College Admissions Essay: Self-Worth And Academic Success

I have a passionate desire to excel in my academic life. My early elementary school years were arduous because I have always been a very stubborn person; and at the time, I had simply decided I did not want to go to school. However, about halfway through my 1st grade year, I decided that I could no longer go without giving my best academically and I turned my stubborn rebellion against school into a

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.

Major changes in my life have affected my high school career, but a large impact came from the death of my father in eighth grade. Before his passing, I was an average A/B student in middle school and even elementary school, which quickly changed in 8th grade when my classes became too hard for me to handle. I decided the best thing for my mental health was to drop out of my higher level classes. This lead to being in standard classes throughout my first year of high school with minimal effort from my part. After constantly missing school, I failed my second quarter. Instead of bouncing back from this, it pushed me down, making me believe I would never be able to recover. Without any motivation, I ended my ninth grade year with a grade point average of 1.4.

Throughout my academic career, my grades and accomplishments have always been of extreme importance to me. To keep up with my goals, for example, making honor roll every quarter, I have taken steps and faced setbacks that have enabled me to see the big picture rather than focusing on the little issues that could discourage me from reaching those goals. To make the honor roll at my high school means obtaining a 3.5 grade point average or above for the entire quarter. As a freshman, I made it my goal to meet this standard throughout my complete high school career. To do this, I studied hard for every one of my classes, always did my homework, and put in as much effort as I could; I gave it my all. Through tough classes and staying up all night

My moms raised me with a strong set of morals, including “hard work pays off.” Sometimes this can be discouraging when you work hard, but it doesn’t pay off as you’d like it to. I’ve always gotten the grades I strive for without much struggle. However, once high school started, everything changed. I’d work for weeks on a scholarship essay, and I wouldn’t even place. I’d work for months to get something published and then read other people’s names in the congratulations announcement. I’d constantly wonder: Who’s at the top of the class? Who’s going to win the end of year awards? When you consistently get the grades that I do, people just expect those grades. No one congratulates you on your hard work anymore, and you don’t always get recognized. Despite the lack of recognition, I still take pride in my grades, and continue to work hard. Getting great grades is something I know I can do, even when it’s difficult to do. The difficulty makes it even more satisfying when I see the hard work pay off, and I get the grade I wanted. I’ve encountered

Growing up, I’d always been expected to do well in school. Which isn’t out of the ordinary, every parent wants their child to be successful and have a beneficial career. So, since good grades were what my parents expected that’s what I got. All throughout elementary, I strived to do my absolute best in every subject. At my sixth grade graduation I was awarded the Presidential Award for Academic Achievement, in my junior high years I did well as well. My eighth-grade year I achieved my goal of obtaining a 4.0 G.p.a. The first year of high school was nerve-racking but I still managed to keep my grades up. However, Sophomore year was definitely a bump in the road for me. In all my ten years of being in school (including head start and kindergarten)

There is a certain criteria which a college must meet in order for me to feel that a truly beneficial education can be gained from it, and with the costs that go into college it is highly important that this criteria be met. My first choice school would have definitely met my personal requirements, but in the event that admission to this college was not granted to me my previously used checklist would be applied to my three options in order to determine the best school for me.

In 7th grade I was unfocused, unprepared, and childish. I didn’t know my grades would have an impact on my high school career. I thought everything that happened in middle school stayed in middle school so I focused on useless drama. I used to blame my C’s on bad teaching but now I realize I have no one else to blame but myself. I was the one coming to school unprepared to work not my teachers. Now I know all of my grades count. I have blossomed into a person I am proud of. This year I’ve made it my mission to actually pass not just get by. I now sit promptly in the front of the class and take notes. I focus on test scores and grades not drama that’s not even going to matter next week. I now know what’s important and what I should just leave

     It seems in the society we live in today, having a college degree is a necessity. Years ago it was the norm for people to just go right into a full time job after high school, if they even finished high school; they did this to support their families. In today’s society a person has a difficult time getting a decent job without a college degree. During an adults working life, bachelor degree graduates will earn about $2.1 million and a high school graduate can expect to earn an average of $1.2 million (Day and Newburger, 2002). This is quite a difference and it puts a college education in

I could have done better. I believe that I can always improve and get better. The Power of an Insecurity is one of my least favorite essays that I’ve ever wrote. It was an essay that I felt nervous while writing, as I was now in a college class. I have my losses in this paper and I have my victories, but my ability to better myself in my writing is always improving.

During my freshman and sophomore year I was trying to find myself, trying to find what I was good at and how I can be that "well-rounded" student everyone talks about. So I joined a bunch of sports and clubs that I really had no experience at, not saying joining new clubs/sports having no experience is a bad thing, but I did go a little overboard. I was frustrated with myself at the thought that I wasn't good at anything I joined, but I figured out why. I gave up easily and I had no passion of what I was doing. I gave up at everything I did, if I saw that I wasn't good enough, I didn't practice to get better. This was my mistake, I was scared that this failure was going to define who I was forever, but it wasn't. Summer 2016 I went on a two-week trip to Puerto Rico, I met up with my family and caught up with my cousins. I told my cousins everything about my high school days and they laughed at me. They asked "How did you expect to be good at anything when you didn't work hard for it? Anyone can be good at anything if they tried hard enough" I took that by heart. This is where I came to my senses and changed, I understood the impact of having a growth

“She’s pregnant!? Are you oblivious? Your life is over… Do you not realize what is going to happen? You MUST drop out and work to feed your family from now on! I thought you were smarter than this.” This type of verbal abuse continued in my brother-in-law’s family, but as buoyant as both my sister, and her boyfriend were at age 17, this only fed fuel to their fire for triumph. In this day of age, many unplanned pregnancies throughout young adults have discouraged their higher hopes and dreams. Many use the excuse “reality knocked me off my feet” or “things happen for a reason”. Who gave you this excuse…? Are you not the artist of your own reality? You can perhaps lash back at me with a higher power as the answer. Well, I am here to prove to

It was at an ungodly hour on the fourth floor of Morgan Stanley’s Times Square headquarters that I uncovered what matters most to me: time. More specifically, making every minute of my time count is what I truly care about.

I’ve been wanting to change the way I feel about myself or mainly how I judge myself about my appearance. I don’t care about what people tell me about my own appearance just what I like about it. I judge myself on how I look today. Sometimes I decide I don’t want to socialize thought I didn’t come to school dressed properly In a way that I enjoy how I look. I want to be able to convince myself I shouldn’t care about what I’m wearing just as long as I’m happy I’ll be fine. I also want to lose weight not because of what people make fun of it or I’m insecure about it, but I just want to stop the problem before it starts. I’m generally happy being the way I am even though lots of my family members want me to participate in sports or do something