I am a Libyan girl who always has a smile on her face. For me, the smile is the sweetest of all symbols of life and joy, and this is why I have dedicated my life to dentistry. While I grew up in Libya, I was born in Germany, and I have always loved traveling and meeting new people, getting to know new cultures, and learning new languages. Still, I remain most dedicated to the cause of serving my people, and I ask to be admitted to your most excellent dental program primarily so that I will have the opportunity to return to Libya, much more qualified to help our dental profession make progress in meeting the oral health needs of our people.
Most of all, I want to be a teacher when I return to Libya after completing my studies here in America. I want to train other dentists in the current, cutting-edge, state-of-the-art methods and techniques that I will learn in your program. Our dental programs in Libya are in desperate need of teachers with greater levels of expertise and knowledge, and I also hope to struggle for the rest of my life to help Libya to acquire the materials that are needed for our oral health programs. Our dental education programs are so limited that, for example, our dental students are not even able to observe an implant procedure up until the time that they are already graduating. I desperately want to help change this.
I graduated from my dental college in Libya in 2003. By 2004, I had completed my one-year internship working in an oncology center. But I loved my work so much that I stayed on an additional three years. In fact, I could only leave them because I knew that my best way to continue to help them would be to receive further education in the West so that I could be of much more excellent service upon my return. I was very privileged to have the opportunity throughout this internship to assist a famous maxillofacial surgeon that worked as a volunteer at our center two days a week. He has been my most important role model up until now; his love for our people, driving his car long distances every week to help people who couldn`t afford to pay for significant operations like parotid gland tumors and other cancer-related surgeries on the head and neck areas. I seek to follow his noble example, and I am here in the USA to acquire the training that I will need to do so. I, too, want very much to work as a volunteer, helping those poor people who depend on the generosity of those who are willing to give themselves to the cause.
In fact, after achieving my DDS Degree, in addition to finding a teaching position, I hope to return to the very same oncology center where I did my internship because they have a dental clinic there, and they need so much help with both surgery and management. I was thrilled throughout my training, and I learned what great joy could be found in the service of those who most need our assistance. I saw such enormous suffering and such complex and tragic cases that I became utterly consumed by my privilege of service. Even living here in America these days, my thoughts often gravitate back to those particular clients who came into our clinic suffering from advanced stages of cancer. And to see them walk out happy and cheerful as a result of successful surgery, has been by far the tremendous joy of my life.
I will forever be indebted to my brother, who lost all of his teeth due to disease and has worn dentures since he was 14. His pain and his struggle have served me as a significant inspiration, and I continue to look to him for guidance and love. I am the only person that he will allow to peer into his mouth and to care for his oral health. And even though his condition has always made me sad, I have never let him see my tears, how my heart has ached for him. For my brother, I learned the incredible power of hope and how to smile from the heart in the face of great pain and suffering.
I ask for you to admit me to your program on behalf of so many humble people who suffer in Libya from dreadful conditions that prohibit them from ever smiling again. With your help, I can bring a smile to the face of so many, hundreds if not thousands of people who, without our help, will never know that joy. I am serious and conscientious, very dedicated to my work, and I especially look forward to learning everything that I can about implant procedures. Implants are the center of my world. I thank you so much for considering my application to your program.
