Angela Mateos '23 Recruiting Profile

My incentive in applying to an US University wasn’t set upon a life-changing experience nor was it a decision I had been clear with since I was young. But the unceirtanty mixed with the joy and courage that takes to enroll in a career like this one is what brought me back to it.

I have been constantly exposed to the medical community since a big part of my family is either a dentist or a doctor, and being surronded by it has taught me the team-work, quick thinking and work-ethic that doctors should live up to. This doesn’t scare me as much as it challenges me, which I believe makes me stand out amongst others. Within my high school experience, I have had the opportunity to study while being immersed in a rich intercultural environment, having studied in an International school. Throughout my life, I also have been very exposed to other languages such as english or german with a C2 and a B1 certificate respectively. Work-wise, my will to learn more from this field has led me to start helping in hospitals and going weekly to a charity center where low income patients that can’t afford dental care get treated for free, which has made me realise the many flaws the healthcare system has and the importance of getting everyone to have the same opportunities, especially in a field as essential as this one is, regardless of where they come from.

Being part of such a big family has taught me the importance of having communicative skills, as well as knowing how to adapt to unexpected circumnstances and handling teamwork like nothing else will. Apart from having a much enthusiastic personality, I also enjoy sport; I myself have been part of numerous sport teams but never seemed to like one enough to stay. That was until I landed on voleyball; the sense of a team that it gives you, the intensity and the high all remind me of why I want to study medicine in the first place. This sport has made me reach optimal performance under massive levels of pressure, which I feel is essential when enrolling in medicine; it has also taught me how to carry a well balanced lifestyle with trainings, games and other activities such as music all while still reaching the highest averages when it comes to grades. As much as I love sport, music is also one of my great achievements, having played piano since I was merely 6 years old. This not only has aided me through the understanding of commitment but also has improved significantly skills like coordination, memory and instinct, which are all essential skills in the medical field.

My unexplicable need to learn I believe comes from the travel-friendly environment I was raised into. From a very young age, I have been shown the beauty of my country and how to immerse myself in other cultures, how to see their past. I have had enough luck to have been given the means to know and learn from other cultures, to feed my bottomless curiosity.

The main reason why I want to study medicine is the feeling of making a difference so immediate in somebody’s life. I believe that in the future it will give me the power to not only cure people, but deepen my interest in investigation and research, giving me a window into new techniques and methods that could, in the long run, improve the quality of life of a wide range of people.

I find the idea of studying while playing the sport I love to be highly alluring; the requirement for ongoing education does not put me off but rather emphasizes to me how interesting the field is. Imperatively, I am confident in my character and commitment to succeed in such a fulfilling vocation.