College Admissions Essay: Losing Confidence

I was given one month to pack thirteen years of my life in a suitcase. Moving to the United States from Brazil has been a major landmark in my life. It was a phase defined by its drastic transition between to widely differing cultures. I was faced with the challenge of making different friends, and growing accustomed to a new educational system. This all became increasingly difficult when you take in to consideration my inability to communicate. Overcoming this obstacle was my biggest objective in ironing my complicated transition.

Overcoming my timidness may not seem like such an important deed, but when I look back, I recognize how much it held me back. The fear of speaking up crippled me and caused me to be unable to speak my mind. The black hole that consumed my life was my own insecurity. I started my first year of high school perfectly content living without a voice, as long as I was not the center of attention, I was at peace. During my junior year, I decided that it was finally time to face my challenge head on. I did the one thing that scared me most, I ran for treasurer for both the senior class and National Honors Society. At the time I made the decision, I knew that an important part of being an officer was speaking in front of my peers and teachers. I made

After being bullied a great deal in middle school, I stepped into freshman year of high school with a lack self-esteem and trust in myself. I didn’t believe I could make top ten percent in my class, I didn’t believe I could pass the Pre-AP classes my parents had signed me up for and, I didn’t believe I could make friends. The most amazing thing about this, was that not only did I prove to myself that I could succeed at everything that I had once doubted myself in, but my experience in regaining my self-esteem completely changed my personality and created the person I am today.

They say that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, yet I tend to disagree. Our world is packed full of things to be afraid of. As a child, we are afraid of the dark or monsters hiding underneath our beds; but, as we grow with wisdom and age, those fears become bigger and more worldly. We fear things like terrorism or illness. The fear that consumes me most is that my best might never be enough.

In December 2014, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education published “Rethinking the Admission Process.” This article was written by Frank DiMaria, who takes a look at the research of the former president of the University of Wyoming, Robert Sternberg. DiMaria explains Sternberg’s stance against the current admissions process. Sternberg has research that depicts, “GPA, standardized tests, and essays do not successfully measure the true talent of a college applicant.” He believes that the policies need to change. Sternberg offers an alternative to the current process. Sternberg has been a part of a new admissions policy testing students not just on their memorization and analytical skills, but on their creative, practical, and wisdom-based skills as well. Sternberg’s ideas stem from his experience with disadvantaged youth and their ability to adapt and overcome obstacles. Sternberg claims that students who grow up in the upper middle class tend to have an environment which better values the analytical skills that the current tests measure. He argues that, because of this, colleges may not be getting the most creative and adaptable students. He shows that some of these less privileged students are capable of handling a college workload even though they may not have been able to score as high on the SAT or other tests. DiMaria believes that through Sternberg’s Kaleidoscope policy may be a solution. The Kaleidoscope way of admissions administers tests which ask open ended

In the early years of life, most children do not spend their free time looking in the mirror and wracking their brain for an answer to the question, “What are you?” I suppose that particular experience is quite unique to my childhood. For as long as I can remember my race has been something that comes into question or speculation in some way or another. To this day, I struggle with my identity due to being a mixed race individual.

The position of honors is a much valued and highly respected position in which only a select few are chosen for its place. I myself believe that I am a suitable candidate for such a position given the type of person that I am as well as my personal experiences through business.

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.

I’ve always been the type of person to always plan ahead, to always assess each defining factor, and to always prepare myself for whatever life throws at me. As I type this, I look back and evaluate as well as reflect upon the very occurrences that have led me to where I am today: my family-my parents in particular, as they never made it through to college-so this process is new to everyone within my household, my own failures and successes, my community, and my education have all been vast influences on my character, especially my growth as a young adult. Recently, I’ve been pondering as to what will define me as an individual; what will have the greatest impact on me that will distinguish me from others, and more importantly what will help me apprehend my own goals? Everyone can say that they’re lives being the way they were guided them to the path they ended up on, and I know that is true too, but I feel there’s something more prominent as to why a person chooses to pursue a particular goal, career, or other dealings. This realization arose from my participation in the Regional Program for Excellence, a program that provides students with internships in fields they’re inquiring in before entering college, and my inquisitions regarding the significance as well as the impact on my rapidly changing life.

A lot of people, especially in China, see getting into a famous college as a significant accomplishment. They plan carefully and they do anything they can to get into the best college, thinking their lives will be gilded ever since. But when doing this, most people lose themselves. They just try to do what ever the colleges might like to pack up a beautiful coat, forgetting to find out who they really are.

I have loved sports my whole life, even at a very young age. I would watch it with my dad, and he would take me to sports games. I loved to play basketball in the backyard when I was little. I have always loved cheering for my favorite sports team. I love watching the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Two years ago my dad surprised me with Vikings tickets. I was so happy to get to go to a game. Sports has always been a big part of my life. Two years ago, I got a new view of sports when I started umpiring.

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.

Fear, is our greatest trouble. It affects us as individuals, as a nation, and as humanity. What pushed us to arm against each other up to the point of constant threat of complete annihilation? Fear. What causes the xenophobes to think that other cultures are threats to their own? Fear. What made the old lady firmly hold her purse when I sat besides her, the last time I took a bus at night? Fear. But what is fear more than a complex web of lies, in which we all have to fall more than once? It is an illusion of insecurities, a refuge for ignorance, an excuse for division.

Just when everything was finally going great as far as my college goes I hit the biggest rough patch. Starting my freshman year of college was the biggest accomplishment thus far in my life at the time. I had set such high goals for myself and then failed at them drastically, unintentionally at that. As being the first generation college student in my family, coming to college was a must for me. Growing up living in a paycheck-to-paycheck household was not the worst but I knew somewhere out there were better opportunities that I need to take advantage of once my time came. I wanted more for myself but until this screw up. I came to the real conclusion of what that better was. Better was getting myself together so I could be one-step closer the gold behind the psychology degree I will receive in May 2020.

Are you facing an overwhelming problem that seems no ending? Do you feel helpless? Did you ask yourself what’s going on? Did you say, I don’t really know what to do? I don’t know where to go?