Kim 1

Kim, Yu (Yujin)

Project 2 complete essay

6 April 2017

Becoming a Successful Doctor

(Section 1)

America is called the country of immigrants. According to the data which is provided by

MPI (Migration Policy Institute), 1,051,031 people who are granted lawful permanent residence

came to the U.S on 2016. When the immigrants who immigrate in the U.S, they dream about a

new successful life in America. Many people call that thinking American dream. Likewise,

others, when I came to the U.S, I wanted to learn and experience a lot of new things such as study

and culture. Unexpectedly, the different language and culture became the obstacles for me to adjust

in America, but now I have been adjusting to this culture and life more than before. Thus, now I

have my own American dream that is become a doctor because the field of medicine brings

happiness and understand mind especially empathy for me based on my personal experience.

My personal experiences guided and influenced me to choose this future job as a doctor.

When I first came to the U.S, I had some strong acne and allergic reaction. My face was always

covered with huge scars from ugly acne, and my body was usually bloated due to the allergic

reaction. Because of those factors, I suffered from depression, social phobia, and a sense of shame.

However, those health issues also led me to have some interest in the medical field and treatment

because at that time I did not have any insurance, so I could not go to the hospital to see a doctor.
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Therefore, I tried to search for a lot of information to treat my illness by myself. Fortunately, at

that time, I learned a lot of medical knowledge and some treatment which could help my problems.

My health problem influenced me to think about the field of medicine for my future life.

The feeling of empathy also had affected me to choose this future job. When I came to the

U.S, my English skill was really terrible, so if I faced with problems such as car accident or

emergency situation, I had to find some Korean who could solve my problem. One day, one of my

health problem which is acne needed to see a doctor because all of the faces was covered by acne

with a blister, so I had to go to the hospital. However, I couldnt speak English very well, so I

thought I cant say my symptoms to a doctor who speaks English. Thus, I had to find the hospital

which has the Korean doctor even though the hospital was far from my house. It sounds easy to

see a doctor who is Korean in LA, but it wasnt because I didnt have an insurance, so I had to find

the doctor who could discount a lot our payment about the medical fee. That situation was really

uncomfortable for non-bilingual people. Without insurance and with my language barrier, I had

only two options: paying a lot of money or finding the doctor who could discount a lot of fees and

definitely could speak Korean. However, my health problem was really serious and needed the

long-term treatment, so I couldnt stop to see a doctor even though the hospital is far and I had to

pay a lot of money which affected my financial aid a lot. During the time, I also realized this kind

of problem is frequently happened to non-bilingual people in the medical filed. After I knew that

facts and already had that same issues, I want to become a doctor who can understand their

situation and treat their health issue at the same time with comprehend to the patient who especially

have language problem.

Sometimes, I met some people who had same acne issue, so I gave some advice to them

how to manage that kind of acne problems, but at that time, I realized I had some limit to help
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them with my lack of knowledge so that fact made me crave for to become a real doctor who can

solve their problem with accurate knowledge and treatment. Therefore, I changed my major to

biology which can learn a lot of basic knowledge of science and took lots of math, and science

classes to build the science foundation. Also, I joined a lot of clubs which is related to the medical

field, so I can get some information from the club member. Before I changed the major to biology,

I was founded on English skills. however, after I changed my major, I added sciences and math

classes to improve my skills with English skills. For a college student who prepares to enter the

medical school, Im taking the science courses and focusing on improving my English. Without

any doubt, If I keep continuing to study a lot and make a lot of efforts, I think I can achieve my

future goal.

(Section2)

Searching the information about the medical field by myself had some limitation, so I

interviewed two professional people whose names are Jessica Zhang and Dr. Daniel Ybarra in the

field to get some more information about the field. I did an almost 15minutes phone interview with

Ms. Zhang who is family medicine resident on March 24th .2017 to using a house phone and with

Dr. Ybarra, I had some 2-3minutes short face to face personal interview time on March 28th .2017.

Both of interview, I wrote the memo which was contain the main questions and after they answer

my question I wrote their response right away.

Medical field is basically based on helping and treating people with doctors technique of

surgery, prescription from knowledge of medicine, and treatment to utilize the medical machine.

I asked Ms. Zhang about the skills which I have to master before I enter the field. She said that

Communication skills must be mastered before the student enter the field. According to her
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experience, English which includes 4skills such as listening, reading, speaking, and writing is the

most important communication skills in the field because it needs in everywhere. For example,

when they prescribe the medicine, they have to write the prescription to a pharmacist. Also, a new

disease is continued to emerge, so they need to read some research to find the better cure system

for that disease. A doctor must meet many different people with many different symptoms, so they

need the listening skill and speaking skill to understand the point of patient symptoms and explain

to them how they are going to treat by medicine or treatment.

Meeting a new and different people is the most natural situation for doctors, so Ms. Zhang

represented that Social skills are also required and important skill to a doctor because all of the

patient characters are not same, so the doctor needs the flexibility when they check up the patients.

According to Dr.Ybarras advice, he explained that Mind control skill is required for the

surgeon. The reason why he said that they usually operate humans body with blood and that

situation isn't looking good and it possible to affect the doctors brain. At that time, using mind

control skills is really helpful to prevent to make some trauma of human body and helps them to

focus the operation. Also, the operation cant be always successful, so accepting the result such as

seeing death is also required to doctor especially a surgeon, but the mind control skills help to

control the mind easily. After I got their answers for the first question, I asked the seconds question

which is about the preparation for students who want to get the medical field. Then, Dr.Ybarra

emphasized on maintain GPA. It is very important skill because the medical school has some

limit about the GPA which is averagely over 3.7. Then, Ms. Zhang announced that English and

science are the most important subjects to study for students who plan to enter the field because

medical is based on science, so field need strong science foundation skills. Also, for English skills,

same as she mentioned before, that skills need everywhere in the field, so she gave some hint that
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focusing on studying those two subjects will really helpful for a college student. At the end, I asked

about the future of the medical field. Ms. Zhang said that The future of the medical field is bright,

but it will not same as a present because now much robotic equipment is starting to accomplish

some part such as an operation. She expected that in the future medical field will use more robotic

equipment to checking up the patients or doing an operation. After I finished the interview, I can

get more information about the field and its possible to know the subjects I have to focus more to

study.

(Section3)

Synthetically, becoming a doctor in the America is really hard and needs me a lot of time

and efforts. Based on the interview, both interviewees mentioned directly and non-directly about

communication skills which include English, social, and mind control skills. This field consists of

communication and interaction between patient and doctor. During the communication, the doctor

catches up the patient disease and the patients explain the symptoms to a doctor. I think I need to

improve a lot of my English skill, and I can improve my English skill to take the classes at school.

Also, taking science classes for make great foundation for basic skills. Im planning to take more

science classes on summer session with tutoring services, so it will be a great plan to prepare the

basic science skills.

Likewise studying skills such as science and English social, mind control skills are also

important skill because of job atmosphere. I think I can learn the social skills and mind control

skills at school too because at school I can meet many different students and spend time with them

at each class, so that situation can help me to improve the social skills. For the mind control skills,
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thats are not the same direction as the surgeon use, but I think control my stress is also can be a

helpful exercise for prepare that future situation.

According to Ms. Zhang, the future of the medical field is still bright even though the

system which using more robotic machines will make a little change in the field. Most of surgeries

and treatments will be using the machines, so the field will not be crowd with many medical

assistants. However, the future doctor needs more knowledge of the medicine and meticulous hand

skills for surgery which the machine cant handle the exquisite parts such as nerve and capillary

vessel. Thus, If I keep trying to do all of those skills such as communication, science classes, and

maintain high GPA, I can change my dream to reality.

In conclusion, becoming a doctor in America can be a big challenge for me and it takes

really long time. Maybe it takes more time than a normal student who gets a job after graduation,

but based on my personal experience I realized I have some interest in medical field and that fact

influenced me to decide to be a doctor in the future. I had strong health problems experience before,

so I know how much that situation is really uncomfortable and bothered in the life. Thats why I

can feel more empathy more than anyone else, but now I dont have enough knowledge to treat

anybody. Thats why I changed my major to biology which can help me to improve my basic skills

and helps me later at the field. Ill spend more time to improve my English skill because most of

the medical field required fluently English skills. Even though become a doctor affects my

financial aid and time, I can handle it. If I become a doctor, I want to be the most understand and

technical doctor with respect to the patient. Now, it is just a little dream, but Ill do it my best and

achieve my America dream as soon as possible.

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Works Cited

Zong, Jie and Batalova, Jeanne. Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration

in the United States. MPI(Migration Policy Institute), 8 March 2107,

<Personal interview by phone>

Zhang, Jessica. (2017, March 24). Phone interview

<Personal interview in person>

Dr. Daniel Ybarra. (2017, March 28) Personal interview