College Admissions Essay: A Place For Finding Myself

Each individual is created to live their life uniquely. Each person has their own beliefs and opinions. They shape how one perceives others and how one affects others whether it be personally,locally, or globally.

Everyone has to make choices in their life. Some are everyday choices, like what to eat or drink. Others are more critical, like choosing a job. Important decisions take time to comprehend. Like with me, the decision to go to college was the most critical choice in my life and for my future, and I will never regret it. Going to college is important because it helps me find a job, it expands my knowledge, and it is a wonderful experience.

Former baseball player Tommy Lasorda once said, “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” The journey of our life is full of winding paths and concrete obstacles whose sole goal is to slow us down, and to attempt to block us from reaching our ultimate goal in life, whatever that may be. These barriers are there for several different reasons, whether it be mental or physical. Sometimes these obstacles are motivated by fear, other times they exist simply because we have to make a decision, and that decision can be life changing. But through our determination, and through our perseverance, we can achieve what these barriers told us was impossible, and can pursue the path in our life that leads us to our ultimate self. Throughout my life, I have had thousands of barriers stand in my path. And the only way I was able to defeat them was through conquering my fears, and breaking my limits in order to achieve excellence.

Since the time when I was little, my parents always encourage me to do the best, work hard, become educated and have a positive life style at a very young age. My earliest memories are that of reading interesting books because I love to read and do my science whiz experiments. However, I also had great interests in playing with Lego pieces and conducting fun chemistry games in my own tiny lab. It was a fun time for me; at least that’s how I recall it now. The only things I had to worry about were: what will I have for lunch today, which chemistry game or Lego pieces do I want to play with and my team winning the sports games I use to compete in.

I’ve always been interested in the field of medicine. When I was being born, I almost died, being saved only by the ingenuity of a Nurse Day for whom my middle name is dedicated to. Above all else, I want to have an impact on the quality of life for others, and I think the University of Pennsylvania is one of, if not the, best ways to do that. Its bioengineering department is consistently ranked to be the most rigorous in the field, and I can handle rigor.

Ever since I can remember I have had an intense curiosity about the world and the people in it. This is probably due mostly to my parents who read to me nonstop but it has fuelled most of my learning experiences and given me a love of the world and of people, and the understanding of both of those. This love was further developed when I began four years of learning Attic Greek and Latin through a classical education. Then, after yearning to go overseas since I was eight years old and saving for it most of the time since then, I made it to England for six weeks this summer. Here my appetite for understanding is being indulged not just with words and pictures but with real world experiences which I can touch, see, and hear. Now, as I near the end of my stay, I am looking ahead to the rest of high school and I have decided I want to make the most of my junior and

In the words of civil rights great Mahatma Gandhi, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Receiving an education, in my opinion, is the foremost responsibility of every individual who walks this Earth. Education, however, has different meanings for different people. In some cultures, an education may include learning agrarian or farming techniques. In many other cultures, an education consists of attending primary school, secondary school and later attending college. No matter how the concept of education is prescribed in a given society, this fact remains true: everyone desires to have learned more when they leave this world than they did when they came in. Personally, I desire to receive a college education because I believe that by receiving such an

Four years ago, as a freshman in highschool, attending a liberal arts school was not important to me or my aspirations. I just knew I wanted to go to a “good” college. I did not learn what liberal arts really was until I was a senior in high school, and even then, it did not play as much of role in my college decision process as it should have. To me, it just meant do I want to learn about more subjects, or just my area of study. I had this form or thinking just one year ago, but now, as a member of a liberal arts institution, I am finding a new appreciation for the importance of a liberal arts education in my life because of the society that we live in today.

My course load is jammed pack full of rigorous classes that will help me better and further understand complex topics. When I enjoyed my biology and chemistry, I was pulled towards the AP Environmental Science course, despite never taking an environmental class before. I also enjoy math and liked my physics class freshman year, wishing me to continue in honors multivariable calculus and AP physics. I want to push myself further; I work hard and study harder. This is especially apparent in my AP exam scores, where I spent months preparing for my best score. I frequently stayed after school or went into class during lunch to make sure I fully understood concepts before tests, striving to be my best. Furthermore, I continue to want to expand my knowledge by engaging in scientific extracurricular activities. I give up my free time (a rare and valuable treasure in high school) to expand on my interests in, most specifically, math. I tutor others to help them understand the complexities of this great art. I also wish to expand my ideas in math club, where we tackle more complex problems and even discuss how math manifests itself in certain activities, like solving a Rubik’s cube. All of these classes, activities, and growing interests culminate into an ever-changing body that represents me, someone who constantly wants to learn more and grow, not only as a mathematician or scientist, but a person as

Maya Angelou once said “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style”. I believe that some people are complacent with mediocrity and therefore do not try to excel to their highest potential. As for me, furthering my future by attending college will help rise above the horizon of being average. I want to put my willing, intellectual, open mindedness, and so much more to good use.

As a child, I remember always saying I want to live in a large house with all my close relatives. In retrospect, that was my greatest but far fetched fantasy, since I did not realize then how divided and chaotic my life truly was. I still don’t, since they say I pushed down all my unpleasant memories, and when I’m ready they’ll come out. I often regain glimpses of the past that hurt me deeply, so I wonder do I genuinely want to remember everything? Let’s rewind. A nickname for the South is the Bible Belt. Church is a part of everyone’s life, no matter what the social class. You pray for every meal, and every day and night you pray. I didn’t pray. There are so many different words that describe beautiful ways to worship, but I can think of none. I memorize the words I hear every day, like the Lord’s prayer, I repeat them, but no belief is held behind the words. I stare at the worshippers with their eyes closed and wonder how the same words have so much meaning for them. As I go home to my mother, her boyfriend and my step sister, I find the reason why I can’t pray. No matter how hard I deny it, they’re still the reason why.

Growing up with my single mother, you tend to witness more things. Because of my mother’s financial situation, if she was offered employment in another place, I went with her. As a result, my mother and I have moved about 5 or 7 times. Each new place was frightening and challenging. Out of all the place, only three have had an impact on me mentally and emotionally.

If someone asked me where I am going to be in ten years, this would be my answer. I will have a great, high-paying job, and beautiful wife and family, and a nice sports car parked in front of my lovely house. When I look into the future, I see myself being successful and happy. Even though I always pictured myself this way, I never worried too much about how I would get there. I feel the Suffolk University can lay the groundwork for making these dreams into reality.

In my kindergarten yearbook, I said that I wanted to be a rock star when I grew up. At the time, my idea of a rock star included wearing big sunglasses, putting the rock hand sign up and playing air guitar. I later went through stages of wanting to be an architect and then a movie director; my mind was all over the place. But somewhere in my five-year-old self, I knew.

After class that day, the teacher called me to stay back and asked if I had any interest in a free ticket to the solar system exhibit at the Science Museum. My face lit up but I had to turn him down because I had a hockey tournament that weekend. During those years, I was not authentically myself. I stifled my passions in order to fit in and be accepted by others. By the time high school came around I was tired of being someone I wasn’t. My freshman year I quit hockey, created a group workout club called SWEAT, and joined student council. I began taking advanced placement classes and was finally able to quench my thirst for knowledge. I grew apart from my friend group and decided I didn’t need a clique. I was friends with my different people in many different groups and enjoyed being able to have many friends rather than a select group. Doing things for myself allowed me to flourish in my own way.