Wanting to Be a Nurse: College Admission Essay Sample

I can remember as a little kid that when someone would get hurt on the playground, everyone would get upset at the sight of blood. Unlike everyone else, I would be the first to offer to bring them to the nurse and sit with them as the nurse cleaned and bandaged their cut. As I got older, I would beg my mom to let me stay up and watch the television show, ER. I did not like it necessarily for the dramatized, Hollywood plots, but for the life of workers in the hospital and to be able to watch the emergencies unfold, even if it was not real. These things always led me to believe that I wanted to be in a health profession, but as a kid you change your mind a thousand times about what you want to be when you grow up. Now as I am becoming an adult and reaching a point at which I need to make decisions that will affect the rest of my life, I have realized that these were not just childish notions.

As I entered through the big sliding doors of the hospital for a gifted and talented trip, I was not only walking into a building, but I was entering my future. I felt like a kid in a candy store, as I stood in awe with butterflies of excitement in my stomach. Of course I had been in a hospital before, but this time was different, it was as if I was in a new environment for the first time. I walked through the halls and corridors, soaking up as much of it as I could, taking in every last detail. I specifically watched the nurses help patients and saw the appreciation of their help in the people's eyes. Sometimes they had no help or answers to give, but they would brighten their patients' day with something as simple as a smile. I found myself thinking, that's going to be me, I am going to be a nurse. People say that when something is right, you just know and now I believe it. Someone once said that "one's mind has a way of making itself up in the background, and it suddenly becomes clear what one means to do." It was just like that, I felt like I always really knew, and now it was just a matter of making it happen. There was no question in my mind for why I had made the decision. The many side trails in my life had led me to this moment and I chose what my path in life would be.

I have such a great desire to be able to make a difference in people's lives and to be able to help those who need it. I cannot wait for my first patient and to be able to look into their face and feel the gratification of my work. There are only few professions in which you can experience this. It could never happen sitting behind a desk. Walking from patient to patient, room to room, scrubs on, a stethoscope hanging from neck, a chart in hand, and an open heart; as a nurse, is one way I feel I can.