Application Essay To James Madison University

Discovering and choosing a college that best suits my needs was a rigorous yet thrilling task. The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising clearly came forth as the best choice for me to further my education in design. Being unable to visit the college campus, as I live in New York, I've done lots and lots of research about FIDM, and I realize the institute offers what I hope to gain from my college experience.

Going to college has been a dream of mine growing up. I am the first ever in my family to go to college but figuring out how to pay for it has been a challenge. I desire to achieve my academic and career goals and this scholarship can help me succeed in my journey.

I believe that I am a worthy candidate for this scholarship due to my recognition of the financial impact of college. Growing up in a single parent home has been a financially and emotionally difficult feat for my mother and myself. When I was seven years old, my father passed away from a blood clot. During his life, he served in Vietnam, where he was granted a Purple Heart after shattering his kneecap on a landmine. He was on disability, and my mother was employed as a rehabilitation nurse, the only source of income in our family. After his death, my mother and I both began to go to therapy for our grief over losing my father. Focusing on my mental health helped me accept the meaning of death, and struck my motivation to honor my father and ensure that he would be proud of me. When I grew up, we always relied on getting clothes from thrift stores to save money and cutting any unnecessary expenditures. My mother always worked to have enough money for food and comfort. I received monetary Survivor Benefits after his death until my high school graduation this past May. As mentioned before, my mother has Multiple Sclerosis, which is an unfortunately expensive illness. Shortly after her diagnosis, the rehabilitation unit of her work closed and she was left on unemployment right before my sophomore year of high school. I was not old enough to drive or work, so finances were incredibly strict. On my 16th birthday, I attended an orientation to work as a lifeguard at our local YMCA. The next day, I also got my license to eliminate transportation issues. My employment alleviated financial and emotional stress on my mother, as I was able to contribute to the bills and my personal expenses. Throughout my life, my mother has also been very dependent on alcohol to relieve stress. There were numerous times where I

As my senior year comes around, it has become more real to me that I have to take charge of my future. I deserve and need this scholarship just as I need oxygen to breathe. Being the first in my family to attend college or even have the idea in their head means I’m on my own to discover what to do to get into college and how to come up with the means. I

Since the time when I was little, my parents always encourage me to do the best, work hard, become educated and have a positive life style at a very young age. My earliest memories are that of reading interesting books because I love to read and do my science whiz experiments. However, I also had great interests in playing with Lego pieces and conducting fun chemistry games in my own tiny lab. It was a fun time for me; at least that’s how I recall it now. The only things I had to worry about were: what will I have for lunch today, which chemistry game or Lego pieces do I want to play with and my team winning the sports games I use to compete in.

Moving my whole life to the United States was a special challenge to me. I had to be familiar with life style, environment, education system, culture, and tradition which are different from my country Iraq. Before I moved to the United States, I spent three years in a university in Iraq; however, these years in the university did not help me to get to the college level in the United States. It was like I needed to start from zero. I did not give up because I have a goal to be a doctor. Therefore, I took ESOL classes, passed Texas Admission Test, and now I am in my Junior year.

Driving to Starbucks in Arvada and the weather was calm, cool and collective. It became the most interesting, graceful and intense summer that year. It was summer of 2012 and I sat across my bible study leader surrounded by coffee at Starbucks as she told me to grip the coffee cup. She used it as an analogy as accepting Christ in my life. As I took the coffee cup and accepted Christ as my savior, my life has forever changed and the blessings have been flowing into my life that only GOD can give. I have chosen Colorado Christian University as my choice of college to finish out my bachelor’s degree because I have a strong ambition to chase after a relationship with Jesus. I want to use my spiritual gifts I have been given to spread the love of Jesus

Coming from a family that supports and pushes you to do your best, has been the best encouragement in life. When I had started Kindergarten ten years ago, I was like any other child, ready to learn. It was difficult for me and for other children to successfully learn a whole new language. It is understandable that it was equally challenging for the teachers to help us understand. While some did try, others only assumed it was better to retain those students in the same grade so that they could keep learning.

Many people, since I was little, pressured me into going to college. My parents didn't mind what I decided, all that mattered is what makes me happy. They would support me no matter what my heart decided to do. Over the years family members tried to persuade me into believing that without a college degree you'll never become successful. To them, college had to be a part of my future which I think is the main reason I decided that college would be for me. Ever since I was told that I started to disagree and pushed myself to realize that I wanted to prove them wrong. I can do anything I want and accomplish any goals I have as long as I set my mind to it. College isn't the only way to become successful, working can get you places you never thought possible.

"We are all here for some special reason. Stop being a prisoner of your past. Become the architect of your future" (Robin Sharma). I have come across this quote several times and each time, it has been inspirational. Moving to the United States from Iraq at the age of eight is one of the challenges for which I am most grateful. Growing up as a child in a country with poor living standards, poor education, and poor medical care made living conditions difficult for my family and I on a day-to-day basis. Coming here and being able to see how wide-ranged and expansive the pharmaceutical field was tremendously encouraging.

I like to read, it gives me both the ability to paint a storyline in my head and to envision what another person thinks. For fiction, I have a slight bias towards the gothic and existential works, especially when I was younger. It was in the sixth grade that I read Lemony Snicket’s Austere Academy, and when I learned the phrase memento mori, or “remember you will die”.

If someone asked me where I am going to be in ten years, this would be my answer. I will have a great, high-paying job, and beautiful wife and family, and a nice sports car parked in front of my lovely house. When I look into the future, I see myself being successful and happy. Even though I always pictured myself this way, I never worried too much about how I would get there. I feel the Suffolk University can lay the groundwork for making these dreams into reality.

It was hard finding my passion growing up with family of two very business oriented parents, a brother about to finish medical school, and a sister getting her PhD in Public Health. From the start of high school I was always told I needed to be a business, pre-med, or pre-law major to make any money in life. Everyone in my family perceived success as a monetary value, the higher your salary the higher your happiness. However, I was never able to wrap my head all the way around the idea. It seemed right on the surface but as I progressed throughout high school taking classes like accounting, AP biology, and AP government I found myself hating the courses. Even if jobs in fields related to these subjects were the ones that made you money in the real world, why should I be miserable taking classes like this my entire college career to get a job I would probably hate my

I have been raised on the edge of a small village called Coloma, Wisconsin. Each day, I would wake up to corn fields, pine trees, and a lovely swamp, where you are able to hear frogs all day long in the summer. Just picture the ideal country life and that is where I grew up. I have a strong country backbone, and I am proud of it. It has taught me to work hard at everything I do. “You’ll get out what you put into it,” is a saying of my mother’s that explains my life in my academics and involvement in the community.

I have written this letter to give an explanation, not a justification, on why my year went the way it did.