College Admissions Essay: Finding Passion In Writing

With so much riding on these tests, many students become stressed and unable to perform, despite buying prep books and spending long hours studying. "I cannot tell you how many students I have worked with who are amazing in their classes but freeze when it comes to the SAT or ACT because they know how much is riding on the scores," says high school councilor Patricia Mucenski. Instead of placing significance on high school grades, which display not only a student’s intelligence, but also illustrate hard work & determination, our knowledge and future success are measured by a score on one test taken for three hours on a Saturday morning.

Reading and writing are subjects that when you look back on, you look back to when you were first taught. Whether it was in Kindergarten gathered around the teacher on the story time rug or in first grade when you were taught to write on that special lined paper. We have all mastered reading and writing in one way or another. You even learn to love one or the other, maybe both. For me, I absolutely love to read but I have a hatred for writing! Especially, when I must write stories, poems, school papers or anything of the kind, which is kind of ironic.

I was sitting at a picnic table with a young boy struggling next to me. His hand gripped mine so tightly that there were petite fingernail impressions lining my skin. He was screaming, crying, kicking up the loose gravel that was scattered around us- all because he didn't want to kill a fish at fishing camp. This demonstrates just one of the countless fits that this young boy would have in a day. However, as much as I wanted to yell at that young boy, “I understand, just stop!” I never did.

To learn is to live, and I want to learn for the rest of my life. There is not a day which goes by without learning something new about the crazy, beautiful world.

I dreamt of walking on Commonwealth Ave. I envisioned myself entering the Morse Auditorium, books in hand, eager to learn. Ever since I had visited the eclectic city of Boston in 2006, I knew it was the right fit for me. I knew that the city itself, along with the remarkable academic resources that Boston University offers would allow me to grow socially and mentally. Until this day I ask questions on end from my comrades at the BU, impatient to learn more and more about their lives on and off campus. From all the feedback I have received I have come to one conclusion: BU is the place where I will get a rich, broad background in all my studies. BU will give me the foundation and preparation I will need to enter any field of study.

I took my first ACT test last school year in the spring. Unfortunately, I did not do very well on the test and received a 15. My counselor said I was able to retake the test next fall in order to improve my grade. She gave me an ACT question book to help me study. In preparation for my retake, I began studying daily. I would answer practice questions and read from ACT booked s every day after school. I often got together with another student to help me with my problem areas of the test. Every night leading up to the exam I would study 25 minutes for each section of the test. I would practice questions, watch videos on strategies for taking the ACT, and read from ACT books. Through my intense preparation for the test, I hope I will be able to raise my ACT

The ACT was one of the many steps I have had to take in preparing myself for college. In October I will be taking the test again and I desire to receive a score of 29 or higher. My scores were as follows: English 28, Mathematics 24, Reading 27 and Science 24. I strongly believe my reasoning for receiving such low scores was due to my lack of studying. I did not properly prepare myself for such an important test. There are multiple resources I could have used yet I wasted my time and did not take it seriously. Before retaking the test I aspire to grow in my writing by building up my strengths and knocking down my weaknesses.

Most importantly, the practice test administered at the end of the class allowed me to experience a realistic ACT environment, and to ready myself for the three and a half hours of critical thinking and rapid circle marking. I was more than a little anxious before the practice exam; I may have understood the concepts, but application of those concepts was its own beast to conquer. As I proceeded through the practice exam, however, I realized that the ACT was not the nightmare that I had expected. It was just a test, and I was armed with the resources to conquer

I am proud to be a bisexual African American female with a passion for technology. Yet my journey has not been easy. For my mother, my sexuality was difficult to understand. Due to my strict Jamaican background, she not only misunderstood, but she fought with me. Uncovering my bisexuality was read as a war cry. This led her to try everything in her power to stop or revert this from happening. At one point, not even girls were allowed to sleep over. Her behavior felt dehumanizing and these feelings still resonate with me. I have learned that my mother's acceptance is something I will never have, whole-heartedly, due to her unchanged beliefs.

Many know the stressful feeling of having to take the ACT. The exam room fills slowly with worried faces and remains quiet until the test stars. Students grasp their pencils tightly, their palms sweating with the thought of their future at stake with this single test. In order to get into any college, an ACT or SAT score is required. These required scores for admission vary from school to school which can make it difficult for every student to attend their dream school. A single test will determine who can and cannot attend a certain college. With this system, it can deny students with potential in certain fields a place in a college because they might not test well. College admission should not be based on

To make a long story short, I didn't try hard enough on the ACT. For instance, I didn't study for it outside of a few online practice review sessions. I was too cocky. Regrettably, I knew I was a smart kid, but I didn't put in the time or effort to really succeed in taking the biggest standardized test of my life.

I was so ecstatic that I called everyone in my family to tell them that I actually got a D1 college looking at my records and that they stated that they are actually interested in me. Approximately two weeks had passed and it was time for me to take my first ACT, I was so nervous on the day of the ACT because I hadn’t taken it before and I knew that one of the requirements for MSU were that I had a minimum score of 18. I had no clue what I was going to score but the only thing I could do was pray the night before and have faith in myself. The big day was finally here and as I sat in the room waiting for the proctor to say begin my stomach had butterflies and a very jittery feeling. With only three minutes and twelve seconds left to spare on the last section of the test I chose to do what my English III teacher, Mrs. Triggs, at the time told me to do and that was to reexamine my test. Later that day I went home because I was so mentally exhausted I immediately went to sleep, I woke from my nap and I started crying because if I didn’t make an eighteen or higher I don’t think I would’ve retaken the

My career goal is to be a successful fiction author and to publish over two full series. I’ve chosen this career because I’ve already started writing and I love it. I think that I’d be good at writing because I’m really creative and I love to read, then scribble down whatever pops into my head. I’m always in the middle of writing something and my finger hitting the computer keys is not an uncommon sound. This makes me assume that I’d be good at writing as a career.

Writing has always been a passion of mine. As athleticism has never been my forte in a county who’s only focused seemed to be on sports, my mind would often wander to distant lands of the famous pop stars from my childhood, fairy tale creatures, and even Pokémon; even today, I often discover my mind drifting towards foreign, imaginary lands. I write to keep my mind busy.

My passion towards working with students every day has led me to the decision of pursuing a doctoral degree in Student Affairs in Higher Education at Miami University. I have chosen this program to prepare myself for a future role as a professor or a senior level college administrator. This program will allow me to become more proficient within the students’ educational experience and therefore better engage students in active learning.