One of the reasons why I want to have a career in medicine is because I would like to live my life serving others. In high school, I volunteered at my local hospital, and I will continue to do so this summer. I will also reapply to volunteer at the Wexner Medical Center.

Although the Humanism in Medicine Club is largely a service-oriented group, I haven’t been as active as I have been in the past in terms of volunteering. I think that now that my first semester is coming to a close, however, I am finally starting to find my footing here, and I will strive to be much more engaged in the future. I’m still looking for a place off-campus to commit my time to, but I have had a blast already with BuckeyeThon and HiM.

This past week, I applied to be a resident advisor for the next school year, and I am extremely excited about the possibilities that go along with being a part of Residence Life. Being a resident advisor would be a great opportunity to further develop my leadership skills and meet new people, and it would definitely push me out of my comfort zone. I would love the opportunity to help students who may be having trouble transitioning to college or who haven’t quite found their niche at Ohio State.

If I am not hired, however, I think that I’ll try to take on a more active role in the Humanism in Medicine Club. I have already thoroughly enjoyed the time that I’ve put into the organization, so I think that that might be a good first step for me. We are currently fundraising for our BuckeyeThon team, and I am super passionate about this project. I think that it would be really cool if I can step up and lead that initiative for the organization next year. I have also thought about applying to be a chemistry lab TA next year because I have had a lot of success in general chemistry so far and am probably one of the few who enjoyed the lab portion of the course this semester.

My high school teachers referred to Bloom’s Taxonomy whenever they could as a benchmark for learning. At the very top of Bloom’s Taxonomy is “Create,” so I know that Original Inquiry is one of the most effective and powerful tools for expanding a student’s critical thinking and problem solving skills. Here at Ohio State, I hope to find a position in a lab where I can further develop those skills and gain experience in research. I am particularly interested in research pertaining to cancer, genetics, and other related medical topics. In addition, the sociology major contains an integrated elective requirement for which I hope to participate in a faculty member’s research. Another route I could take to fulfill the requirement is the course called Social Science Business Collaborative: A Service Learning Approach. Students who take this course develop research projects with local businesses in order to serve the community.

I am also committed to challenging myself with upper level courses. A few that I’m most excited about include Cancer Genetics, Violence, and Health Disparities in Social Context.

One of the reasons I was so excited to come to Ohio State was the opportunity to learn from and about people who have different backgrounds than me. Although I haven’t found the time do so thus far, I would really like to invest myself in some sort of multicultural student organization. One of the organizations that I’ve looked into is MUNDO, which works to make connections and promote social change at local, national, and global levels. They are partnered with Residence Life to provide service, learning, and leadership opportunities. Because second-year students live on campus, I think that it might be a good fit for me next year.

Several of my sociology major classes will also help me to become a more informed global citizen. Courses such as Sociology of Terrorism and The Sociology of Global Health and Illness cover topics that are not only incredibly fascinating to me, but also provide insight into human experiences, behaviors, and communities that are very different from my own.

I don’t think that I’ve ever been more excited about where I am and what I’m doing than I am right now. I recently had the opportunity to meet with each of my major advisors, and I cannot wait to start plugging away in all of the courses that I’m going to be taking! I am particularly looking forward to Classical Mythology and Introduction to Psychology.

I chose to major in biology because I loved my AP Biology course in high school, and it was during that course that I really started to feel like I knew what I wanted to do with my life. That same year, I had surgery on my ankle, so I spent a lot of time at the hospital and in the clinic. It was in this way that I landed on medicine.

Unlike biology, I didn’t know that I wanted to study sociology. I had never even considered it until I heard Dr. Hollie Brehm speak at my orientation session over the summer. Before that, and before even knowing that I wanted to become a doctor, I had played with a lot of different career paths. There was a time when I wanted to be a teacher, and then I wanted to be a lawyer, and then I wanted to be a journalist. All of these careers require an understanding of people, and medicine isn’t an exception. I believe that studying sociology will give me the skills necessary to excel no matter where I end up in the future because I think that having a deeper understanding of those around me and of the world is important to being a citizen of society. This belief is what has me so committed to immersing myself in both the sciences and the social sciences. The ability to do so is what is so great about a liberal arts education.

My Academic Plan has helped me develop a collection and schedule of courses that are going to prepare me for my future career and combine my two majors into a curriculum that I’m extremely excited about. It has also alleviated a lot of the stress I had that stemmed from not knowing what I should do or when I should do it. I think that for now, I have a good template to follow for the next several semesters.