College Admissions Essay: Who I Was And How I Am

This is the question that every college wants to know. But with the endless amount of applicants, distancing yourself from the crowd seems like an almost impossible feat. Throughout my years of school, academics have always been what set me apart, but at a college like Harvard, stellar grades and extracurriculars are expected. On paper, it might be difficult to distinguish me from the other 40,000 applicants. Just based on probability, there is bound to be another Japanese boy with divorced parents who lives in California. It’s easy to blend into the crowd if I described myself with these types of generalized titles and traits.

Earlier in my life I thought success was having a lot of money, houses, cars, etc. I grew up thinking that people who had lots of money were successful and happy. My obsession then, became to make a lot of money so that I can lead a successful and happy life. I have come to understand that success is not in the amount of wealth or property you have amassed.

Who am I? This question takes me back to my family's history and my childhood and how it impacted my life. Just as the quote by Marcus Garvey, "A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." This topic also allows me to reflect on my experiences and how that impacted who I am today. Not only that my future also defines who I am, such as my future dreams, and what I am doing now to make those dreams come true. Plus, my values, and beliefs that I carry with me.

Growing up is a journey we all have to travel. Everyone makes their own paths on an adventure of change. Along the way, the path will be beautiful and smooth-sailing, bumpy and rough, and sometimes conflict will appear out of the blue. At times forks in the road will show up and decisions must be made. Change is inevitable. Throughout a lifetime decisions made will be small and slight, or huge and major. It does not matter because one decision can change one’s path completely. Even the slightest change can make the difference. The decision could even be a change of hairstyle. A change in hairstyle could lead to a new fashion sense, to a new genre of music, to a completely new person. I myself have noticed many differences and similarities between my middle school self and now; and it is only the beginning.

The importance of studying the process of growing old from a life course perspective is that it allows you to see all the variables and factors that affect how a person will age. This framework entail the mental, physical and socioeconomic well being of aging individuals, including their entire lifetime. This means that your past affects your future health. This perspective views aging as the last stage of a lifespan. “We cannot understand what old age means unless we understand it as a part of the entire course of human life,[...], the last stage of life shaped by a lifetime of experience.”(Moody, Harry. and Sasser, Jennifer. Aging: Concepts and Controversies. Sage Publishers, London, 2018.) The advantages of studying aging this way prevents

If I were to look three years into my future many things would have probably changed. Even the slightest of dying my hair a bright color to moving, anything. With the important influential people in my life, of friends and family, I see differences to now. With friends comes the different classes or involved in different clubs. With family it’s different, new people might be welcomed, but the inner family right now will always stay close. I hope for a strong bond with these people as life changes.

I also changed because I am more open and show who I truly am. If it’s the weekend I really don’t care about what I wear out in public I will throw on my straw hat, jeans

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

My background makes me who I am. I come from a family whose focus is education, and that is what I value the most. Coming from a family who prioritizes education, I enjoy doing anything that quenches my thirst for knowledge. I am an avid student with a focus in mathematics and science. I grew up with the urge to learn, and this hunger for information has made me who I am today.

I’ve changed a lot in many ways and didn’t change at all in others. I’ve always been pretty flexible with people. I’ve always been able to enjoy the company of different types of people because I like many different things myself. I would tell myself not to worry about who I am and just enjoy things that happened day by day. The future is the future and it will happen whether I prepare for it ten years in advance or not at all. I spent too much time scare about what college opportunities I would have. Now, I know there are more possibilities than I can imagine and I can do anything I set my mind to.

I was not always who I am today. Although I am still considered young and my people live longer than most, my experiences have aged me beyond most of the elder elves that I have met.

Growing older is a chain of strategies that start with lifestyles and maintain in the course of the existence cycle. It represents the ultimate period within the lifespan, a time whilst the man or woman looks returned on existence, lives on beyond accomplishments and starts off evolved to finish off his life path. Adjusting to the adjustments that accompany vintage age requires that a person is flexible and develops new coping abilities to evolve to the modifications which might be common to this time of their lives (Warnick, 1995).

I am from the 20 hour airplane rides to flying to China in a airplane that was as crowded as a herd of zebras. I am from not eating a meal in 18 hours to bearing a grudge against airplane food. I am from watching TV on the airplane to not dozing for many hours. I am from climbing the wall of CHINA to seeing a fantastic view. I am from climbing Mother Nature’s cloud touching skyscrapers to feeling my organs glaciate. It was like I could see the whole world. I am from eating the mouth watering Chinese food from the sizzling pan in the kitchen to seeing the oil dance around the pan. I am from riding my superior uncle’s motorcycle to feeling a cool breeze whacking me in the face. I’m from walking on the crowded streets to hearing the food getting cooked. SSSSSSSS! I am from the scorching rays of the sun at the Bahamas to jet skiing on the ocean jumping around on the waves. I am from cruises that feel like cities to staying up until 3:00 AM. I am from the skin penetrating air of Alaska to walking on colossal glaciers. I am from going to Mexico and getting a mind-twisting statue made out of obsidian to riding boiling hot buses. I am from traveling the world to

The maturity of my growth doesn’t end with my graduation of high school because it’s experiences in life as a whole that shapes me as an individual. Everyone’s uniqueness should never be judged. I have no idea what someone goes through in their life, so it’s never right to make assumptions about them. With high school comes plenty of mistakes, but those mistakes made are the most beneficial in the long run because they’ve shaped me into a better person. Putting my school work first and my social life second has helped me become successful in

I didn't change a lot the only difference is, that I learned that I can't scream loudly. For example when someone gave me a lollipop or any kind of candy when I was a baby I used to laugh loudly it was basically screaming, but it was funny trust me. I was really picky when it came to food and I am still picky didnt really changed a lot. That's when Nature play its role, I never liked meat especially lamb as I grew up I tried to change it by trying to eat them, but didn't really go that well because I still hate lamb so much. So I think somethings will never change. Temperament is really interesting and I can write another paper just on it because you get to know yourself more and more as you go deeper into the topic of nature versus