Amir is a diligent and extremely successful student at UMBC who will soon be graduating, and has been accepted into medical school. His competitive spirit and determined attitude have driven his success to date, and he will most likely find further success in the medical field. As a student, Amir has always dealt with a tremendous course load, as well as being a participant in many extracurricular activities. However, it is possible that his success to date has left him without the coping mechanisms in dealing with failure, which may leave him vulnerable to any setbacks which he may encounter in the future. While Amir has undoubtedly learned and matured a lot during his time at college, like most young adults, he still displays room for personal growth.
Prior to entering college, Amir already had a good idea of the path he wanted to follow over his lifetime. He speaks with assurance and radiates confidence. He claims that he knew when entering college, that he would really like to get into medical school, and he planned all his academic course work around those plans. From the beginning, Amir had a solid set of goals, and used college as the medium with which to achieve them. While discussing his first experiences going into college, Amir conveyed very clearly that he had a plan and didnt stray from it. He spoke of freedom to explore outside of science classes proudly and attributed this freedom to his academic achievements made in high school. At times, I felt that Amir was unintentionally condescending - for example, at one point he deemed it necessary to explain what a B.A. is, seemingly expecting that I was unaware as to the acronym's meaning. While speaking about his initial academic choices and subsequent achievements, Amir's demeanor remained extremely focussed, and he was unwavering in his discourse, which seemed almost rehearsed. He consistently spoke without any ambivalence over his choices, as if there was nothing worth reconsidering or exploring further. As his academic record is outstanding, this is most likely justified; however, the rigidity of his assertion was overwhelming. The interview at this point was basically a monologue that shifted from topic to topic at a steady pace.
When the issue of research was brought up, Amir's serious and confident demeanor did not waver. Seemingly with no doubts about his future, he seemed to launch into a lecture on the breadth of his achievements and accolades. Often times, I noticed that Amir spoke about his research experience and summer programs in terms of what he experienced, instead of how he behaved. He described things in terms of what happened to him, instead of what he engaged in. Furthermore, I felt as if a lot of the time Amir was merely relaying information that seemed institutionally proper, but not personally realistic. For example, he spoke about how much he liked research and how it helped him apply textbook knowledge in the real world. All in all, many of his responses seemed contrived and artificial, such as when he spoke of his life guard training in terms of being inspirational. I sensed subtle arrogance in his speech, but at the same time I noticed a hint of humility. While he did in fact attribute a lot of his success to hard work, he also thanked the faculty at the University for supporting him on his path.
Amir then began to speak of his plans of becoming a physician in a more premeditated tone than before, giving the impression that his motivation for doing so came from an external source. He went on to talk about possibly pursuing a specialty in radiology because of his perceived benefit to society. Whilst superficially, this may seem like noble and altruistic reasoning, perhaps the real reason is more related to his desire to be seen as a high achiever and prove himself to someone, possibly his parents. The fact that he failed to mention either his parents or any friends throughout the entire interview may indicate that he is aware of these external influences, and is either actively or subconsciously making an attempt to cover them up with his own justification and reasoning.
Amir has prospered here at the University and has undeniably grown as a result of his experiences. That being said, the motivation for his almost stellar academic success is still unclear. He repeatedly mentioned that he really wanted to go to medical school the whole time, but did not overtly state any exact reasons. He also spoke about wanting to help people, again omitting any further explanation of his motivation. I believe that like most high achievers, Amir has an image to live up to and the overriding belief that he must make a name for himself. Whether or not this image has been created by himself internally, or placed upon him remains unclear. Seemingly he is seeking approval, most likely from his parents who raised him in a competitive, high-achieving, and disciplined environment. This has been made apparent by both his words and demeanor.
Overall, the interview itself left a lot to be desired. Often times, I failed to probe deeper when doing so may have revealed more about his motivations. For example, in one instance, he concluded by saying how he really wants to help people. This would have been an excellent place to probe further, but unfortunately I neglected this opportunity. This is one place I plan to improve.