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The followings are questions for a post-baccalaureate program at The Ohio State University called DentPath

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The followings are questions for a post-baccalaureate program at The Ohio State University called DentPath. It’s a one year program and successful completion of the program grant me a seat at the their dental school.

I wrote some notes and points to help with answering these essay questions. I included an essay with question 3 that will give you some backgrounds about me and will assist with answering the question.

 

1.Does your undergraduate performance accurately reflect you as a student? If not, what factors have contributed to the disparity?

 

Started first semester at OSU and father’s health was rapidly declining. During my final exam for an African American studies class my father got sick, had to leave to go to hospital. I was taking care of my father in the states, while trying to balance school and financially supporting myself. I had limited time to study, and it was mostly overnight. The many responsibilities that I had to handle and the limited time available for me to study negatively affected my academic performance. As a result, I got poor grades (Cs) and my GPA suffered. Father insisted on traveling back home to see and be with family, and I couldn’t send him by himself. Left school and travel overseas to take care of my very sick father who need a primary caregiver to help do basic life tasks like eating. This resulted in a gap in my undergraduate. It also resulted in a gap in my extracurricular activities. Took some online classes to stay on track with my academic plans. When other family members like my brother and sisters took time off and started helping me, I saw improvement in my academic performance. My undergraduate performance does not accurately reflect me as a student as it was marked by many unusual challenges. Both financial, personal, and emotional challenges resulted in less time and mental clarity for me to focus on my undergraduate performance.

While my grades may have dropped during my period as a caregiver, I’m grateful for the time I got to spend with my father.

 

2.Please describe your nuclear family (parents/guardians and siblings) during the time you were growing up. What was your role in the family?

- I grew up in a large family of 7 sister and 1 brother

-Had strong connection with my siblings and parents

-growing up, my father used to travel each year for more than 6 months to work.

-I am child number 8 and so I learned so many things from my older siblings.

-I learned to share and to compromise.

- I learned also to be independent

-I always helped with chores in our home

-I took care of our land, helped with crops picking. I used to wake up in the morning with my mother and two or three of my other siblings to pick up different produce like figs, tomato, grapes and many more. Then I would take what we collected and sell it.

-I used to help my younger sister with her schoolwork and I would walk with her to her school.

-Growing up in a large family taught me so many valuable lessons. I taught me the importance of family. The value in learning everyday skills like cleaning from a young age.

-when my older brother left home and travel abroad, I felt the need to me more protectant of my mother and my sisters and tried to always be there for them.

 

 

 

 

3.The DentPath program is designed for students from disadvantaged backgrounds as defined by the NIH (https://extramural-diversity.nih.gov/diversity-matters/disadvantaged-backgrounds). A disadvantaged background is defined as one which has economic and/or educational factors which have limited a student's ability to perform at their maximum potential.

Please indicate any factors or events in your background which would meet this criterion.  

 

-              I was eligible and received the Federal Pell grants during my undergraduate.

-              Palestinian immigrant 

-              Financial struggles - when father was sick, very little income to the family as primary source of income was father. worked jobs in college to support the family as well.

 

The following is my answer to a different question (not included in this file) that could assist with writing an essay for Question 3.

 

[[Until coming to the United States, to attend college, I lived in an area of Palestine rife with conflict and war between the Israeli and the Palestinian people. This ongoing conflict resulted in instabilities, financial hardship, limited access to healthcare, and educational obstacles throughout my childhood and beyond.

Growing up in Palestine meant that you were not allowed to freely move between cities and sometimes, not even in your own city. The immense Israeli West Bank Wall, the numerous military barriers between cities, and the many occasions of forced curfew were all reasons why growing up, I was limited to few experiences that were available in my town. I was able to receive my high school degree in Palestine; despite that, I believe I was in a disadvantaged state compared to high school students graduating from the United States. Times where my school was indefinitely closed as it was serving as a hospital clinic for the wounded, and general lack of safety in my streets, frequently interrupted my education. Additionally, there were deficiencies in many educational resources, and I was only left to use limited online resources to fill in the gaps in my learning.

Limited access to quality healthcare was another hardship that I faced growing up. As a family, we experienced firsthand the lack of healthcare available in Palestine when my sister was in a car accident at seven years old. It was heartbreaking when the city hospital declared that they didn't have the resources to treat her. The only hospital that could treat her was in the Israeli part of the city and we weren't allowed to be admitted due to our Palestinian identity. Many years later, we had the same struggle with the limited healthcare access when my father's health deteriorated. He had been diagnosed with diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and other underlying health conditions that were not properly managed. One of his doctors urgently ordered a CT scan, but when we went to schedule, the nearest available appointment was about two months in advance. I grew up where a visit to the doctor is only for absolute necessities and there was no emphasis on preventative medicine. These experiences shaped my life and made me resilient and steady in the face of hardships, and gave me a passion for dedicating my career in dentistry to create equality in healthcare.

Additionally, throughout my upbringing, I witnessed violent confrontations, innocent human lives lost, and rides by the Israeli military to my town to arrest any suspected rebel. Possibly traumatic experiences for others, these are daily occurrences among Palestinians. We were forced to hone our perseverance and embrace this attribute as integral to our identity.

Moving to the United States at 18, I was able to notice the differences between myself and my college classmates, as they were fully assimilated to the culture and language, and thus able to fully focus on building their competencies and strength in their first year in undergraduate school. Although it was challenging, I worked part- time at a convenience store to interact with more American people and understand the culture. Despite these disadvantages, I have built my competencies and strength through taking on additional responsibilities and leadership roles.

Additionally, my second year of undergraduate was the year where my father

was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. At that time, it was necessary for us as a family to give my

father full care and attention. During that time, I rotated with my siblings in caring for him,

bringing him to his doctor's appointments, and providing support for my mother. That

commitment resulted in additional responsibilities and had a negative effect on my academic

performance. It was challenging to balance being a full-time caregiver and student initially, but

with resources from my university, such as office hours and tutoring, I learned effective

studying strategies and eventually was able to raise my GPA.

My path to dental school was confronted with many educational, economic, and social obstacles as a result of my upbringing. My challenging childhood taught me that I have the aptitude, strength, and drive to succeed in dental school and overcome any obstacle that I might face.]]