Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences.

The day I turned 18, I left my home to join the United States Army. I still can't point to a singular reason for the decision. Instead, there was a multitude: the need to prove myself, to escape the expectations of school and my parents, to discover myself through the perceived glory of war.

I entered the military as a medic, hoping to travel with the infantry on the front lines of Afghanistan. But no good plan survives contact with the enemy, and I instead I found myself in a San Antonio hospital. For the next three years I worked with doctors, physician assistants, nurses, and medics in various stages and types of patient care. Though I never went to war, I did discover a passion for medicine that would have been otherwise unknown, and reshaped the course of my life.