Free College Admissions Essays: My Passion For Reading

With eyes closed I stand alone, in the dark I smell the sweet scent of fresh-cut grass and feel the soft dirt under my feet. I feel the sunshine on my skin, though I cannot see it. I stand in this blissful moment until I hear a call. Desperation and panic fill the air as I blindly run towards the unknown voice. “HELP ME!” it shouts. I stumble over a log; I can feel the blood trickle down my leg. “HELP ME” another voice shouts. Gradually more and more voices call out for help tugging at my heart. I try to bury myself in my hands and collapse into the soft earth. I jump back in surprise as a cold hand gently traces my face. Tears spill out of my eyes allowing them to open; I look up and see a woman. She wears all black and has a veil over her

My love of reading blossomed when I was a child, because my parents showed me how wonderful reading is. There were countless nights when I remember myself as a little girl refusing to go to sleep before ‘tucking dad into bed’ by reading him a picture book. Not only did I uphold that tradition though, but my mother is a preschool teacher, so she gets really into reading out loud, and she would help me read books such as The Boxcar Children set, The Secret of NIMH and The Chronicles of Narnia weekly until I didn’t need help anymore.

Many people have various valuable items that they cherish, some only have a few but everyone has that one thing that hey hold close to their heart over everything. My one item happens to be a necklace that my papa got me for Christmas right after he was diagnosed with liver cancer. This necklace means so much to me because of the character behind it, the many feelings it gives me and the heartfelt memories behind this one simple gift.

I strongly believe when some people grow up they lose interest in reading books, you can see the many people that don’t like reading in our schools, because most of us are on our phones and reading articles. I mainly read on my phone and I enjoy that more because the articles are short and to the point quicker. Phones have changed on how much I value actual books.

I have a job at Bojangles’. I believe Bojangles’ is a positive influence because it gives me an opportunity to think passively. This has been a great help because I otherwise don’t have many opportunities in my life that allow me to ‘zone out’ while still being productive. This is also a positive influence on my self-esteem because I am able to do something productive and meaningful on a regular basis without it costing me much effort.

Today I still don't enjoy reading books, especially not if they have a movie version. I know reading books make you smarter as a reader and they increases your vocabulary. But honestly reading books seems like a big hassle, For me reading is hard to enjoy, that's like pinching me with a needle I would get agitated quickly. I believe it was Gilbert K. Chesterton once said: “There is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and the tired man who wants a book to

Every day we meet people, we say hello, and we hear two words that ultimately get lodged in our head. We tie those two words to a person's face. Later as we see this person more we learn to associate certain characteristics with those two simple words – smart, bold, beautiful. These two words? Their name. Emily Dunn, a name I first encountered my junior year of high school when a cheery eyed, enthusiastic, and brilliant girl walked into my Algebra Two class and sat next to me. Little did I know that I would come to associate words like – brilliant, humble, and ambitious - with two simple words. Emily

When I was little I hated ELA. I wasn't a fan of reading or writing. I think the reason was because I didn't have an interest in it. But then I thought to myself that ELA will always be with me. So the first book I was actually was interested were the Magic Tree House books. They changed my whole perspective of reading. I was in third grade when I started actually becoming more interested in books, which was a positive thing because every time I finish a book I felt accomplished. The problem about writing for me when I was younger was that I didn't like grammar. I was a terrible speller and I still am but it's a working progress now, but I was just not grasping how to spell words. Part of that was because I wasn't reading as much as I was supposed to.

Three things that describe me is Smart, determined, and a overachiever. There are many other things that make me the person I am. I feel that there is no such thing as weird and the word normal is overrated. Everyone feels that they are normal, but to some that person’s normal may be strange. I love reading huge books that may take other people weeks to read, singing, and having things organized in a certain way.

As a small child, many adjectives defined me. ‘Timid’ was never among these. My mother recalls countless conversations about “Stranger Danger” after I struck up dialogues with the parents of other children on the playground. If the comfort zone is represented by an invisible box, mine spanned entire cities by the time I was in second grade as I made friends with nearly every human being I came into contact with. I had no way of knowing that my box was about to be drastically downsized.

Reading has been one of my favorite hobbies since I was a little child. I grew up as a normal child should grow and eventually I had to start learning for me to fit in society. My literacy started many years ago, after I knew how to talk and communicate with people. Reading my alphabet was quite stressful and I had to be given a hand by my family members. I remember my parents reading with me and it was the most meaningful and memorable way to spend time with me. This is because I liked reading a lot and I was eager to learn so that I could fit in with my older siblings. My favorite books were storybooks taking about adventures and fairytales

My success comes from me wanting to go to a decent college that has the programs that I would like. Success doesn't have to be the same for everyone, the meaning of success can vary. For me, success is all A’s in honors classes and getting commended on all of my STAAR tests. For some others, success might be passing all of their classes as well as the STAAR tests.

My reading experiences have always been enjoyable. I love to read when I find an interesting book. It’s easy for me to be sucked into a book if the story catches my eye. I mostly like to read teen romance novels. They appeal to me simply because of my interest in a love story. My parents hate buying me books because they know I’ll be finished reading within a week or so. Reading has always been really easy to me. It seems almost natural to be sucked into other worlds. The words start to flow over the pages and suddenly it feels like I’m not even reading anymore. Unless I have to read a book for school or it doesn’t catch my attention, I might have a hard time bringing myself to read it.

The more I was being forced to read, the less time I spent reading for enjoyment, until eventually I no longer spent any of my free time with a novel in hand. Reading became a chore; it became boring. Sometimes the simple act of being forced to do something makes you despise it. As a child, I enjoyed several different genres of novels and many different topics intrigued me, so it wasn’t necessarily what I was reading that disinterested me. One required novel I remember reading was The Outsiders in seventh grade. This was a type of book I feel I would normally enjoy because of the mystery and action; however, I couldn’t bring myself to truly become engaged in this novel. Reason being-it was a forced act, with multiple worksheets and homework to accompany the reading. Fast forward to high school when I’m reading my required lengths in an anatomy and physiology textbook. Science has always been an interest of mine; in fact, I’m now majoring in Human Physiology. Yet reading this text wasn’t something I enjoyed. Again, because it felt forced; it was not something I was doing simply out of interest. This is how I continue to feel about most of the reading I do today as a college student.

My grandma has a farm in rural Alberta. The cerulean sky stretches for miles. The sunny canola fields blanket rolling hills and part around trees. At night, the infinite stars smile down on the darkened countryside. It’s where my mom was born and raised with her three brothers. It’s where I feel at home.