College Admissions Essay: How Life Changed My Life

Life normally doesn’t go the way you plan when you’re young. When I was little, I figured that when I was at the age of graduation I would be totally prepared to go off my own. As I sit and think about the topic of how my life is going, several thoughts pour into my mind. First, I think of how lucky I am. The past two years could’ve changed my life because of bad health. Through weeks and months of hospitals stays and hours spent in the doctor’s office and in the emergency room, I’ve come out lucky and I have almost returned to good health. Second, I think of those friends who I thought would be there for my whole life that are no longer a part of my life. I also look to the people who I never thought would be there by my side and realize

"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.

In the drug-infested streets of North Highlands, adversity ran the gamut. In a place where individuals were treated more like statistics than human beings, it was very difficult to feel any hope or purpose. As I grew up, I found purpose in the hopes of escaping from the adversity. However, I found my true purpose, as well as hope, back where I started.

I come from a fairly average family. Fortunately, I reside in a suburb of Round Rock in a fairly wealthy neighborhood. Both of my parents have college degress with my father having graduated from A&M Corpus Christi and mother from UT Austin. They are employed and have well-paying jobs and are able to provide a great deal of things to me. From this, I have had not to sustain any job aside of just doing my one job: performing well academically. While my life may not seem extraordinary by any stretch of the imagination, it is the one person in my life who has helped me have such privileges, my mother.

To be honest not much has changed since freshman year. Seems crazy, right? Four years go by and I feel as if I am close to the same place that I was when I first walked into the high school doors. Right now I am currently stressed and scared about my future; seems similar to what I was feeling when I was a freshman. Right now want senior year to be over as soon as possible; another feeling I had as a freshman. Obviously there are a lot of things that have changed about me physically and maturity wise, but currently I feel equal to those incoming freshman just as their about to walk through the doors on their first day of high school.

When I arrived home from elementary school after an arduous day of work (or at least by the standards of my 9 year old self), instead of unwinding by watching television or relaxing on the couch, I logged onto the PC and played a virtual brain surgery game. Or, alternatively, I scrolled through BrainPOP and watched health and science videos. I preferred Tim and Moby over Spongebob and Patrick.

Everyone has a chance to do something remarkable in their life. At one point, everyone stops living (which is unfortunate), and what they leave behind becomes their legacy.

When people first look at me they think douchebag. It wasn't always this way, I use to be a small, shy kid who got his school work done and played video games. Back then you would think nerd or not even notice me. But last year something in me changed; I dedicated myself to talk to more people, be less shy, and go to the gym every day for 90 days.

The human mind intrigued me since an early age. I was the child that would always ask why and how and I was never satisfied with the answer. I always stated my input and needed to solve any problems that were in front of me. My parents always thought I was a chatter-box that stuck my nose in everyone’s business, but I thought I was doing everyone a favor. As I got older, I was the friend everyone would go to about their problems. I enjoyed listening to their situations, just as much as I wanted to give my advice. Being the person that knew everything that was going on, and being able to have a say in what people did gave me satisfaction. When I took my personality test for my volleyball team my freshman year of college, it was not a shock that

Death swiftly swooped in, grabbing my aunt as she lay heavily sedated due to her medicine, which she had to reduce her abdominal pain; colon cancer is usually highly treatable and curable, but unfortunately the cancer had spread to other parts of her body. A year later, Death returned, this time taking my grandfather, three days after his surgery to drain blood around his brain from his stroke. Soon, the beginning of my adolescent years became filled with woes, and due to this I spent years in darkness. Unfortunately, keeping myself in the dark led to sorrowful thoughts. These thoughts manifested themselves in me, although there were times where the sweet, seductive dreams were tempting me to make it a reality; a stalemate war being fought

Since before I can remember, I’ve been characterized by my sense of independence and will to see things through. At a young age, these particular traits coalesced into quite the stubborn personality- I was the child that found his “replacement” stuffed rabbit (in case the first one went missing) in the top of the closet, and the child who dragged his parents back to the park hours after leaving to reclaim said animals after they were misplaced. As I proceeded into adolescence, this tenacity manifested itself in ways that saw no end to my parent’s frustration. After I had my computer taken away because of a conflict with a sibling, my mother found me clicking away late at night on a ramshackle setup I had pieced together from a barely serviceable

It was a dark and cold fall evening; the gym was packed and everyone was looking at me. It was my first taekwondo tournament. The pressure was on. I then realized that I’ve practiced for this day for months and I know that I could do it right, so I started to relax. This was the first time I had an immense amount of pressure on me and I realized that this made me who I am today this one night changed my life forever. These months that I trained for was tiresome it required a lot of confidence and self discipline and the constant pushing of the master and instructors to become something better.

I had always thought landing a job that would earn me tons of cash was the key to having a fulfilled life. Lawyers, surgeons, and dentists are high-paying jobs I dreamed of having. With money, I would be able to get all things necessary that, I thought, would have me set with my future life. I was heavily focused on the wealth that would earn me an impressive home, a fantastic car and respect from others. Not only for myself, but I could give my parents an easy life by giving them, and others, what I made. When I was in middle school, I knew I wouldn’t be able to land in such jobs because I was so focused on other activities. Two of those activities were math and art. I went with what I thought was logical and studied math, thinking I would

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.

Great things are destined for you honey, you have everything in you, and you have no idea how capable you are, everything is there in you, but you have to want it. I want you to go after it with everything in you because with the proper education there is nothing that can ever stop you. My entire life, I have believed that if I work hard enough, no dreams could ever be out of my reach. My grandmother’s incredible story has always taught me that I can overcome any obstacle that may come my way; my father’s speech was an amazing reminder of why I have worked so hard to make my family proud of me. As I approach the start of my senior year, I cannot help but wonder how my future is going to play out. My life has been filled with significant events that have carved me into a diverse young woman. I owe my family for all the lessons and experiences that I have benefited from, and I truly believe any college would be happy to have all the different aspects of culture that I can bring on their campus.