Describe How You Have Taken Advantage Of A Significant Educational Obstacles In The Uc Prompt. 1

Moving from Jordan to the United States was challenging for my family. I was the only child at the time and my parents primarily spoke Arabic in the house. The elementary teachers I had described me as a timid student, because I could barely speak English. I had difficulty with simple reading and writing, while other students went through class with ease. Needing extra tutoring classes and years of being in ESL was exhausting. However, learning how to read, write, and speak English fluently was only the beginning of my journey.

For the past three years of my high school career, and now my fourth, I have made it an obligation to continually expand my horizons in regards to math; when I cannot fully grasp an idea or concept, rather than giving up, I relentlessly pursue the idea until it is understood. During freshman year, math did not come easily to me. I was forced to go in early some days because, simply, I did not comprehend the concepts. However, taking initiative with my school work, and constantly working through problems that were difficult can be deemed one of the best decisions I have made. Although my final grade may not have been an

1. Discuss the subjects in which you excel or have excelled. To what factors do you attribute your success? Use specific examples to illustrate how you succeed.

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How did this challenge affected your academic achievements?

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

My educational past has had its good and bad days. In early grades school was easy and school was enjoyable. Somewhere along the line I lost my talent and things went south quickly. For some reason I kept telling myself studying wasn’t necessary because of how well I did in the past. In the sixth grade we had our first math test. I figured why study, I’m smart, all the answers will come right to me. I start the test and immediately start struggling. I couldn’t remember anything and of course when I got it back, it was an F. After receiving that F, I realized things have changed and I must put forth much more effort. Math for me was never the same after that moment. I started struggling with memorizing the equations and my grade suffered. One thing I needed to realize was I didn’t have all the knowledge. In the past, my education has been a little rocky.

After all, math was one of my best subjects. I had never really had an experience where I just couldn't understand the concept of a math problem, of how it was solved and why. Our teachers has warned us back in elementary school, that one day we would hit an invisible wall and not ease through classes. That one day we would struggle with understanding a problem, a concept or even a subject. I had never believed them, thinking this would never happen to me, that I could somehow avoid this wall of confusion and just walk right through. But there I was, utterly confused and frustrated at a simple problem that everyone else could solve. Why was I not seeing it? Why couldn't I understand the solution? I asked myself. For the first time in my life I really struggled to get an A in a class. I had my sister tutor me almost every day, preparing for a quiz and then the next, and the next. I came in to my teacher for lunch and he helped me step by step. I studied for tests, and worked hard. And my work payed off. I got a high A in the course, and a lot of experience from it. It taught me how to work hard for something, to earn a good grade when you deserve it, and it gave me the skills I needed to get As in the high school classes I am taking this

many obstacles along the way and still managed to overcome them. A difficult challenge I have faced throughout high school would be the time I decided to

My first failure discouraged me to the point where, I felt like I would never reach an advanced math level again. The lack of self-confidence that resulted from my sub-par math scores soon began to negatively affect some of my other classes. I quickly realized that the trend had to stop. I worked diligently to achieve what, at the time, seemed unattainable. My change in the outlook of my repeated failures helped me to finally succeed. Throughout the course of the last two years, I have grown more self-aware in my study habits. I push myself even harder when I think I have done the best I can.

Overcoming obstacles will always be something that a person will experience. So far on my journey I've had a bump in the road with financial aid. However, that will not discourage me or prevent me from obtaining my college degree, when there's a will there's a way.

Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome and educational barrier you have faced.

When you are not given much chooses a circumstance can be a huge obstacle in your life. My obstacle was Spanish. I am Mexican but I was raised in an English speaking home where my parents always new Spanish from early ages, but me, I only knew few words up until a few years ago. My mom was born in Mexico and Spanish was her first language while my father born here was raised in a Spanish speaking home his whole life. Everyone around me on my mother’s side minus a few cousins spoke Spanish: grandparents, uncles, and aunts. After years of ignorance I felt it was time to finally learn Spanish so I could effectively communicate with my family. Plus living in the borderland, knowing Spanish is a huge benefit. At first I tried the public school system

Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

Growing up, achieving near perfect grades in school quickly became my utmost priority. I excelled in nearly every subject, particularly math, all throughout elementary, middle, and most of high school; however, this year, my senior year, I had experienced what I’ve always considered to be my absolute worst nightmare: receiving a low test grade in a math class.

Throughout my education, I had so many challenges I had to overcome. Dealing with school, personal life, and sports. Dealing with all of these problems has shaped me up as a person. I know now how to work for what I want, nothing is handed to me in life. That is something everyone needs to know, and now I know.