Is there a unique aspect of your application that should be considered by the admissions committee?

Through determination, I was able to independently subsidize my travels to over 15 countries, including the
Dominican Republic for medical missionary work, Spain for a biological study program, and to other countries to
experience cultures. Currently, I am living in Germany learning and researching about laparoscopic surgery at the
University of Heidelberg Hospital. I have come to an understanding of the universal need for healthcare, which has
reinforced my desire to become a physician.

Explain why you decided to apply to the Penn State College of Medicine.

Penn state’s curriculum of encouraging students through early patient exposure and small groups will help
me be able to reach my full potential as a physician. Additionally, Penn’s GHSP uniquely gives students in-depth
exposure to a country through two immersive trips. My involvement domestically and abroad regarding improving
community health aligns with Penn’s State PRO Wellness commitment to encourage healthier habits for disease
prevention. These factors made me apply to Penn State.

Write a short paragraph describing a significant experience you have had working in a team setting.

Through collaboration with fellow RA’s, we helped benefit the local homeless community and created a
program that was recognized as the “UT Program of the Year” for two successive years.
After two months of planning, delegating, and coordinating with the Central Texas Food Bank, we set up a
donation station at the front desks in which residents and fellow college students donated clothes for the homeless.
Afterwards, we set up a program to sell the clothes and additional baked goods for donations. Overall, we had
enough monetary donations to provide a sizable clothing donation and provide over 700 meals to the homeless. By
getting residents involved in supporting their local community while providing a forum for them to donate and shop
for charity, we created this popular and effective program that will continue to be implemented for years to come.
Seeing the meaningful impact that we could make by implementing such a program on a community wide basis
gave me a tremendous amount of satisfaction. It also made me feel proud that I was able to successfully lead and
delegate my fellow RAs to create a successful and interactive program that involved the whole community while
also bringing awareness and assistance to the local homeless population. I believe the collaborative working skills I
learned from this extensive project will help me work with others well in medical school.

Write a short statement describing how you envision using your medical education to advance care for
under-represented or marginalized populations.

Ideally, my vision would be to bring medical care to underdeveloped and underserved communities both
in the United States and abroad, specifically in places where there is a dire shortage of physicians. During my
travels and medical mission trip to the Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka, I recognized the urgent need for
healthcare professionals and the impact that a competent physician can have on a patient’s life. While in Sri Lanka,
I suffered from a minor biking injury that left my wound infected. Through my visit to the local hospital throughout
two weeks, I was able to witness the wide healthcare disparity from the US. Experiencing healthcare from a
patient’s perspective helped me empathize and be committed to bringing quality care to my patients. While in the
Dominican Republic, I served an indigent patient group which consisted of a population that had little access to
healthcare because of their location in rural areas. Establishing clinics in underserved, rural areas, and seeing the
extent our services benefitted the community was extremely gratifying. These experiences helped cultivate my
passion for the medical field. By working as an assistant to primary care physicians in rural communities, I hope to
continue my work of helping in underserved areas of Pennsylvania. Simply having the opportunity to make an
impact on patients’ lives as a physician is ultimately my objective and what I would consider to be a great privilege
and honor.