OUTLINE

Adam James

Tuesday

October 27, 2013

Purpose: To inform my audience on how my childhood attraction to magic in combination with my past have shaped my overall goal in life to become a doctor.

Theme: Doctor by Name, Wizard by Practice.

Introduction

1. Being conflicted sucks. People tend to be the most indecisive regarding their futures during their college years. My quote-unquote “college crisis” isn’t happening now. It happened when I was eleven.

2. Anecdote about my childhood obsession with magic: I wanted to grow up to be a wizard, but, as I go older, reality settled it. It was only when I discovered that my calling was to become a doctor that I began to see magic again.

3. My uncle is a doctor, and has helped prepare me for my chosen dream job—both through job shadowing and the giving of advice.

4. A doctor and wizard both have powers. As a doctor, I would have the power to make a difference. The power to learn. And, most importantly, the power to bring hope. I would be a doctor by name, but a wizard by practice.

Body

I. I am severely addicted to learning and sharing new ideas, making a career in medicine a prime match for me.

A. As a doctor, I would be required to partake in Continuing Medical Education.

1.) Based on the current standards set by the American College of Physicians, doctors residing in Tennessee are required to receive 40 hours of Continuing Medical Education credit every two years.

2.) That sounds like a lot of work, but hey, it’s what I like.

B. Having good communication skills is a necessity to succeed in my job.

1.) A doctor must be able to convey his ideas to patients or colleagues with clarity and a sense of purpose.

2.) Doctors must be comfortable consulting with strangers on a daily basis, making training in good public speaking an irreplaceable asset.

Transition: But learning and good communcation are only parts of the overall magic I see as a doctor—the parts dealing with me. The power to change other people’s lives, now, that’s where the real magic starts.

II. If I am not making a positive difference in someone else’s life, then I feel purposeless.

A. A doctor’s job is to improve the lives of others.

1.) There is a special magic about being able to change someone’s life (no matter how big or small the change is).

2.) I can’t think of a more fitting career than becoming a doctor.

B. The top results for my skills assessment were helping others and social perceptiveness—traits that match up with a career as a doctor in every way.

1.) According the the Princeton Review, medical schools want students “who listen to their patients and use their acquired talents to heal them.”

2.) Test scores can only get me so far.

Transition: But for me, the best part about being a doctor goes even deeper than making a difference. What I see as the real power of doctors, the real magic , is that they bring hope.

III. I’ve known for a while that I’ve wanted to be a doctor, but it wasn’t until composing this speech that I figured out why.

A. When I was around fourteen, my grandmother was diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer.

1.) According to The American Cancer Association’s website, women with Stage II breast cancer have a 93% survival rate.

2.) I had already lost three grandparents to cancer, so numbers meant nothing to me.

3.) She got weaker, and it was only her resolve to get better that made me feel okay.

B. By the grace of God, she recovered completely.

1.) This sparked the crucial connection within me between medicine and the magic of hope .

2.) I want to inspire that same hope in others.

Conclusion

1.) So even though being a doctor isn’t necessarily the same thing as being a wizard, I would be the first to argue that there is a special kind of magic to be found in my dream job. A job where I’m constantly learning, changing people’s lives, and bringing a little hope to the world sounds like a pretty fantastic way to be a doctor by name, but a wizard by practice.

2.) And who knows, maybe if I do a good enough job, Hogwarts may just decide to send me that letter.

Works Cited

“Beyond the Numbers: Making Your Medical School Application Stand Out.” The Princeton Review. Web. 12 Sep 2013. <http://www.princetonreview.com/medical/beyond-the-numbers.asp&xgt;.

“Breast Cancer Survival Rates by Stage.” The American Cancer Society. Web. 12 Sep 2013. <http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/BreastCancer/DetailedGuide/breast-cancer- survival-by-stage>.

“Continuing Medical Education for Licensure Reregistration.” Web. 12 Sep 2013. <http://www.acponline.org/education_recertification/cme/state_requirements/201 2ama_requirements.pdf>.