Junior Year Strengths

I believe my talent is time management, working hard, and helping others. Being a student-athlete I had to develop time managing early. When I made the girl's varsity basketball team my freshman year I realized just how time-consuming it was. There were days where I woke up at four in the morning to do homework and study for tests, after getting home from a game at nine pm. Learning to handle this full schedule challenged me as a student. It gave me the confidence to go take harder classes after freshman year. Sophomore year I took AP World History and three Honors classes. Junior year, I did so as well. But I’ve really pushed myself this year, because I am taking four AP classes: Environmental Science, Psychology, Calculus, and Government.

From the courses that I have taken so far at Cal State Long Beach, I have noticed that there are a few things that have prevented from performing to my fullest potential. I would have to say the the main one would be procrastination. Even though I know that I have responsibilities I tend to postpone my work and I end up doing it all at the last minute. There are times that doesn't happen, but unfortunately it happened more often than it should. Another issue is that I sometimes i do not understand the material and rather than seeking help by going to office hours I tend to just ask a friend to explain or I just go to the library understand the material. It does help me since my comprehension is enhanced, though there are limits since to a certain

Throughout many of the arduous AP courses I took in high school I was pushed to my limits, but I accomplished my goals through hard work. One example of this would be my AP United States History class. This class was one of the most difficult courses I had taken, mostly due to the sheer amount of information being presented and needed to be memorized. Even though the basics of U.S. history had been taught to me in one way shape or form every school year, there was brand new information on people and important dates. At first I struggled with the work load and text, but I eventually made it through and succeeded by diving

One of my prime examples of both my academic strengths and weaknesses is my performance in math. I have received more than one C in my high school math classes. However, the highest SAT score was my math score. Another weakness I had at times throughout my years of high school was investing too much time socializing As a result, I would not spend enough time doing homework, which affected my test scores causing my grades to be lower than what I preferred. Looking back, I didn't take my classes seriously because I wasn't truly considering going to college until my junior year. Then I knew that I had to get the best grades during my last two years. That year I ended with a C in Pre-Calculus but if I had not reached out to my teachers because I felt lost in the class, stayed after school for one-one-one help, and reached out to friends that had a better understanding of the material, I probably would have failed the class. In college, I plan on strengthening my academic performance by continuing to focus and put effort into my classes, balance classes with my social life, be motivated and

In the beginning of my junior year, I had signed up for one of the most intimidating classes in my high school, AP chemistry. While I took chemistry honors, I heard rumors about the AP course and seen homework packets that overwhelmed me to the point of removing the class from next year’s schedule. However, out of impulsiveness, I decided it was time for a challenge and put the course back on my schedule. When I received my summer assignment for the course, I felt confused and regretful about the decision I had made. My commitment to not fail the class the first week back from break forced me to focus on the time-consuming homework. From my struggle, I managed to finish the packet on time. The school year began, and one of the first lessons

As I began my junior year, I found myself juggling a rigorous academic schedule, varsity tennis, a social life and a new job. At first, I figured I could balance all of these activities. However, I became humbled by a 32% on an early Physics test triggering sheer panic regarding future applications to college. Knowing my grades needed to trend up as a junior, I dug down and did everything possible to improve my grades. I committed myself to a nightly study regimen consisting of intermittent on-off study blocks. Diligent removal of all distractions, including my I-Phone while studying was a major key. Also, I reduced my hours at work and often went to school early to meet with my teachers to review material. This action plan ultimately led to the improvement of my grades in all classes, culminating with a “B” in Physics and meeting my overall goal of a 4.0 GPA. Yes, I had failed a single test, but the real failure was not prioritizing and planning my activities proactively. The lesson I learned from this

My difficult courses has taught me to always give my best effort no matter how hard the task at hand is. I have taken three advanced placement classes and four honors classes. Taking on these courses I sacrifice leisure time to study. I study between two to three hours a night for these classes so I can do my best. This is exemplified with me getting all A’s in my classes last semester. The monumental lesson I learned from my course load is to

My first semester in college I was not dilatory towards responsibilities. I had the drive to do school work again. While I did experience minor complications when it came to writing papers for English it did not hinder my overall performance. The following semester, however, I delayed action more than I did in high school. I made myself aware of only the responsibilities which required completion. Consequently, I put every objection off. I had a difficult time remaining on task especially when

Soon, I discovered a method to avoid the potential of feeling insubstantial, if only for a few more hours or days. Thus, allow me to introduce you to an old friend, procrastination. My way of thinking soon became, “If I’m not going to get an A, then why even put the effort in?” and consequently, innumerable assignments were put off until five in the morning where it would be due in two hours or it would never reach my teacher’s hands at all. I’m sure most teachers believed the cause to be laziness or a lack of ambition, however I strongly believe that if they’d known the constant stress, self-doubt, and exhaustion that I

However, junior year of high school changed that: I was given the opportunity to take either AP Psychology, or AP European History. I felt that the obvious choice would be to take AP European History, since I’m European and therefore already had a solid foundation for succeeding in the class, but something inside me told me to take a blind leap of faith and choose AP Psychology instead. This choice proved to be one of the greatest decisions I have made in my life. Through this class, I emerged myself into the world of psychology and fell in love with it. I didn’t complete the assignments to get a good grade. I completed them because I cherished every minute of it, and I started applying the materials learned in class to real life

I have many things to learn going forward in this program. My weaknesses are many, but I’ve learned a lot about my strengths this semester as well. I’ve found I make up for intelligence, in my dedication to this program. I’m always trying to think of new ways to improve and study. The majority of my time is spent studying, practicing skills, and planning for the program. I do make time for self-care as well. From the beginning, I have wanted to take this seriously, and I feel as though I’ve succeeded in doing that. I may not be the smartest student, but I am always willing to put in the work to get to the level I am expected to be at by my instructors. On that note, I have

this would be an example of me not taking my workload seriously. Finally and probably the biggest reason for my initial failure was the work I turned in was horrible. For example, if my home work was due Sunday by 5:00 pm I would literally sit down Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm open the homework assignment skim the reading to find what I considered important relevant points and that is how I would answer the home work questions. Instead of actually reading every day, retaining what I read and answering the home work questions with not just a line from the reading material, but understanding the reading and the ideas and messages in the books so my answers to the homework questions are more detailed, specific and educated. If I was just skimming the reading to answer homework questions, when it came to the exams I wasn’t even close to grasping the principals and ideas for each section that I found myself guessing for most of test questions. that may have worked in high school but in college I can’t pull it off. My strengths are that I have that first unsuccessful semester to gain an understanding of just how much effort I’ll have to put in to get this done. Along with effort another strength is

Given the AP class list at Charlestown High School, and my constant relocating between states during high school, I was only able to take one AP class- AP Language & composition. After coming back to Charlestown High, halfway into September of 2016, I was put into AP Lang and was required to complete all of the summer work in one week. Despite all of the readings and annotations, I was able to complete the requirements, along with a 1500 word essay before the deadline and received the highest grade. Regardless of the challenges that I face outside, and inside of school I’ve always been able to strive for academic excellence and push myself to partake in the creation of new knowledge. Throughout my time in high school when given work that I could not fully comprehend in class, I would spend hours after school teaching myself what I could not understand before. By pushing myself to learn more outside of school I always ended up being ahead of my class in the long run. If given the chance to be a part of the Program I feel that I will have a strong community to learn from, teach and help in order to better myself and others no matter the coursework. No matter the case I always have the motivation to strive for excellence in everything that I do whether

I can remember missing 8:05 classes because I stayed out too late the night before. In high school the teacher would constantly remind the students when certain assignments were due, but this was not the case in college. I learned that the hard way my first semester. Sometimes I forgot to turn in an assignment because I didn’t properly read my syllabus and my professor never mentioned it. These were all new problems that could have easily let escalate without taking the proper actions. For the most part I was doing fairly well but a few of my grades began to plummet. I was losing the confidence in myself and started to wonder if going to college had been the best decision. The time had come for me to grow up and become an adult even I didn’t feel the time was right. I immediately began attending tutoring sessions, working with peers and also keeping a daily to-do list. These factors were the eventually led to drastic improvement and success. After my first semester I learned how better manage my time, take advantage of campus resources and also how to organize myself better. These struggles also taught me that sometimes I try and rush through things instead of taking my time. I realized that one of my strong points is being able to really do well when my back is against the wall. Although I was unhappy while facing obstacles I am happy I experienced them. I believe this experience was the reason for my

As said in the earlier paragraph, a giant barricade to my academic and career success is my occasional lack of motivation to start something until later on. While I was in high school this seemed to work up until my senior year when reality hit me like a ton of bricks. I realized that holding things off until the last minute does not work when a ten-page paper is due or a chapter reading assignment. Moving forward I cannot procrastinate, especially since the babying of high school is over, so I am only left with self-motivation. There is no longer going to be someone to remind me every day to start on a