Wesley Shaw

Professor Byrd
HONORS 1700
August 31, 2015
Dear Mrs. Byrd,

Inside the classroom setting I view myself as a somewhat different person than I view
myself outside of the classroom, or at least a different person when I am not doing school work.
There are some similarities between the two but also a lot of differences. For example when I
am in the classroom, lets say a chemistry class, life becomes so serious. Its almost as though I
feel like if I dont pay attention theres someone that could end up suffering because of it. My
aspirations are to become an oral surgeon so if theres a concept that I dont understand I feel like
this could potentially harm someone because this is the information I am using to be able to
prescribe medicine or do a surgery, which I think actually feeds my level of motivation. Just as
Karl Paulnack thought of himself as helping people with music by becoming masterful at the
craft, I think of myself as being meant to help others through medicine which gives me my
motivation just as music does for Karl. Outside of the classroom and outside of my studies I am
typically looked upon as a different individual. Most people think of me as funny, easy-going,
and pretty easy to get along with as long as we have similar senses of humor. I think this is the
case because while I am studying I am very serious and very focused and when someone messes
up my train of thought I tend to become a little mean, so when I am doing something in my free
time I tend to be nice and develop strong relationships with those that support my goals and
understand my motivation.
These visions compare because they both are shaping who I am. Inside the classroom I
am very motivated and hard-working but outside the classroom I dont lose touch with reality.
We all have met those people that are so incredibly smart they feel superior to others and end up
being rude. This is why I try to stay pretty organized and scheduled because it allows me to
focus and be serious for a vast majority of the time but also allows me to develop relationships
with others and not lose touch with reality because helping people is my ultimate goal. These
two views of myself do end up contrasting on occasion though. For example if I am in the
library studying and a freshmen approaches me and asks me to help them print because theyve
never done it before, I very well could just tell them I dont know how and unfortunately I do
admit I have done that. So as these two views do conflict I try to keep in mind that my absolute
final goal is to have a career that saves lives and helps people so it is somewhat counterintuitive
to be a jerk with the opportunity presents itself in a fashion other than health-wise.
My goals for this semester from an academic standpoint are pretty straight forward. I
want to finish the semester with at least a 3.8 in my courses that effect my science GPA which
are Statistics, Chemistry, Chemistry Lab, and Biology, get at least a 3.2 in my honors courses
which are honors colloquium and Intercultural and Global Connections, and get at least a B in
my micro-economics class. These are the academic numbers that I am aiming to achieve which
will put me in a good position to finish up my pre-requisites for Dental/Medical school. Another
type of goal I have is a physical goal. From a health standard, my physical goals are to stay in
shape, stay healthy, and not do anything that is detrimental to my overall well-being. Sometimes
its hard to make yourself put down a book you have been reading for two hours and go get
something to eat or take an hour out of your busy schedule to go work-out but I do try to

Wesley Shaw
Professor Byrd
HONORS 1700
August 31, 2015
accomplish these goals. Another physical goal I have is to try and reduce the amount of pressure
that I put on myself. I was lucky enough to be born into a family that is very supportive and
understanding so most of the pressure I have academically comes from myself. Physically
anxiety can really take its toll on you and I think thats a big reason why a lot of serious pre-med
and pre-dental students end up switching majors. One of the ways I can manage to obtain my
physical goals of reducing anxiety is actually listening to music while I do an assignment. In this
aspect I do believe Mr. Paulnack is right, I do believe that music is a vital part of our everyday
lives and sometimes it actually can help us mentally, which in my case, translate into helping us
physically. The last kind of goal that I have is spiritual. In my own words I believe a spiritual
goal is an overall reasoning for why you want to do what youre aspiring to do. I am a decently
religious person so becoming closer to God is always a goal of mine. I also believe that by doing
well and getting in a field that can help people will also allow me to get closer to God which in
essence is a spiritual goal.
My goal for my entire college experience in these three areas does change a little bit but
not a lot. By the time I finish my junior year my goal is to have a cumulative GPA of 3.7, a
science GPA of 3.5, and a GPA in my physics, biology, and chemistry courses of at least a 3.4.
All of these statistics will help me gain admissions into dental or medical school which is my
ultimate academic goal. My ultimate physical goal is to pretty much stay healthy in terms of
physical health. To do this Im going to attempt to work out at least three times a week, spend at
least one day a week not doing anything academically related to keep my mental health, and try
and eat right as that is also very important. What my spiritual goals throughout my college
career is actually a pretty difficult question. I mentioned before that I want to get closer to god
but I also think throughout college I want to learn more about myself and who I am. After one
year of college I have already been challenged with some of my beliefs so after my academic
career I would like to have a better gauge on who I am as a person.
I think that the biggest challenges that Ill face in these goals is really just being selfdetrimental. My negative tendency is to become so focused on one aspect, usually academics,
that I forget about everything else that is important in life like physical health, social health, and
spiritual health. The only thing that can really hold me back from accomplishing my goals is
myself.
UHP fits my goals because it lines me up with people that are just as motivated as I am
but at the same time it allows me opportunities to get involved with extracurricular activities that
are benefitting the committee. UHP also fits my goals because of the early registration.
Everyone jokes that you shouldnt join just because of early registration, and they are right, but
with that being said it does give students a huge advantage as they dont end up with professors
who can barely speak English. This is one key advantage that allows me to progress towards my
overall goal after college of being an oral surgeon.
So far the biggest conflict I have faced with my goals is just deciding what I was
passionate about at a late time. Last year as a freshmen I came in with the idea of majoring in
finance and minoring in public health so that I could go into health administration pretty much

Wesley Shaw
Professor Byrd
HONORS 1700
August 31, 2015
because my dad had told me it was a good field to make money in. So in response to that I did
an internship with Carolinas HealthCare system last summer, that was focused on finance and
health care administration and I just absolutely hated it. The only part I liked was getting to go
on site visits which is where I gained my interest in oral surgery. This connects to Mr.
Paulnacks story because he ended up changing career paths to satisfy his own desires, which is
helping people through music, just like I am changing paths as well to help people through
medicine. Overall I think Ive handled this conflict pretty well. I had a drastic change in my
schedule for this semester, fairly late minute I might add, but all in all I dont think it could have
worked out much better.
I think that anyone interested in medicine or health care has a huge opportunity to affect
change. In my opinion I think that effecting change can be defined as doing something to
drastically alter the paths of any entity. As someone that wants to go into a health profession I
dont think theres a more satisfying change than extracting a tumor from somebodys head or
removing that tooth that has had them in agony for the past day. This is very representative of
why I want to do what I want to do and I think it can be compared pretty closely to Mr.
Paulnacks story. We both want to help people, we both have faced obstacles, but we are both
passionate about a certain line of work that can bring overwhelming emotion to an individual.