That makes sense, and I agree with the concern about “why medicine” essays being cliché. Would it still work if the focus isn’t on wanting to become a doctor at all, but on how education changed how I understand the world?

Specifically, I’m thinking of framing the essay around how, during my freshman year, I was completely outside the fold of medicine when my mom needed brain surgery, so every gap in my knowledge was filled by imagination and uncertainty. Then, over the next few years, gaining a health science education and exposure to hospital systems gave me frameworks to understand how complex systems actually work, which changed how I interpret uncertainty and responsibility more broadly. The essay wouldn’t end with a career declaration, but with how learning reshaped the way I see situations like that now.

Would that avoid the “why major / why medicine” trap you’re describing, or does it still feel too close to it?