College Admissions Essay: Freshman Year

My educational past has had its good and bad days. In early grades school was easy and school was enjoyable. Somewhere along the line I lost my talent and things went south quickly. For some reason I kept telling myself studying wasn’t necessary because of how well I did in the past. In the sixth grade we had our first math test. I figured why study, I’m smart, all the answers will come right to me. I start the test and immediately start struggling. I couldn’t remember anything and of course when I got it back, it was an F. After receiving that F, I realized things have changed and I must put forth much more effort. Math for me was never the same after that moment. I started struggling with memorizing the equations and my grade suffered. One thing I needed to realize was I didn’t have all the knowledge. In the past, my education has been a little rocky.

I’m applying to UA Early College because I want to be able to step into college ahead of the game. I have been an overachiever since I was little and take each chance I get handed to me. This program additionally prepares me for courses I will take when in college. It gives a more profound understanding of how classes will be and the paces they will go at.

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

A critical moment during my undergraduate career is when I came to the realization that it is alright for me not to know what to do with my future. I realized that I was doing the right thing by furthering my education so that once I finally did know what career I wanted to pursue I would then have a degree to help me stand out. Once more, Dr. Reed convincing me to pursue a degree in Communication is one of the best pieces of advice I acquired during my undergraduate career, if not ever. I most likely would not have the confidence I currently have in obtaining a degree that I have no idea what I am going to with once I graduate.

Moving my whole life to the United States was a special challenge to me. I had to be familiar with life style, environment, education system, culture, and tradition which are different from my country Iraq. Before I moved to the United States, I spent three years in a university in Iraq; however, these years in the university did not help me to get to the college level in the United States. It was like I needed to start from zero. I did not give up because I have a goal to be a doctor. Therefore, I took ESOL classes, passed Texas Admission Test, and now I am in my Junior year.

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

of reference, I realized I needed fraternity. I realized I needed camaraderie. I realized I needed to be a Whiffenpoof.

Driving to Starbucks in Arvada and the weather was calm, cool and collective. It became the most interesting, graceful and intense summer that year. It was summer of 2012 and I sat across my bible study leader surrounded by coffee at Starbucks as she told me to grip the coffee cup. She used it as an analogy as accepting Christ in my life. As I took the coffee cup and accepted Christ as my savior, my life has forever changed and the blessings have been flowing into my life that only GOD can give. I have chosen Colorado Christian University as my choice of college to finish out my bachelor’s degree because I have a strong ambition to chase after a relationship with Jesus. I want to use my spiritual gifts I have been given to spread the love of Jesus

"We are all here for some special reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future" (Robin Sharma). I have come across this quote several times and each time, it has been inspirational. Moving to the United States from Iraq at the age of eight is one of the challenges for which I am most grateful. Growing up as a child in a country with poor living standards, poor education, and poor medical care made living conditions difficult for my family and I on a day-to-day basis. Coming here and being able to see how wide-ranged and expansive the pharmaceutical field was tremendously encouraging.

There have been many factors that have contributed to me being a freshman at Umass this year. They ranged from my grades to the influences from people around me. Now that I made a list about different contexts I can now see how everything might be connected. The overlaying things that had the a real effect on my outcome as a now freshman at Umass Amherst. The contexts that I layed out for myself gave me a better understanding of what some of the specifics were. Two points that stood out to me was my education and Nationality. Being a college freshman at Umass is due largely to how both of these contexts interacted with each other. Having a solid educational foundation is important to get into any college. I was lucky enough to grow up in a

I like to read, it gives me both the ability to paint a storyline in my head and to envision what another person thinks. For fiction, I have a slight bias towards the gothic and existential works, especially when I was younger. It was in the sixth grade that I read Lemony Snicket’s Austere Academy, and when I learned the phrase memento mori, or “remember you will die”.

That brings me to this year, and it has been nothing short of a blessing. I didn’t do basketball for my senior year, just to get prepared for the vault. I worked out every other day in the winter, letting my body rest in between days and going as hard as possible when I was at the Y. I went two times a week to St. Louis, just to work on everything that I could for this vault season. My passion stemmed from my junior year, and with all the success I had, I just wanted more. I told myself Junior year that I would work as hard as possible over the offseason to get first place at that Illinois College meet. I wanted to show everyone that I could go from dead last my freshman year, all the way to winning the whole thing my senior year.

I have a several reasons of what I would do if I started the school year over. Three of them would be to make better grades, join clubs, and to stop being shy. I choose these three because I think these are my biggest mishandles right now. School is very important to me and myself think that if I achieve my goals I'll make it in life and my career lifestyle. Especially because I am in the Advanced Placement Program and the teachers and the Board of Education expect us to be top notched and to be high on our performance in classes.

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.