College Admissions Essay: The Teacher Who 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

I am a fortunate soul. I have two loving parents who raised me in a Christian home. We went to church every Sunday, both my parents worked, and they gave me everything I needed. My mother and father both gave me everything that I wanted, or better yet everything I asked for they tried to get. They didn’t just give me anything, no questions asked, there was discipline, respect, love, and humility. They thought I deserved the world and they tried to provide it. Was that so bad?

Even though my father never went to college, I have always wanted to go. I knew I wanted to be better and do more than my deadbeat dad did. My father always told me “you are a smart girl”, and to him anything below a C grade wise was utterly unacceptable, well for everyone besides my brother who could never manage more than a D. The amount of punishment he had to endure for that I didn’t want to imagine how much it hurt. I remember the pit in my stomach every time report cards were sent out even though I knew I did well, but the better grades I got the easier it became to keep them up. I thank my father for his strict parenting when it came to education because I know now if I didn’t have rules like that I don’t think I would be where I am now, and better off than him.

My Mom, Dad, and younger brother survived. If it's not medicine, my family would not have lived.

Up until seventh grade I loved school. I made A’s and B’s, had good friends, and actually enjoyed being there. All of this changed for me when I entered middle school where multiple schools from the area merged together to form seventh and eighth grade. Since I had done so well the prior year I had been placed in accelerated classes with kids I had never met before and boy would I be sorry. It turned out that I did not have the right clothes, a pretty enough face, nor did my parents have the money that it took to be cool that year and I was bullied. I had girls that would walk behind me and say “Paula, you’re ugly and stupid too” every day and for me I could not brush it off. Every day of having to get up and face these girls became harder

Children, at a very young age, are taught to contemplate about their own future. What do we aspire to be when we grow up? What sport do we want to play? What college will we attend after high school graduation? It is not until we reach the adolescent phase or maybe even adulthood that we stop to think about what difference we can make in other people lives and what impact will we have on the future of others. At least that is how it happened for me. My parents, specifically my father, pressured me about what my grades were like in school, what career path I would choose, what type of significant other would I attract and many other things except the most important part of humanity: what difference will I make in the world?

“Why are you so shy?” people always asked me. ”Shy”. It’s a word that followed me for as long as I can remember. In elementary school, all the kids would play sports during recess, but I’d stand by the side and look at them. At most of my parent-teacher conferences, teachers would use words like shy and quiet. But I was totally sick of it. ”I have to make some changes,” I said to myself.

Education has not been an option for me, growing up in an African household. Many children would have been bothered by this request, however I took it upon myself to implement it in everyway that I could. That I thank my mother for. As a person who values education as a key to having a successful life, I also know that simply believing in yourself will lead to bigger and better moments. I was once told that “Highschool is like a door of opportunities. All that you do will lead to a door either opening or closing.” It stuck with me and I have since been thankful for it because it allowed me to see what and how I wanted to live my life, even at such a young age. Loving myself for who I am, and knowing that education is power kept me on track and intack to achieving fulfillment within myself. And in the moment I cut all of my hair off, my sophomore year in highschool, I knew that this one little change of my appearance would bring loads of realization to my life.

Education has never been a priority in my family. Throughout my childhood I watched my two sisters take on the challenge of getting to college. The oldest, scrambling to pick up the pieces of our disabled father after the divorce, spent so much time at home that school had to be moved to the back-burner. Even when UCSD gave her the opportunity to recover that forgotten pot on the stove, her responsibilities at home forced her to leave it where it was. My other sister, fearful of the back-burner and diminishing into the mom role, spent the next four years juggling homework, varsity softball practice, and duties at home. I swore that she had managed to make college a priority, to move it off the back-burner. However, when application season

During elementary school grades didn't matter much because I wasn't aware of them at all. Elementary was fun and games. The biggest jump was going to junior high school. All of the sudden everything changed grades mattered and the environment changed. Having nine periods as supposed to one class every day was very different to me. I remember hearing the word college for the first time in a school. It was time to take school seriously because I realized after this point it all mattered. After graduating Gemini Junior High School it was a big relief to me because I honestly hated it. I was bullied during gym class almost every day but, I didn't want to say anything because I would be labeled a "Snitch". I was afraid that I would become that one kid that sits in a corner all alone eating lunch by myself. I just let the bullying happen all the way through junior high

“Neha! Neha! Look at the Olympic gold medal I won! I used my pancake serve, just like you said!” exclaimed a faintly familiar voice behind me. I quickly turned around to be greeted by an ecstatic, bouncing girl radiating joy and excitement, proud of defeating the other teams in her bracket. It took me a few seconds, but it was Mimi, my special athlete unified doubles partner from the Special Olympics of Georgia of previous year. I couldn’t believe Mimi had remembered me and even recollected what I told her. That one butterfly-effect moment sparked a new trajectory in my life.

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these lines must show.

When I think of people who have been influential to me, many people come to mind. My 7th grade Social Studies teacher taught me the value of appreciating culture and history. By serving long hours in community service, my dad taught me the value of volunteering and making a difference. By making me stay up long hours of the night, my mother taught me the importance of discipline and hard work. These were all people that have made a difference in my life, but not the most difference.

First of all hello, I’m currently a high school senior planning to attend college in the fall. In elementary “school,” teachers tell you school is important, and, as a child, you don’t really comprehend-- all you want to do is play and have fun. When you reach high school you began to open up your mind and see how education and knowledge help you improve as a human being. This is what happened to me. I began to value education as “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” as Nelson Mandela says. Education has helped me realize what I want to do and who I want to be in life.

For some reason or another certain students are drawn to particular teachers while other students are more fond of others. In my life I have studied under three memorable teachers. Teachers with which I was able to connect, to laugh, to share my misgivings. While I may have been close with each of these teachers, it is very clear, in retrospect, that each was very unique, and represented an entirely different class of teacher.