I have come to the conclusion that I want to be a healthcare malpractice lawyer because of my competitive nature growing up and my interest in criminal shows. I am a middle child and the stereotype is real, believe me. I’ve never been the favorite child (I know parents aren’t supposed to have favorites but they do and we all know it). I grew up being compared to my amazing, brilliant, athletic and kind older sister who definitely left her mark in the classroom and on her previous teachers hearts. From this comparison and trying to live up to my sister’s legacy I became very competitive. Meaning I had to be better than her, in the classroom and on the field. This was very hard to do, especially within the classroom. We both graduated top 10 in our class, took all of the same AP and dual enrollment classes in highschool and even had the same teachers since both of us were in the healthcare pathway.
But because I felt as though I needed to be better than my sister, I did all the same things she did and didn’t realize until my senior year of highschool that I did not want to be on the same career path as her. I loved the healthcare field because it’s like solving a puzzle and every new patient is a new puzzle board with new symptoms to come to a diagnosis. Me and Isabelle are also similar in that way. During class she elaborated on how learning the sciences have always come easy to her and were more interesting as they also were for me. Isabelle and I are also similar thinkers because we enjoy competition and solving problems.
Coming to the realization that I did not want to work in the medical field but still wanted to solve puzzles and get hard answers I focused on my other strengths to put towards a career. I dabbled with the idea of going into the military, becoming a detective or being a behavioral analyst. Then I took a look at my goals that come with the future as well. I wanted to help people, start a family, and be involved in my family and relationships. Now knowing this, the military and being a detective/cop were off the table because I did not want the risk of putting my life on the line and not being there for my family, that left a behavioral analyst. I had an unrealistic view of the occupation due to all the criminal shows I would watch growing up like “SVU” or “Criminal Minds” but the attorneys who used those cases in court had also amazed me in a way that you have to prove your answer was correct, so I decided to become a lawyer. However, I have and will continue to be fascinated with the medical world so I researched and thought “why not combine the two”?
Now I’m here at the University of Mary Washington pursuing the major of pre-law and political science with goals of going to law school. Then continuing to become a healthcare malpractice lawyer and this is all because I can’t let my sister be better than me, but also because it is a puzzle I can still solve and get answers through hard evidence rather than trying to be creative.