College Admissions Essay: Mind Over Matter

One of my first memories as a child was my mom reading to me. There was a tornado warning, so we all rushed to the basement and crammed ourselves into the back bedroom. To calm my hysteria from wailing sirens and howling winds, my mom pulled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone off the shelf and began to read. The storm faded away and I was absorbed in a magical universe. Over the next year, she read the whole series to me, and ever since then, the power of words and the English language fascinated me.

Self-control is a lesson easier taught by life experiences rather than words. Watching my grandpa gulp down four to five beers daily showed the type of self control that took me so long to realize existed. He was an alcoholic. He knew it and would own up to his decisions every time the topic was brought up.

I grew tired of being homely, of the arrows, of being punctured with words that were, supposedly, meant to leave me unharmed. The condensed circle of friends and family I developed, constantly insisted that I am no less than an extraordinary human being. They continued the pestering, yet I stood unyielding convinced I would never be better than the dirt that's walked on. It must have been their persistence that led to the realization: beautiful things grow within the dirt, relying on its nutrients to grow strong and great. I was more valuable as a human than a target, yet instead, a fighter. In order to win against the enemies, to no longer be a victim, I needed to first fight the battle within my own mind before progressing to tackle outer defenses. Confidence has been the inflexible trait to fix, rather than the higher resilient features such as activeness or originality. In time, the laborious work and constant battles paid off. I had learned to have my own confidence, trust myself, and notice an inner beauty, despite the fact it had taken an autoimmune disease, friends, and self

The motivation that results from the doubt or disbelief of others is very powerful and it has the ability to make the impossible a reality. We have all heard the stories of the wealthy businessmen and the famous sports athletes who defied the little chance they had to succeed in life. These are true examples of what a person can accomplish when he uses the doubt of others to motivate himself to accomplish an extremely difficult goal. The significance and pleasure of this type of motivation can not be denied. However, it is even more important for a person to be internally motivated and not have to rely on the influence of others.

“Congratulations, your weekend is now over! My teacher told me as she handed me my Baby boy.

Eleanor Roosevelt has once said, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” I have doubted myself many times and there is one day I remember I doubted myself the most.

Last year, I took AP Calculus BC, and it was one of the most difficult subjects I’ve ever taken. In the past, I never had to work so hard to understand math. I never really had to do homework in my math classes, because math was second nature, and I thought that Calculus would be the same. I was extremely wrong. I was positive I aced that first test, but it was a near fail. I was devastated; sure, I’ve bombed tests before, but never in math, and I considered dropping the class. I kept putting off going to see my counselor, and finally, after a couple more failed tests, my teacher pulled me aside and asked me what was going on. I told him that I wasn’t getting the materials, that I was floundering in all of information, and that I was

In my sixth grade year I had a teacher named Mrs. Lambert. She was a great teacher and friend. Close to the end of the year we took an advanced math test to see how much we’ve learned. Unfortunately I wasn’t present the day the rest of my classmates took the test. The next day, my teacher was explaining to me that I had to take the test and so I did. When I received the test I quickly rushed through it. It wasn’t that I was being lazy. It was more that I already knew the material. When I was finished I was sure that I had done a great job. My teacher had told me that if the whole class got a good great then we were eligible for a prize. Then, my testing teacher told her that I didn’t use the rubric or the formula sheet. My home class teacher

My past, present, and future. This is the journey of my life. Where I’ve been, where I’m at, and where I’m going. My journey began on July 28, 2000, at St. Margret’s South Hospital in Dyer, Indiana. Lance Collins who is a paramedic, and Christine Collins who is a registered nurse, became the proud parents of the 6lb. 9oz. 21 inch long baby boy, who they named Liam Hunter Collins. On November 30, 2002, I became a big brother when my sister Taylor Collins was born. I have been a lifelong resident of Northwest Indiana and I’ve had some pretty amazing adventures and accomplishments so far. I became a proud pet owner when my bichon frise Max, came to live with us on April 5th, 2006. On June 30, 2006 my dad took me to my very first Taekwondo lesson. I quickly fell in love with martial arts, I worked really hard, dedicated myself, and I received the rank of 1st degree black belt when I was only eight years old. I have been playing

This forced me analyze my life thus far, to recognize my fears and what I hold dear. It’s only been sixteen (one month till seventeen) years in this carcass, but I already feel like an entire life has flown by. It was like a prerequisite of actually watching my life flash before my eyes. This project was nice to sit back and look at what a social mess I am (one of my most favorite pastimes). But also, only being sixteen, I don’t hold what many would believe to be true values, dreams, fears, and identity. Nevertheless, this is what I have so far.

Have you ever proved yourself wrong, or accomplished something you thought wasn’t possible? Life is full of learning experiences and overcoming your doubts is a confidence builder, because you have something to look back on. Every person has at least one goal, but not everybody really goes to get their goal. Living in today’s society is like a puzzle, and to be successful you have to find the pieces.

My calculus teacher, Ray Chayo, was keen on ensuring his students that the knowledge we learned in his class will help us excel and dominate in our calculus courses in college. I remember the dark blotches underneath my eyes that were evident of all-nighters I pulled through in order to tackle and survive his vicious yet uncomplicated exams. On his first exam, I received a D+ because I did not comprehend the concepts. It was as though my grain of rice had fallen, like the ant, I did not capitulate to my negative thoughts of dropping this class. Instead, I chose to ask for help, so I can change my studying habit. I went to his class one hour early before the school started. From 7:00 AM to 7:45 AM, I would spend all my time asking questions and doing the problems on the whiteboard. Through this, not only did I get A’s and B’s on the other exams, but I had also learned a valuable lesson. I had begun to grow out of my personality. I am very shy when I have to interact with my teachers because I feel as though I should not be asking for help. Through interacting with my calculus teacher in high school, I had also learned to interact with my professors at CRC. Even though AP Calculus AB was difficult, but by working diligently, I had also earned myself a reward. I achieved a score of 5 on the AP Calculus AB Exam. This allowed me to skip Calculus I at CRC during my first semester of college. If I

I thought was fully prepared for college when I walked across the stage on June 1st, 2015, but I was completely wrong. College is a whole new lifestyle that you eventually learn to adapt to everyday. The advice you hear from parents everyday is something you take with you as you navigate throughout campus. Some of the previous advice my mother gave to me is the advice I should of listened to. Now that I am older and on my own, it’s up to me to figure out how everything works.

What you see is not always what it is. We learn to perceive what we're looking at, and we get used to how things are supposed to be. I was always fascinated by the illusion pictures that at first glance is strikingly simple to guess what it is, if you give more attention to detail you see another picture in it. What inspired me the most and made me a curious person was how missing one detail can change the whole outlook of the picture – just as missing one aspect from patient’s evaluation can lead to a wrong diagnosis. This taught me the importance of thoroughness in doing anything in my life. My meticulous nature has been an incredible driving force behind who I am

“The mind is indeed a beautiful thing. It is the reason for our ingenuity, artistic originality and maybe even our humanity. What happens however when the mind works against us? When it tricks us into believing that what is not real to be the actual, destroying our sense of being?” (Angelo)