Mohammad Arfeen

The one question that I’m dreading being asked during my medical school application process is “why do you want to be a doctor?” Unlike others I don’t dread this question because of a lack of passion, or determination, I dread this question because I have no idea where to begin formulating a response. I could write books responding to this question, but I’m going to try my hardest to squeeze it into a manageable blog post. I should credit the post that truly inspired me to put these thoughts into words, an amazing post by Erin Breedlove on her blog Healthy, Unwealthy, and Becoming Wise, it’s such an awesome blog that it will be getting a spot in my blogroll!

The Back Story

I chose my major in biochemistry and molecular biology because I loved the interdisciplinary nature of it; I love triathlons because of that same feeling of mastering multiple areas. I can’t like others say that medicine has been my calling since I was 2 years old, I was a rebellious child, I didn’t want anything to do with medicine as both my parents are physicians (father: pediatrician and mother: anesthesiologist). As a child I was obsessed with computers and till late middle school, I couldn’t think of doing anything other than going into computers, as I aged and gained very little wisdom, I thought law would be a better field. That really didn’t last very long; the field just disgusted me for the most part.

I entered high school not exactly sure of what I wanted to do, except it better not be medicine; I had a vague interest in engineering and took a couple entry level engineering and drafting courses offered through my high school. I was determined to become an architect. Time came to apply to college, I applied broadly to school strong in the sciences, and a few architecture programs. I got accepted to a couple of both programs. At this time I was in an AP Biology class as well as an AP Psychology class and both of them together helped me to realize that there was no greater feat of engineering than the human body; it was one of the most beautiful things on earth. Still determined to avoid medicine I declared as a biochemistry and molecular biology major, little did I know the amount of science I would absorb in that first semester would drive me into choosing medicine as my future pathway.

I am going to add a point here for clarification, while my parents are pretty pleased and supportive of me choosing medicine as my pathway, they didn’t push me into it. My dad suggested that I go into business, since I have a little bit of an instinct in the area, and they both mentioned that there are much easier and faster ways to make money.

The Question

The question still remains, why do I want to become a doctor, why not a PhD and do research? I thought and thought, and I came to the realization that I want to be a doctor because I can’t imagine myself sitting in a lab all day, I love my research, but I can’t imagine doing nothing else for the rest of my life. I crave for the opportunity to work with people, make the feel better or at minimum being able to provide an explanation. I don’t want to just look at the science, I want to take the science and apply it to real life, combine the science with actual cases. The quest to become a doctor gives me infinite intellectual stimulus, and the fact that it seems to be a fairly stable field helps slightly.

I want to be a doctor, because I want the chance to lead and innovate, I want to help people understand things that scare them; I want to comfort the family that doesn’t understand what’s happening. I want to be the person looking for the greatest reason for why doctors do what they do. I want to be able to apply all the science and provide relief and benefits for those that are suffering.

The End

One thing that I must mention is that I’ve seen my parents go through residency, and I’ve seen them on call on weekend, I’ve seen the sacrifices that must be made. I have tons of friends in medical school and residency and I see them fighting their way through and I know the hardships that I will have to face to become a physician, and I still want to do it. Call me a masochist but I’m willing to torture myself for a great amount of years to become a doctor. I’m going to understand and repair the greatest feat of engineering, programming, and architecture ever created. The Sears Tower or the Empire State Building has nothing on the human body. If you want to impress yourself look at the abuse we put ourselves through on a daily basis, look at professional endurance athletes, and average people who do ironman triathlons. We can push ourselves to amazing feats. Humans can’t fly, they don’t run that fast, we’re not naturally amazing swimmers, but we’ve reached the highest points on earth, we’ve left the atmosphere, we’ve created machines to accelerate us past speeds know to any living creature, and dive deep that most creatures. I don’t know about you but I think the human body is pretty damn impressive and I’m willing to dedicate my life to learning more about it and healing it.

Signing Off,

Mohammad