College Admissions Essay: A Job That Changed My Life

Of all of the people I have encountered in my life so far, my father is the one to leave the greatest impact. I remember my dad would always ask me “ do you want to be the boss or be bossed? ” These word are what drives me to work hard and try my best in everything that I do. Maybe it was the fact that I have seen him grow so much over the years that his words and actions have affected me so much today. Through these words and actions I have been able to think of what i want to do and where I want to be in life after I graduate high school.

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls, and looks like work." - Thomas Edison. An opportunity can change your life, but your attitude towards the opportunity will determine whether it will make your life better. I believe you should take the opportunity when you see it.

I believe the turning point of my life began with the separation of my parents. I had always imagined myself living in my native homeland of the Dominican Republic. Yet, my life would drastically change as a consequence of my parents divorce. A few weeks after my parent’s divorce, my mother and I arrived undocumented in Boston, Massachusetts. Thus, at the age of fourteen, I found myself in a new country with few family and friends. The following chapter of my life would require me to not only make sacrifices but also become more independent. The meaning and value for me becoming independent at a young age was twofold: (1) I was able to help my mother financially and (2) I learned the meaning of hard work and perseverance. I recognize that my tangible core values cannot be measured by test scores—though I have done well academically—but by my desire and perseverance to become a successful Latina.

“Be strong, banish fear and doubt, and remember the lord is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 New International Version). Next month on September 28th, will be my 30th birthday, another milestone will be met. As I look forward to celebrate this milestone, I have also taken the time to reflect on who I am today. Throughout the years, I have experienced many obstacles that have influenced me into becoming the person I am currently. Moving to Columbia, South Carolina had great, if not the greatest, influence on me.

The next chapter in my life has always been a mystery to me. In fact, every time someone asks me what college I want to go to, or what I want to do when I’m older, my entire body tenses and I forget how to breathe. Don’t get me wrong, I know I want to go to college, and am excited to move out; however, having to pick the one school that will have the one major that will lead to the job that I will have for the rest of my life is intimidating. Especially when I don’t exactly know what my interests are. This question causes my throat to close up because I know that my interests don’t necessarily lead to a carrier, choosing a college is extremely stressful, and I want to be successful and live the best life that I can. In order to avoid a panic attack while I write this essay, I need to focus on the immediate future: my highschool career, and more specifically, this school year.

I could tell you that I am awesome! I could tell you that I am unique and smart and that school is my entire life. But I am not going to go that route. What I will tell you is that it would mean a great deal to me, to receive this scholarship. I enjoy school so much, that I maxed out all of my financial aid; I’d say that there is some irony within that statement. To make a long, but interesting story short, I want to finish school and without more financial aid and a rich family to support me, I am out of luck. I believe that I can do so many things in my life with a bachelor’s degree! On top of that, it makes even more sense to get my bachelor’s degree before I attempt a master’s degree—I am dedicated, can you tell?

Education has not been an option for me, growing up in an African household. Many children would have been bothered by this request, however I took it upon myself to implement it in everyway that I could. That I thank my mother for. As a person who values education as a key to having a successful life, I also know that simply believing in yourself will lead to bigger and better moments. I was once told that “Highschool is like a door of opportunities. All that you do will lead to a door either opening or closing.” It stuck with me and I have since been thankful for it because it allowed me to see what and how I wanted to live my life, even at such a young age. Loving myself for who I am, and knowing that education is power kept me on track and intack to achieving fulfillment within myself. And in the moment I cut all of my hair off, my sophomore year in highschool, I knew that this one little change of my appearance would bring loads of realization to my life.

Knowing that you have made a difference, no matter how small is the greatest feeling in the world and what my life has begun to revolve around. Throughout school my peers bullied me about my weight and looks. It truly ate me alive. I did not want to leave the house, look at myself in the mirror or in photos, or talk to others. My life revolved around thoughts of how I was not good enough for today's "society". My self-esteem plummeted, causing me to believe I did not have any left. I became shy, anxious, and clinically depressed. I felt like an embarrassment and burden to my family. I took a leap of faith in hopes of discovering that I could be useful and decided to apply to become a volunteer at the Virginia Beach SPCA, it changed my life. I began to research

I heard rumors of what life would provide which were spoken by the endless waves of the New Jersey coastlines after they forced me down, under the salty waters and it was my personal duty to rise up again before I was swept away- a lecture on getting up when life pushed its members down. It was a lesson that life itself is tough, and resilience is required for advancement and that example has always followed me in life. I had also dared to follow a trail with my older brother up the Appalachian mountains while in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The higher up we went, the thinner the trail that ran along a cliff’s edge and the more ice coated the rocks underneath us. My brother was a gritty boy who never showed any affection and often treated

A mentor of mine once shared with me this quote from Bradley Whitford that has always stuck by me: “Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your Creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon High, but by doing what you can to make grace happen... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” I think about it often when I am working, doing homework, or just working on a home project. It is one of those things that doesn’t leave once it’s there. I try my best to fulfill that quote, even if I don’t always succeed. When I was doing research on universities, my mother told me that she had graduated

Nearly six years ago I had to make decisions regarding my future. This included decisions based on my education. It was not an easy period of my life. At the time, I had to leave my native country, the life I was used to, and, most painfully, my family. I came to the United States with my father and his wife. They were the only family members and people I knew in this country. Many things drove me to make such a life altering decision, one of them being the idea of countless opportunities for me to study whatever I dreamt about in a free country, instead of being assigned a career, which is what is done in Cuba. Even though I entered a magnificent high school in Cuba, the only one of the kind in the province, I was not happy with the future

There are various stages of life. As we get older the lifestyle and habits rapidly changes. Although the standards of my life have changed a lot since I was twelve years old, but still some of my hobbies, looks, lifestyle, interests and learning styles are still the way they were twelve years ago.

In the summer of 2015 my friend Bethany asked me to be her Student Representative for our schools Associated Student Body (ASB). Bethany has been a part of ASB since seventh grade and had always tried to get me involved; finally this time when she asked I said yes. I had always thought ASB would be boring but throughout the course of the school year I liked it more and more. I enjoyed the feeling it gave me of helping my school, it made me feel a part of something bigger.

From the day I was born to the day I speak of, I had lived in the same square house painted with pastel hues. I had watched the same green- more yellowish- grass grow, the same dimmed streetlights separate me from any impermanent destination, and, of course, the same familiar faces aging as timely as mine.

First of all hello, I’m currently a high school senior planning to attend college in the fall. In elementary “school,” teachers tell you school is important, and, as a child, you don’t really comprehend-- all you want to do is play and have fun. When you reach high school you began to open up your mind and see how education and knowledge help you improve as a human being. This is what happened to me. I began to value education as “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” as Nelson Mandela says. Education has helped me realize what I want to do and who I want to be in life.