I am a strong candidate for the BSN Program at XXXX Community College because I am mature, hard-working, and have perfect grades thus far after two years of study at XXXX. I have a solid potential to serve as an advocate for my patients and contribute to your program's diversity. Advocating for a patient is my idea of heroism and nobility, representing the most fulfilling thing I can imagine doing as a professional.
The BSN Program at XXXX Community College is my first choice for nursing school because I have spent two years already on the XXXX Campus, and I love everyone with and under whom I study. The convenient location would enable me to excel in your program, fully dedicating myself to my studies.
Born and raised in the USA, my parents are from Cambodia, and I speak Khmer quite well. While I adore all my patients, the humble origins of my own family help me to relate exceptionally well to members of minority groups, immigrants, and people of color. I’ve traveled to several other countries, including Canada, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and France, and this has also helped cultivate and refine my profound appreciation for diversity. I will forever be thankful for this opportunity to immerse myself in diverse cultures, customs, and lifestyles.
I most appreciate how the nurse is well poised to advocate and care for the patient because they have more time to get to know and thus better understand each patient’s complex needs related to their unique background, history, and environment. I look forward to helping patients focus on their purpose in life, helping to inspire and empower them toward the total recovery possible. My short-term goal is to earn my bachelor's degree and then complete my master's degree, followed by the DNP. My particular interest is in Psychiatric Nursing since I feel drawn to this area and read a great deal in my free time about Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing Practice.
To be there for those who seek help to overcome an illness is everything to me, helping to guide and uplift them toward achieving a better state of health. I know that listening to patients is as important as educating them. I live to provide care, helping to heal physical and frequently invisible wounds and assist families to live through what is often the most difficult of times. I like to think of myself as aspiring to serve on the front lines of our healthcare system, treating the whole person rather than just the illness, actively listening, and carefully observing to get the best sense of what the patient is experiencing. My greatest strength is emotional intelligence, a special gift in nursing.
My parents were refugee immigrants who fled the genocide in Cambodia orchestrated by the communist Khmer Rouge. Being a first-generation child of traumatized immigrants who spoke little English, I was placed under enormous pressure against which I rebelled early on, dropped out of school at 15, and ran away from home. While traumatic at first, freedom was empowering, and as I now look back on it, I see my radical actions as having made me stronger eventually.
My only direct healthcare experience is as a volunteer, serving alongside Nurses and Point of Care Coordinators for patients on the hospital floor. Now, I look forward to lifelong education in Nursing. In the Spring of 2016, I transferred to XXXX Community College and redoubled my efforts to always put my schoolwork as my top priority. My hard work has paid off, and I am proud to say that I maintained a 4.0 GPA through my first two full years at XXXX, which is currently 3.90. I am focused and determined to become an RN and proud of how far I’ve grown personally and professionally. I could not be more excited about XXXX’s recent announcement that they have partnered with XXXX College in the launch of a program for RNs holding associate degrees to be able to obtain their BSN from XXXX College while attending classes at XXXX's XXXX campus. I love the atmosphere, staff, and advisers on the XXXX campus. Every professor I've met has left an impression on me. Every class and student I come across has validated that I made the right decision to apply to this school. XXXX has shown me that I can still pursue my dreams as an adult student without having to take student loans and bury myself in debt.
Nursing requires sacrifice, selflessness, and long hours, and I was already off to a good start supporting myself from age 15, always working full time yet excelling in school. I learned to become very resourceful, patient, and strong-willed - never to give up. From my beginnings in retail sales, I eventually moved to a Biomedical company at 18. It was an entry-level position, but through a lot of arduous work, an excellent work ethic, attention to detail, and the ability to problem-solve, I was promoted several times within the company. I’ve worked with many different personalities in the workforce, which has helped me become a multitasking team player. After volunteering to serve alongside nurses and in hospitals for several years, I could not be more convinced that I want to become a nurse. Their caring nature, selfless acts, and intrinsic need to help others draw me like a moth to the flame.
Especially interested in the field of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, there is a generalized fear in the Asian-American community that getting mental health treatment means you’re “crazy.” Unless you are a child of immigrants, it is difficult to understand the entrenched nature of this unfortunate narrative. Worse still, it is a vicious cycle with mental health issues provoking shame and fear among one’s family rather than the calm support that is called for, worsening the condition or problem. Seeking help from those outside the immediate family also conflicts with Asian cultural values of interdependence. I want to think that I have something important to contribute to the cause of overcoming that stereotype.
I thank you for considering my application to the BSN Program at XXXX.