I am primarily a father and a homemaker, my wife has been the breadwinner over the past several years, and I have taken care of our small children. A 36-year-old Indonesian man and an Indonesian-trained medical doctor who has lived in St. Louis for the past ten years, some might see it as tragic that someone with my educational background is applying to an undergraduate program. By 1995, I had finished my studies in my home country as a Medical Doctor. In 2000, I graduated from the University of XXXX with an MPA in Health Administration, and by 2003 I had finished my MBA. I was able to pass the USMLE in 2006. I have not, however, been successful at finding a residency position. I have simply been out of the field for too long. I'm now almost ten years out of practice and not clinically updated, and most residency programs have a graduation cut-off of fewer than five years from graduation.
After further reflection and the realization that I still long very much for the type of hands-on caring of patients that I always looked forward to as a physician, I have decided that I want to become a nurse so that I can use my medical training and my background in public health. I look forward to the human feeling and touch that comes from dedicating oneself to primary nursing care. I have reconciled to the simple fact that no one wants to award a residency position in medicine to someone who graduated from medical school 12 years ago. Still, I long for the beautiful feeling that I get when I care for people and can help them to live more comfortably. Thus, the dream that I once had of working as a physician has yielded to my plan for a long and highly productive career in nursing.
My children are the unique lights of my life, and I would not trade these years that I have had with them for anything. However, they are getting bigger and becoming more independent, and I miss the world of professional activity. The youngest of my three children is four years old and will start kindergarten next year at the same time as I hope to start your program. Being a stay-at-home dad has been a beautiful experience, but the more I think about spending the rest of my professional life working as a nurse or in nursing administration, the more I like the idea. Becoming a Registered Nurse through my education at the XXXX School will help me to break the job market barrier while my medical training can be put to excellent use.
I look forward to choosing among various stimulating options in the field of nursing once I become a Registered Nurse because of your program, such as becoming an LPN, CRNA, Nursing Administrator, Surgical Nurse, or Research Patient Coordinator so that I can take full advantage of my clinical and professional training. I help Habitat for Humanity build houses and for the past year, I've been a Sunday school teacher at XXXX Presbyterian in Ballwin. Until May, I volunteered at the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU), helping restock medical supplies and transporting patients. I'm currently volunteering at the Department of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology Division, of the University of XXXX, reviewing patient medical records and charts to build an Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patient Database. I was born and raised in a developing country where the nurse's role is seen as radically inferior to that of the medical doctor. I have now been here in the US for a decade, and I have learned that nurses and doctors can partner together as equals in the delivery of quality patient care. I would like very much to help to foster that kind of understanding of partnership in my native Indonesia.
Thank you for your consideration of my application.