College Admissions Essay: The Transformation Of 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

My Life, I don't know what to do with it… it’s just a mess of this, and that, and the other. All of my life, Horrible, like I should just be tossed aside. I don’t have good grades, I’m not good at any sports. I’m not good at Anything…

"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.

Breathing heavily, a million things run through my mind. I’m dying. I can’t feel my feet. My lungs aren’t taking in oxygen fast enough. However, the finish line and the satisfaction of knowing that I had gotten myself through three miles loom ahead. Clenching my fists, I force myself through the indoor track at JCC. The excitement and pride that I feel when I finally achieve my goal is indescribable.

I grew up in one of the wealthiest families in Minnesota and I was constantly reminded by the many family get togethers that were held at one of my uncle’s houses. You see, in my family the term wealth does not have the same definition as that of the one in the dictionary. Instead of riches and an abundance of money, I was born into a massive and united family that has supported each other throughout each others lives’. In truth, my family has been through extremely tough times financially, especially so in this last year with the loss of our main source of income, my mother’s job. With a roofing, seasonal working father and a year full of rain, there wasn’t much money to be spared for anything other than the essentials and even then those

When life gives you the opportunity to be successful, you take it. So, out of every let down or every time you ever ask yourself, “was it worth it?”…, you say “definitely”, persevere, and continue seeking greatness. When I got that opportunity, I hit the ground running. I was hungry to become successful, hungry to graduate from college, hungry to even hear my dad say, “I’m proud of you”. Maybe I could have taken a different route but hey, growing up in a small town like Mullins SC with a high unemployment rate, don’t get you too far. I couldn’t find myself falling into that statistic. Working temp jobs, wondering how I would pay for college…, it was rough, definitely some humble beginnings. This by no means is a message for sympathy.

Throughout my life I have battled against mayor struggles. Struggles which to some may seem like it was nothing and to others it may look like it`s a horrible situation. My entire childhood I lived in my home country of Puerto Rico, and honestly had never thought about the outside world. As time passed, the more crime progressed to levels that could never be seen in America. Crime had become unbearable and unescapable, so much that stepping on someone’s shoe on accident would lead to that person shooting you or threatening to do so. I as a child could see what was happening, and I could see how my countries problems had affected me greatly. Shootings right behind my house almost every day, 9-year-old`s bringing guns and pocket knives to school, people breaking in to my school to kill students selling drugs. The biggest problem that affected me was that my father, being a kind-hearted man, risked his life to save two students who were

Have you ever wished that you could wake up with not a worry in the world? I know I have but life hits hard doesn’t it? As a young child in elementary school or even not in school yet life is easy I would say. The kids don’t have too much on their plate, all they are worried about is nap time, snack time, recess time you know fun thing. Then suddenly you grow up! Remember all the fun times you had? Now it’s all about work time, class time, dinner time heck half the time we don’t even know what bed time is. Although it all may seem scary and hard there are ways to balance school, work and family.

“When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.” These are the words of Eric Thomas, my inspiration, and that of many others. The starting of high school directly coincides with a change in my life; nonetheless, of which both come to be what I call my greatest milestone. From this milestone, I have led a better, more impressive path than I would have if I these words and the many more that continue to inspire me had fallen on the deaf ears of my past self. One of the most important parts of this milestone is the why I started seeking an adjustment; from this why I realized what was holding me hostage to the dreams I endlessly longed for and why they would to me always remain fantasies of a what if lifestyle. There have been many instances in which this refining of my life has benefited me; however, none compare to how far hitting this milestone has assisted me in my school life.

Over the course of a person’s life, there are events that play a vital role in shaping his or her characteristic. These events could be momentarily, or take many years to happen; regardless, it is what we gain from those moments that are important. All my life, I’ve learned how to be optimistic and adaptive to everything that I will encounter.

I have always believed that most of the time the cruelest people are the ones who have endured the most pain. I have also always believed there is no reason it has to be that way. There is so much to be said for a person who has received so much pain and hurt from the world, and yet gives back nothing but love and happiness. That is the person I aspire to be, and that I believe everyone else should aspire to be also.

There was not a specific moment I became me, it was more of a gradual thing. After many years of growing up I realize who I am. I know I am honest, strong, and sometimes I take things too literal. I know that I am still growing up and I have not completely became who I will be, but this is me now.

I heard rumors of what life would provide which were spoken by the endless waves of the New Jersey coastlines after they forced me down, under the salty waters and it was my personal duty to rise up again before I was swept away- a lecture on getting up when life pushed its members down. It was a lesson that life itself is tough, and resilience is required for advancement and that example has always followed me in life. I had also dared to follow a trail with my older brother up the Appalachian mountains while in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The higher up we went, the thinner the trail that ran along a cliff’s edge and the more ice coated the rocks underneath us. My brother was a gritty boy who never showed any affection and often treated

Each of us has a different story, where we come from, who we are, who we want to be or what change we want to create in this world. Every person has a story to tell, some of them are good, others inspiring, and others hard to explain. Today I am going to share an experience that change my life completely not in a bad way, but made me grow as a person and keep going no matter how hard the things in life can get. We have to move on and find new beginnings, new ways to appreciate the things you already have but you cannot see.

On October 30th 2008, my father died in my arms. He had succumbed to a short, but painful fight with lung cancer. It was the defining turning point in my life, Leading me down the path to become the man that I am today. It was the first, of many hard lessons. None of which I regret experiencing. Yes many of these moments have been incredibly painful, and seemingly unsurvivable at times. They have however made me a strong and diligent young man.