College Admissions Essay: Understanding Who I Am

Who am I? This question asked so often suggests that there is actually a reasonable answer. Almost as if our own personal being were a fixed thing. Generally, people who ask this type of question are usually struggling with their identity and thus are looking for something to make sense of themselves. The irony is that the more you seek to identify who you are, the more you are exposed to being fragile. Some people spend their live looking for an answer that could possibly satisfy them but still never find anything. The main focus shouldn't be on discovering who you are but on considering the social influences that have affected you.

There have been labels placed upon me throughout my life. Some have stayed with me while others have dropped off. Without these labels ruling how people see me I feel like I would be more free to do things than I am now.

Ever since I was little I have aspired to be something great in life, a chef, a pro. soccer player, and an artist. I still hold on to those dreams in hopes they will come true. All of these dreams shape who I am today. I play soccer for “Charlotte Soccer Academy” and previously for the “Waddell Soccer Team”. Both have kept me being a team player and a stronger leader. I go to visual arts camp over the summer and try to use creativity at any moment possible. I love making cupcakes and baking which also allow me to be creative. I have finally realized that all of these dreams originated from my family. I pursued soccer, like my parents did throughout their lives. I continue drawing, like my mother and father did until it became their life and jobs. I am still love making cakes and cupcakes every weekend, just like how i've seen my grandmother make them. Life has a very strange and mind-boggling way of turning out. I know that sounds cheesy, but it is really true.

What makes me unique? This is a question that many people may ask themselves over the years. Upon pondering upon it, I realized that a lot of us our the same, especially in a school setting. We wake up, eat breakfast, go to all of our classes and go home. Even extra curricular have an abundant amount of people attending. So what makes us unique? Looking around and thinking about students, nothing obvious stands out. So I started looking at commonalities. Most people love gossip, so rumors are always a hot topic in a highschool. Upon thinking about rumors, it really shows how much people are judged by these stigmas made by other people. What makes me different from other people is my ability to never believe rumors.

One success that makes me who I am is learning to sing. I love music, and I especially love to sing. The feeling I get when I sing is unlike any other. I feel more connected to the world. Sometimes I feel as though I’ve always been able to sing. This, however, is not the case. My mom is really into singing, she likes to make up songs as she goes about what she’s doing. When I was little, I loved to hear her sing, and would request certain songs. Mom tried to teach me how to sing myself, but I just couldn’t seem to get it. One day, as we were walking in a Walmart parking lot, Mom sang the scales from The Sound of Music, and I managed to sing it too. I was off pitch, but after that, Mom was able to teach me how to sing. Learning how to sing was a really big success for me. Being in chorus and singing are integral parts of who I am today, and through singing I’ve learned important lessons, such as following directions, when to open my mouth (and when to keep it shut), and most importantly, how to empathize

What makes me unique is my diverse background, attention to detail, and enthusiasm to learn. My mother and father had me when they were sixteen years old. Both parents ended up dropping out of high school, and my father was a well-known gang member from Norwalk, California. My grandparents decided to raise me, so I would have a decent childhood. I grew up in the City of Pomona, California. While growing up, I was exposed to various artistic expressions, different music genres, and various cultures. After high school, I ended up enlisting in the United States Marine Corps. I served on active duty for seven years and four months and received an Honorable Discharge. While on active duty, I traveled to exotic countries such as Okinawa, Mainland Japan, South Korea, Australia, Kuwait, and Iraq. After my military service, I traveled to the Philippines. I can honestly say that I enjoy experiencing, and learning, from different cultures. This experience has allowed me to better understand and engage various people within my community, my work, and at school. Another characteristic that makes me unique is my attention to detail.

When it comes to my deepest thoughts, I always worry if I can either do it or if I’m even good enough. I have always struggled in school and had those teachers that told me that I couldn’t do it or I was succeed, but that just made me push harder and that is what motivates me. Along with that I had have students brought me down and that is what ticked me off, I had either people who thought they knew me or people who didn't even know me say horrible things.

The moment when I was old enough to comprehend how I came into this world, I should have known there would be a great deal of impediments for me to overcome. I was mistaken as twins because of a little white lie which led my grandmother to bring two bassinets to the hospital. However, everyone would soon have the relief of knowing there was only one me; but a fear of panic would surface once it was determined that my feet had took the place of where I may head should have fell. I was born breech. My world was upside down before I even took my first breath. A world I didn’t ask to be in but became grateful for because of my grandmother. My life was never intended to be simple. I owe my life accomplishments’ to the woman who was willing to take both of me home. She is the reason I am who I am today and the reason I will be who I am tomorrow.

I will never have my father’s smile or my mother’s eyes. My skin tone will also never match their pale skin even though I am their daughter. Although my siblings and I are all adopted from China, growing up in this unique family dynamic played an integral role in my development. I have grown to realize my ethnicity and upbringing are not labels used by my peers to define me. My background has helped me push through social barriers to build friendships. It challenged me to impel beyond the world’s “black and white” boundaries to see a society that thrives on diversity. My multicultural background equipped me with experiences that gave me a new perspective on privilege and responsibility, preparing me to overcome obstacles in the global industry

I like to think of myself as an incredibly unique individual, and you can ask anyone that knows me personally and they would agree. I’m intelligent, have an interesting cultural background, have an awesome personality, and am a good people person. These are the traits that describe me and in order to fully understand who I am as a person, it is necessary to know them. First, there is my intellect.

It’s a good thing that high school is the place for finding yourself, because who I am is something I am still figuring out. In my opinion, education and discovering more about who you are go hand in hand, because as you learn you are exposed to new ideas, cultures, and other things that could change one’s personality and views. Even Aristotle once said, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.” I may not have discovered everything about myself, but I know that I am an amiable, inquisitive, and assiduous person. Although I possess many valuable traits, no one is perfect and I know I am quite unorganized and forgetful. All of these traits are important attributes of my character, and I wouldn’t be myself without them.

Everyone has something that has helped them go through life with a sense of purpose and happiness. Some people have a safe haven, some people have a special person, and some people have a special pastime. However, the luckiest of people have all three, and I consider myself truly blessed to be one of those people. My religion has been a longstanding outlier in my life, because it has proved to always fulfill my life with serenity and happiness. Growing up, I was not always the star child in any given place. I acted out in school, I was stubborn to my parents at home, and I did things I knew were not okay in life. However, after a transformation of myself through my faith in religion, I can confidently say that I now have so much to give to Rutgers University. Although I was not always this way, I now hold self confidence, determination, a hard work ethic, and plenty of honor in my school life.

Sometimes a person may feel that they have no purpose in life. Finding out who you are just takes the time of sitting down and thinking of the importance in your life. Who am I? I am Mercedes Kimberly Kingston, and I am a person with different personalities, characteristics, and identities. The many ways, in which I identify myself, in fact, are the ways that define who I am. My Identity is something only I can fully define. I have a little brother, which makes me a sister; I have two loving parents, which makes me a daughter; I am in college studying medicine, which makes me a student; and I have wonderful friends in desperate need of support, which makes me a wonderful best friend.

Who am I? That’s hard to say since there is no clear definition of what makes a person. I could be my occupations: a student, dancer, and swimmer. Maybe I’m my emotions like happy, sad, and angry. I could be where I live, or what my goals are and how I plan to reach them. Most likely, I’m a compilation of all of these because people are complex and are not two dimensionally made. Where I am, how I act, and what I do make me who I am and I would not be Veronica without living in this house in Portland, Texas and having aspirations that seem to be more impossible than seizing the moon. I am Veronica, but I can also be whatever I need to be depending on where I live, what I do, and how I change my goals.

When I look in the mirror I know whom I am, but society makes it difficult to understand who I am, because I was born to immigrants of Nigerian descent, and I am a first generation American, that term is sometimes used so loosely. By looking at my name they assume that I am from some island, but I am so quick to tell them that “I am Nigerian”, there is another statement that normally follows this. “You do not have an accent”. I wonder if I had an accent would I be considered Nigerian and not American; then I say that “My parents are Nigerian” and then that changes, so to them I am just associated with the Nigerian culture it does not make me Nigerian, there has been many discussion between my friends who are the same like me confused to