Essay On Becoming An Epileptologist

One of the toughest decisions any person will ever make is the choice of whether to go to college or not. After that comes one of the toughest questions of one’s college experience: What will I major in? With so many different colleges and universities that offers so many different programs and majors, it can often be overwhelming. This would often be found to be true for most people… but not for someone like me. Ever since I was in the 8th grade, I had already decided what I wanted to do with my life, and now I've made it my lifelong academic goal to become a game changing, world-renowned epileptologist. Many who know the field well would probably be asking themselves why someone as young as me would decide to dedicate their life to a field as little known and often difficult as neurology and neuroscience. Well, if I’m being completely honest with you, I myself have a neurological problem, known to the medical community as epilepsy, which causes

me to have uncontrollable “grand mal” seizures, which cause me to lose consciousness. According to the Epilepsy Foundation , epilepsy is the 4th most common neurological problem, only beat out by migraines,strokes, and Alzheimer's Disease and that, currently, 1 in 26 people in the U.S have or will develop some degree of epilepsy in their lifetime. To put this into better perspective, the most accurate estimate of people with epilepsy in the United States is about 2.2 million, or 7.1 people for every thousand. So, really the main reason that I want to dedicate my life and time to the profession of being an epileptologist(which is the correct title for someone who specializes in the field of epilepsy) is to not only help those with epilepsy out by giving them treatment, but also to find a long-lasting treatment or permanent cure for this horrible disease that kills 50,000 Americans every year and causes 8-17% of all epilepsy deaths.

Required Science Classes
Now, the main difference between a neurologist and an epileptologist is what the 2 professions specialize in.

Neurologists specialize with certain parts of the body, like the Central Nervous System, which includes the brain and the spinal cord, and the Peripheral Nervous System, which includes all other sensory receptors and neural elements in the body. The main difference between neurologists and my career choice of being an epileptologist is that neurologists help treat those who suffer with epilepsy, like myself. Many people may ask things like, “Well what’s the difference between the two?” The truth is, all epileptologists are neurologists, but not all neurologists are epileptologists. Again, many people may ask what the difference may between the fields. The difference between these 2 professions is that epileptologists have undergone more education in the field of epilepsy than many other basic neurologists and are more suited to the treatment of those with epilepsy, which are usually their only types of

patients.
After much research, many sources say that most aspiring epileptologists don’t need to bother with receiving an undergraduate degree, like a Bachelor’s degree, in a particular area, many of the courses needed include mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry, which will prepare them for a medical field exclusive test known as the Medical College Admission Test, or the MCAT, of which there are 4 parts: Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems, Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems, Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior, and Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skill. Along with the math and science classes, the MCAT will be testing for things like writing and verbal skills, so several English and social science classes will also be needed for receiving one’s Medical Degree and Board Certification.
Several other medical field professions are required to take the MCAT exam, especially those who have decided to enter Allopathic, Osteopathic, and Podiatric Medical Schools. Also, the exact same courses are needed for becoming either a neurologist or an epileptologist: Biology, Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physics, Psychology, and Sociology.

Use of Current Scientific Knowledge in the Future
Now, a huge main issue that I’m sure everybody and their mother will probably ask about when someone like me decides to tell them I have decided to join this field as a fresh, new member, especially as a college freshman, is how I would use my current middle school and high school knowledge, along with knowledge I have recieved myself from resources like the Internet, television specials, and books in my future aspirations of becoming an expert in the field of epileptology. Well, to be honest, I really don’t know how I’ll be able to use my current scientific knowledge to help me getting into and becoming my dream. If anything, the classes that I’ve taken, am taking right now and those that I’ve been scheduled to take, like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and whatever I’m scheduled to take my senior year, if I’m scheduled to take anything, will help to prepare me for the required college level courses that not only go by the same names and most likely will teach the same curriculum, just are necessary for preparation for the Medical College Admission Test, which would help me get into my dream schools, which include Baylor University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the University of North Texas, which are just some of the schools in the nation that offer an exceptional neuroscience or neurology programs in the country and quite possibly the world, which would help me reach my dream profession as early and as easily as possible.

How the field of science has contributed to my future career?
The profession of being an epileptologist is, really, fairly recent. In fact, the term “epileptologist” was first coined by a man named William P. Spratling (13 October 1863-December 22 1963), an American neurologist who is believed to have first coined the term in 1904 in his famous published work, Epilepsy and its’ Treatment, which was the work that put him on the map and led him to being credited with “discovering” the field, which later led to him being credited as being the world’s first ever epileptologist. But really, Spratling can’t be credited with “ discovering” the field all by himself. The study of neurology actually stretches far back, all the way to prehistoric times and ancient Egyptian times, even though the actual studying of the field until about the 16th century, during the Renaissance. Also, the first ever neurosurgery, which is actually an extremely important branch of the field of neurology as a whole, was performed in 1878, when William McEwen removed a meningioma, which led to other like Victor Horsley and Harvey Cushing performing similar procedures, which eventually led to a man named Antonio Egas Moniz, (29 November 1874- 13 December 1955) a Portuguese neurologist and the credited with the development of cerebral angiography, performing the world’s first ever lobotomy (originally known as leucotomy) in Portugal. However many argue, especially during that time period, that the lobotomy operation and its’ development was based on the accounts of a man named Phineas Gage, who, according to several records, was a railroad worker who somehow got an iron bar stuck through his left frontal lobe while working in 1848. But, similar to the Apollo 11 moon landing and those who believe that it never happened, the vast evidence supporting the credibility of the operation severely discredits the accounts of those who cry that the entire procedure was false, but I digress. Moving on, the field of neuroscience took a little longer to be “officially” recognized. In fact, it wasn't until the 20th century that the field of neuroscience came to be recognized as its own independent field of study, rather than another branch of medicine that would only be forced to study the human nervous system being based off of several different variables. Even today, modern research still runs on the anatomical definitions of the study of cell structures, better known to the medical and scientific communities as the Korbinian Brodmann’s cytoarchitectonic definitions of the era of such neurological and neuroscientific greats like Carl Wernicke and John Hughlings Jackson, who offered their own takes of the theory a few year earlier.
All in all, the field of epileptology and its various, widespread members are all experts in the fields of neurology and neuroscience and are amazing in treating those with epilepsy, such as myself. It's an energizing field with several different people making breakthroughs in lives and medicine every single day. This is the field of science and medicine that I have decided to dedicate my life to. Hopefully, this paper fulfills your requirements. Thank you.