me Hen-“do” because I did what others wouldn’t do.

I was cut from the baseball team as a freshman. My other friends who were cut just gave up, but not me. After the initial shock had subsided, I made a firm resolution to make the team the following year. I was reminded by my father that if I wanted to make it, I had to work harder than anyone else currently on the team. I set goals and worked tirelessly every day to achieve those goals. I remember one night, after hitting for hours, walking onto the field, envisioning myself wearing the long awaited Warrior jersey, playing for the high school team. With this vision and these memories fresh in my mind, I looked around myself at the state play-off game. The Warrior mascot was on my chest. Our team had just won and my dad was standing proud as ever as he looked down at me from the crowd. Powerful emotions welled inside; I was living my dream.

Working hard for my success in baseball solidified some of my strongest attributes: tenacity, goal setting and diligence. During my high school experience with baseball, I set a new goal, getting into medical school. It began by taking a human anatomy class. I quickly found a love for the sciences, the medical terminology, and the harmony of organ systems. At this same time I also found joy while serving others as I completed my Eagle Scout project and served on student councils. The knowledge that becoming a doctor would include a lifetime of scientific learning, a constant offering of service, and placing others’ worries in front of my own fueled within me a resolve to prepare earnestly for this profession. I found that no other profession could fulfill my inner desires more perfectly. I began diligently preparing to wear the jersey of a doctor.

The summer of my junior year in college I was a regular at the St. George Surgical Center, shadowing doctors. Grabbing my notebook and excited for another day, I went with Dr. Rhodes towards the operating room. “Would you please tell Susan you’ll be scrubbing in?” he asked me. “Scrubbing in?” I thought. “Me? Dressing like a doctor with gloved hands kept above the waste, wearing a mask, standing next to the patient?” Surely my face must have looked like a toddler’s on Christmas day. I was to get a taste of my dream in just a few short minutes as I would feel what it was like to stand with other doctors and care for the life of another. As the surgery began, I watched the hands of Dr. Rhodes’ methodically work around the patient’s face. Making a long incision at the jaw line he exposed the jugular artery, trachea, and nerves. Then, he did the unexpected, he asked me to help. He asked me to hold the instrument exposing these life sustaining organs. Holding that instrument changed me, now I not only wanted to attend medical school, I wanted to thrive and succeed during medical school. I found that success in medical school would mean succeeding while patients entrusted me with their lives. It is my goal to spend my life learning the skills and perfecting the attributes of a physician so that one day I can hear the new triumphant words spoken, “SAFE!”

I have cultivated many attributes to enable me to achieve greatness on any field. I am prepared to do whatever it takes to wear the jersey of a doctor, to help my fellow colleagues succeed, and to achieve greatness in the medical field, a field designed for the healing and preserving of lives.