Applying for a Scholarship, Application Essay Example

I have  always been interested in nursing and helping people from a very early age.  It is a vocation that I felt naturally drawn towards.  I am now 25 years of age and resident in the USA having originated from Cuba.  I graduated from high school in 2003, and  studied medicine for three years before coming to the United States.  I completed my prerequisites in one year, and then entered into the medical program.  This was considered my first necessary step in order to get me onto the nursing career platform.  I’ve always had a very good relationship with children and this peaked  my interest in terms of child care in the nursing profession.  One of my main educational goals is to enter into a bachelors degree program,  having completed my existing courses.

I believe my early goals should be obtaining a  solid foundation in nursing theory and practice.  Once this has been accomplished I would like to specialize.  I am particularly interested in doing a masters degree in the subject of anaesthesia.  One of my main ambitions would be to get into a critical area such as ICQ;  one of the prerequisites for achieving that goal is the attainment of a Master’s degree program in anaesthesia.

It is very important for me to complete my existing courses and obtain my registered nurse.  [RN] status.  In addition to completing the theoretical aspect of my training.  I recognized the importance of obtaining practical experience in nursing.  There is no real substitute for obtaining practical  experience either in a clinical medical setting or  that of a hospital.  It is my firm intention to try and blend the degree of practical and theoretical training in becoming a nurse.  The concept of putting the theory into practice and developing my own personal style of nursing and caring for people.

When I first arrived in  the United States.  It was rather difficult for me as I had only a limited acquisition of  English language.  I had to gain rapid immersion into the use of the language. This meant four months of intense English language studying before entering college.  Since that time  I have been working as a full-time student and I’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices.  In both my personal and business life.  Despite these sacrifices  I am very happy in what I have  achieved so far and feel very confident in the progression of my studies and ultimately qualifying  as a registered nurse.

The advantage of becoming a nurse are  numerous, for example:

• there are large amount of job opportunities in both the USA and abroad;
• the ability to travel and work on a worldwide basis;
• a great deal of job satisfaction in helping people and children;
• over 100,000 nursing vacancies in the USA at the moment. It is projected that over the next 20 years this will increase to 800,000;
• nursing anaesthetists can earn over $130,000 a year;
• nursing now attracts good job benefits and many firms provide signing on bonuses;
• most medical institutes operate family-friendly work schedules;
• the ability to specialize interesting subject areas;
• most travel jobs can attract up to 15% increase in pay;
• in United States it is recognized that our nurses need to pass the NCLEX-RN licensing examination and an additional take the following degrees:
  • bachelor of nursing undergraduate degree;
  • associate degree in nursing: 2 to 3 years, a program offering practical training in a Hospital medical setting;
  • license practical nurse. [LPN];
  • Accelerated programs are also available for those with bachelors and Masters degrees.

It is also recognized that there are certain disadvantages in the nursing profession.  In particular, working long hours, and the problem of burnout.  This has placed nurses under an intolerable amount of stress and being an RN can be both physically and mentally demanding.  The profession is certainly not for the faint hearted and will involve a great deal of personal commitment and self-sacrifice.  There can also be very difficult times; e.g. When nurses gain, and attachment to patients and are forced to watch them die.  The concept of extended care with terminally ill patients, nurses and hospices particularly have to face this reality.  Despite the advantages and attractions to the profession or nursing candidates need to be self-aware of their commitment to the profession they are entering.

When new to the profession you will personally face more illness than any other time. This is true for anyone that’s new to working in hospital or doctor’s office. It is the continued and frequent  direct personal contact with people who are sick; as such your immune system  is faced with  an onslaught of germs it never had to fight all at once. It is  best to expect that the first few years of working as a registered nurse will mean more cases of things like stomach viruses, the flu, and common colds, not to mention the other communicable diseases that are common to medical facilities.  After the first year the body tends to build up more of a resistance to these things.  It also means that new nurses are likely to need more than their fair share of inoculations in early training.  This particularly relative to influenza shots etc.

I believe that if I am offered a scholarship this will play a major contribution in helping me to finance the next step of my study program.  It will also demonstrate confidence in my abilities to complete the program and provide added motivation towards my studies.  I thoroughly recognise the commitment and discipline that is required in order to complete the program and I am extremely committed in my ambitions and aspirations to become a State Registered Nurse.  As previously mentioned I have a longer term ambition to continue with post-graduate studies and complete a Masters Degree program in Nursing Anaesthesia.  In order to achieve that objective I first need to gain a solid grounding in both the theoretical and practical aspects of  nursing.

I am also keen to build upon my ethnicity and the fact that I can speak Spanish and English will help with my travel and international aspirations in the nursing profession. This will be of particular value in communicating with the Latino patients in our society. It improves my cultural and language capacities as a nurse and is a value added contribution to my nursing skills.

I recognise that I am at the beginning of a long voyage and that there are many challenges that lie ahead. Nevertheless I am confident about the future and I will work extremely hard with my studies in order to realise my vocation and ambitions of qualifying as a nurse and specialising in my desired field of study.  I look forward to the journey ahead.