Personal Statement – Harvard University Clinical Psychology PhD
Sitting at the dinner table when I was young, listening to my parents rattle off at each other in medical jargon, drove me crazy. I was too small to comprehend the terms they were using, so I started a journey to to understand them that has led me here, twenty-something years later. I was born to a world full of physicians. Almost everyone in my family is a physician, specializing in various areas. I was exposed to hospital settings from at a very young age. While waiting for my parents to finish work, I would sit and observe the people in waiting rooms, like an invisible onlooker. It was fascinating and touching to interact with so many patients and to see their strength and motivation to get better. My father is a gynecologic oncologist, working with cancer patients, which have always been temperamental for me. These patients’ struggle for survival and the hope in their eyes are different from anything I have seen before. Then, upon entering adulthood, I was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer, and I was able to relate to my father’s patients on an entirely new level.
…show more content…
Continuing my education and gaining more experience in the psychology world, I want to purse a PhD in Clinical Psychology because I want to help people come over their difficulties through what I have learned in these passing years. I believe that a Clinical Psychologist should have some bad experiences that will allow him or her to gain even more insight in understanding oneself and others. The ability to empathize will not be merely enough. And considering these factors, I believe that I am a strong candidate for Clinical Psychology PhD not just with my grades, or exam scores, or lab research experience, but at a deeper level; with my