Because people don't usually make career decisions based on pure reason, it can be difficult to explain why you've chosen the field you have. Moreover, your basic reasons probably look a lot like everyone else's. In this section, you'll learn how to develop your ideas effectively and insightfully while emphasizing your uniqueness.

Here are a few of the common ways that students incorporate this theme:

2. Don't rely solely on this reason and forget to justify your choice with more recent experiences.

Tell us not only why you want to be a doctor but what you have done to test your decision. Have you had some experience? Have you observed doctors?

-- University of Michigan Medical School

This applicant does state his lifelong interest in the first sentence, but with a twist: "Sometimes I like to tell people that my father knew I wanted to be a doctor long before I did, but the truth is that the idea of becoming a physician has probably been gestating within me in some form or other since an early age."

By the third sentence, however, he moves to details in support of his lifelong interest. Telling a story is the best way to guarantee that your discussion stays grounded in concrete evidence. The second paragraph provides the "test" aspect: how he confirmed his interest in medicine through direct, hands-on experience. In this paragraph he does not tell another story, but still stays focused on details by describing some of his responsibilities and naming procedures he observed.

Although your own details might make the difference between a good and great essay, you can ensure a solid result simply by avoiding the above pitfalls, as this applicant did. On the first issue, he used a specific story to make a typical idea his own personal point. On the second issue, he used his childhood fascination only to describe the roots of what eventually grew into a more mature commitment. The result is a compelling explanation of his motivation to become a doctor.

-- School of Medicine, University of Washington

The same caveats apply, however. First, the fact that admissions officers have seen this approach many times means you have to find a unique, personal story to tell. Second, the story you recount should serve only as the original inspiration, and you still need to use recent experiences to show how you've confirmed that first recognition.

One applicant recalled the impression that doctors who treated his mother left on him. He provided useful details, including the illness that afflicted her and the specific qualities that impressed him most about the physicians. Again, the second paragraph shifts to the trial stage, emphasizing action rather than dwelling on passive response: "I also had the chance to gain some firsthand experience in the medical profession when I volunteered for over a year in the emergency room of a regional hospital." You won't necessarily have to follow the exact structure of going from inspiration to action, nor does your inspiration have to come from a dramatic experience, but the relevant details will be present in every good essay.

The examples that follow are not meant to be exhaustive. Rather, they represent the efforts of particular individuals to recognize the unique elements of their background and use it to their advantage. You should notice that these unique elements often have nothing to do with medicine, but can still be tied effectively to the applicants' goals or integrated with their character and background.

1. Jane is a woman from a military background. Notice that her first paragraph grabs the reader's attention by emphasizing extreme experiences to which the average person has never been exposed: "I am a 26-year-old woman who has spent much of the past nine years engaged in such unusual activities as jumping out of airplanes, briefing Chuck Yeager (on more effective flying, of all things!), running through trenches, being a test parachutist, taking apart and then reassembling (blindfolded) a vintage M-1 rifle, earning a pilot's license, and learning how to survive behind enemy lines (including resisting interrogations and escaping captivity)."

Don't dilute the power of your description with premature, forced connections to medicine. Your first task is to convince the reader that what you're describing is indeed unique on its own terms. In fact, this applicant never forces an explicit connection on the situation, but rather simply notes that she can finally apply to medical school because her term of military service is ending. The reader can easily deduce for himself how the rigor and intensity of her military background have prepared her for the challenge of medicine.

2. Another applicant describes his experiences performing in a Las Vegas show. Again, he does not try to argue that his work as a performer will directly help him in handling dental operations, but instead makes the following point about his character: "Working each night, for a total of 42 hours a week, has forced me to structure for myself an educational schedule that has required more time in college than most spend. However, as a result, I will be emerging from my university experience with greater maturity, self-knowledge, and certainty about the professional direction I am choosing to follow than many of my peers." The one mistake this applicant makes is his continual emphasis on how he's different from his peers. In general, you should try to let uniqueness speak for itself; if it's noteworthy, the reader will pick up on it without having to be told.

3. This applicant describes the unfortunate circumstances of his childhood. He does so without seeking pity, instead focusing on how these circumstances shaped his character. Here a connection to medicine is natural: "I spent a great deal of time trying to care for my mother, a fact of my young life that I think later on may have subliminally drawn me toward a career in medicine. Besides instilling within me a desire to help others who are ill, my experience with my mother also heightened my sensitivity to other people and the difficulties with which they sometimes must cope." The writer goes on to back up his heightened sensitivity by describing his work assisting a doctor in rural Mexico-itself also a noteworthy experience.

4. This applicant details her commitment to martial arts: "Martial arts and medicine. They seem worlds apart, but they both have played significant roles in my life and for reasons that are surprisingly similar. They both offer challenge, require great discipline, and necessitate a goal-oriented approach." In this case, the activity itself is far from unique, even among the specific population of medical school applicants. Nevertheless, the qualities she has cultivated in her experience and the way she ties them to medicine provide a new dimension to her candidacy. This essay is an effective example of how you can turn even a standard extracurricular activity into a unique strength by using illustrative personal details and an insightful perspective.

Again, these examples are only a few of the possible routes you could take. There are even more obvious routes for which we did not include examples, such as extraordinary talents in athletics or the arts, or extensive work experience in another career. One particularly delicate issue is how to approach diversity. If you are, for example, a minority, foreign, or older applicant, you should not hesitate to use this to your advantage. To do this effectively, however, you need to show how your background has shaped your life in some tangible way and possibly tie that in to how you plan to contribute to the school's community. You should not mention it for its own sake and suggest-even implicitly-that you expect some kind of special attention, because you risk offending the reader or coming across as manipulative.

The experiences that demonstrate your qualification are not necessarily distinct from those that explain your motivation. You shouldn't plan on dividing the essay into two separate sections for each, but rather organize the structure by topic and extrapolate insights as they develop. We will cover structure in greater depth in its own section, but it's important that you begin thinking in terms of an integrated essay.