Moving from Canada to India was a turning point in my life. During such time frame I faced considerable challenges due to an academic disappointment that I faced. This encompassed failing the ninth grade. However, through perseverance and self motivation skills I managed to overcome such challenge. Indeed after two years of consistent dedication, hard work and self study I successfully completed the tenth grade achieving a first class level in the exams. My life, however, is not solely focused on academics. I am an active player in community services.
A particular community service instance that I was engaged in was the “Friends without Borders” peace campaign. This campaign entails the creation of an eighty-six thousand square foot letter on which the children of India wrote loving messages to the youth of Pakistan. Such letter is aimed to mitigate and terminate the vicious cycle of wars that exist between these two sister countries. The aforesaid experience left a very positive effect on me in light that I had the opportunity to work with an amazing motivated group of people.
Despite the meticulous planning and hard work that we had to do, the ending result of the letter was extremely fruitful. Such experience showed me the value of teamwork, which is a fundamental element. It taught me the importance of good communication, goal congruence and shared beliefs, which are central for the effectiveness of a project. These factors are also vital for the doctorate academic program that I wish to commence, in view that a good research should contain a mix of academic know-how and good teamwork with the persons engaged in. Q2. Non-Academic Experience
I grew up in a house, which backs onto a water body called the Bay of Quinte. Swimming was also one of my aspirations even at a young age. Indeed I was frequently involved in swimming competitions and sailing excursions. This led me to commence working as a lifeguard. Such job necessitates self-discipline in monitoring the swimmers meticulously. Negligence in such work is unacceptable, because it may risk the life of a person. In view of the aforementioned responsibility, a lifeguard ought to have strong leadership skills and confidence in themselves to be able to effectively handle emergency situations.
A sharp mind is also important to quickly remember the necessary first aid treatment for injured individuals. Apart from that a lifeguard should consistently be friendly and polite to patrons. He/she should also be physically fit to hastily rescue any individuals pertinent to hazard. I perceive my past life-guarding job as highly entwined with my ambition to work as a professional doctor in the future. I believe that the good qualities I hold promulgated with the academic knowledge attained in such profession are highly valuable to me and the society at large.
Q3. Inappropriate Question In our modern society, which is all too often shrouded in a cloud of confusion, many people attempt to wear masks of deceit. This leads to the fundamental question of whether lying is necessary or not in today’s society. At first glance lying is frequently regarded as an act of deception that degenerates important values in society. For instance, in the beginning of this century the collapse of Enron Corporation hit the headlines of all the major media across the globe.
Emphasis was considerably placed in such bankruptcy on the fact that executive management “cooked the books”. Such manipulation and lying led to thousands of people losing their jobs and their investments in the corporation. Despite legal action was taken against such individuals considerable number of people suffered psychological hardships due to their actions. The main treachery of executive management was that they got rich by providing false financial figures to stakeholders and employees.
Such inflated profits led the share price of the company to increase drastically. Once the share price reached very high figures, executive management, which had considerable investment in such equity medium, sold the shares to employees and other potential shareholders. The new investors envisaged capital appreciation in such investment, but sadly the company collapsed, because its financial health was not as good as it was imaged in the capital market. However on the other hand, in some situations lying is valuable to society.
For example, during the Nazis Reign in the Second World War, it would be considerably ethical to say “no” if SS Officials asked you if any Jewish people live in your neighbourhood, despite they actually do. This is due to the fact that such people were killed and even tortured during such period. In light of the aforesaid factors, there is a dilemma in stating if lying is good for the society or not. Therefore I would prefer that such question is not put forward, because there is no straight answer as already outlined. In fact I would contend, if it is the case, that a contingency approach should be adopted.
The contingency model states that there is no optimal answer in generic terms. All answers are subject to the situation at hand. Q4. Question not to be asked in a Particular Situation Theme : Sci Fiction / ethics / cloning exact replica of a famous Bollywood / Hollywood actress Characters : Dr Neha Patel – Professor Genetics / Dr iGeorge (Dean Medical Sciences) Mr Sparkles – Dean – BHSc – all three winners of Nobel Prize for Genetics Huddled in the room (room 102 – the Deans room in BHSc building) the 3 Nobel Laureates used all their learnings in the Inquiry courses in the early Class of 2008/9.
They reached a unanimous decision. And then Anjali Jolie the prominent Bollywood actress, alighted from her private hovercraft which she landed in front of the Mac Medical building. Clutching a cheque in a leather envelope she popped the one question that I did not want be asked, because it infringed an important ethical belief that I believe in (which I had pondered in Mac Bhsc Ethics 101): “Dr Patel, I am willing to give you 50 million dollars if you can clone my baby to be an exact replica of me”.