Admission Essay for Nursing Program at University of St. Thomas

This essay is a nursing admission essay written by a student applying to the University of St. Thomas's nursing program. The essay details the student's lifelong aspiration to become a nurse, driven by a desire to help others and provide compassionate care. It highlights the student's experiences, including an internship where they gained practical knowledge and witnessed the dedication of senior nurses. The essay emphasizes the student's qualities such as communication skills, responsibility, and empathy, and how these qualities will contribute to their success in nursing. It also addresses a challenging period in their academic life, explaining the circumstances that led to a lower GPA and demonstrating their resilience and commitment to overcoming obstacles. The student expresses their determination to succeed in the program and their readiness to contribute to the field of nursing.

Running head: ADMISSION ESSAY
Admission Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ADMISSION ESSAY
From the very early age of my life I decided to be a nurse, since the thought of
helping others gave me a feeling of satisfaction and pleasure. So, growing up, I could never
imagine myself doing anything but becoming a nurse. I always believed that the act of giving
is one of the greatest gifts, so I wanted to lend my support and assistance for the people who
are in need of it, stand beside them and help them in overcoming their problems. Though my
parents wanted me to be a doctor, but I wanted to take care for the patients in-person, interact
and communicate with them, observe their feelings and emotions closely. During my summer
internship in a local hospital, I used to work as a nurse assistant where I gained a considerable
amount of knowledge about operating of the instruments and equipments, administration of
various diagnostic tests. There I watched how the senior nurses took care for the patients with
empathy and compassion, giving priority to their needs, creating a therapeutic relationship
with the patients. Their dedication, hard work and care motivated me to take nursing as a
career.
Regarding my qualities, I possess good communication and interpersonal skills which
will help me in interacting and engaging with the patients(Grant & Goodman, 2018), I am
very responsible about my duties since I believe nursing is the most responsible profession as
it involves the life of a patient, I am flexible and can adapt myself to any given situation well.
I can work under pressure because it brings out the best in me. I am very organized with my
work and also I love to work in teams. I possess leadership abilities and decision making
skills which will help me in assessing the condition of the patients and decide the best
treatment approach suitable for their recovery.
Nowadays, empathy is considered as an essential part of healthcare, it is a necessary
ingredient to provide efficient healthcare service to the patients and ensuring patient
satisfaction and well-being. A good communication and setting up a therapeutic relationship
among the nurse and patient facilates clarilty of thoughts between the two(Bas-Sarmiento,

2ADMISSION ESSAY
2019). It also helps the nurse to understand the patient condition better. I always carried a
feeling of empathy in my heart, as I said earlier that I loved helping people and seeing them
in pain and misery broke my heart. One of my cousin was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at
the age of 6, he had only his mother to take care of him, as his father passed away when he
was 3 months old in a car accident. When I heard about him, i visited his house. Watching
such a young bright boy lying helplessly was really heartbreaking. I sat beside him, held his
hands and said “Don’t worry dear, you will be fine, we are all with you, we will fight it out
together”, he then smiled listening to my words(Varda & Talmi, 2018). I also assured his
mother that getting a proper treatment can help him come back to normal life, so there is no
reason to be so shattered. I think this feeling of empathy will help me in my nursing career,
because it facilitates a better communication and understanding with the patients, helps the
nurses to analyse a situation better. Empathy also ensures patient satisfaction and
happiness(Finn, 2018).
A support system is important for anyone to succeed in life. Having a support system
has many advantages, such as it ensures a higher level of well-being, better ability to deal
with stress. It can also help in reducing depression or anxiety(Adkins, 2019). I consider my
parents as well as my grandfather as my personal support system. They have always been
there with me whenever I felt low in life and gave me emotional support, they are the ones
who truly care for me, and I can trust them blindly. Moreover, my grandfather was a doctor
himself, I think his personal experiences(Oates, Drey & 2017) and valuable advice will guide
me throughout the course and will help me in completing my nursing degree at University of
St Thomas successfully.

3ADMISSION ESSAY
I am writing this to explain the reason of my low grades in both A and P1 and 2 lab
and theory examination. My GPA is 3.0 out of 4.0. I had to repeat psychology exam since I
scored very low in the previous one, so I had to reappear for the same to recover my grade
from C to A. I admit that I had a very difficult time dealing with this, since I was very upset
and disheartened to see my grades suffer. I do not want to make any excuses for my poor
academic performance, however, I would like to explain the circumstances which caused this.
In the middle of my exams last year, my father became very ill. He was completely bed
ridden, home sick and was unable to go to work. So, I had to do a part time job at that time to
overcome the financial problems. While doing the job, I hardly got any time for study. I even
left going to school and completely cut off my communication with my professors and
friends.
I understand now that I should have communicated with my professors regarding the
issue instead of avoiding them, then such mishap would not have happened. However, I have
learnt from my mistake and I am determined this time that I will not repeat such things again
in my life. I will focus much better on my career and education and manage my time wisely.
Fortunately, my father has also recovered and returned to work, so there is no additional
burden on me now.
Please understand that my low GPA does not indicate that I am a bad student, it was
just a bad phase in my life which I have overcomed. Now, I am determined and focussed on
my goals. I hope the University of St Thomas will provide me the pratform and give me an
opportunity to showcase my skills and pursue my career in nursing.

4ADMISSION ESSAY
REFERENCE
Adkins, E. (2019). Educating the Outsiders: The Importance of Social Support in the Success
of Latino Undocumented Students.
Bas-Sarmiento, P., Fernández-Gutiérrez, M., Díaz-Rodríguez, M., Carnicer-Fuentes, C.,
Castro-Yuste, C., García-Cabanillas, M. J., ... & Rodríguez-Cornejo, M. J. (2019).
Teaching empathy to nursing students: A randomised controlled trial. Nurse
education today, 80, 40-51.
Finn, G. (2018). The Role of Empathy in Nursing Assistant Retention.
Grant, A., & Goodman, B. (2018). Communication and Interpersonal Skills in Nursing.
Learning Matters.
Oates, J., Drey, N., & Jones, J. (2017). ‘Your experiences were your tools’. How personal
experience of mental health problems informs mental health nursing practice. Journal
of psychiatric and mental health nursing, 24(7), 471-479.
Varda, D. M., & Talmi, A. (2018). Social connectedness in family social support networks:
Strengthening systems of care for children with special health care
needs. eGEMs, 6(1).