College Admissions Essay: How Junior Year Changed My Life

The college essay, sending in the SAT scores, The Common Application, all having to be done before the early action deadlines I needed to meet. I can remember the countless nights I spent in my high school’s library trying to finish all of my homework, on top of finishing all of my pieces for applying to college. Usually, the library was a bright and enjoyable place you could go to get work done, but at this point in time for me, it was a large dark room that felt like it had been closing in on me. When the clock reached eleven in the evening, the janitor would come in and say that he was done cleaning the school and the library was closing for me this was the worst time. Every time I felt like I was getting something productive done, it was already time to go home. Unlike most people, my house is a major distraction zone. The family is always visiting, loud echoing conversations that would reach even two floors above and my dog, who needed attention constantly and cried every time you did not want to play fetch with

The first three months of junior year were very stressful and I’ve never been under so much stress before and it became overwhelming. I missed my parents and it was hard for me to live

Freshman, sophomore, and junior year of high school could never compare to senior year, though these were the years that molded me! I learned about boys. I experienced my first heartbreak. I got great advice from instructors I will never forget. And those years taught me how to forgive, but never

Junior year; considered the most difficult year of high school. Junior year wants to make senior year as relaxing and stress free as possible. Part of this preparation: community service and then writing a paper and making a presentation surrounding that service. Kennedy calls this project the integrated service learning (ISLE) project. For my ISLE project, I built houses in New Orleans through Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization. I found that when hurricane Katrina and the Levis broke it left a tremendous amount left in its wake. Since the trip would knock all my service hours out in a week and I became interested in the project I went and worked on houses and learned a great deal culture and poverty

In my junior year of high school, I learned a valuable lesson and had to come to terms with

The unfortunate event began a completely new and terrifyingly dreadful life experience in which all my previous hard endeavors of securing the structurally sound habit of dedication, commitment, and studying I exercised extensively during my senior year, with the inner weapon of possessing powerful agency to absorb material with an extreme passion and letting my heart beat madly on long-distance runs whenever possible were indeed losing their color at a quickening pace. Suddenly I began to doubt my worth and the world’s lessons soon disappeared from my unawakened consciousness. The delicate networks of improvement and inner faith were becoming swept into a tide wayward, far out to sea where the light of my touch couldn’t embrace it.

Sophomore year was extremely difficult for me. You know how most people go through a rough patch at some point in their life? Well, that was me all of Sophomore year, everything just seemed too big and scary to deal with, and so I basically put everything off. The guidance counselors always use to say when we were going into high school that we would need to stay on top of things before they started to pile up. I just thought that they were just being dramatic to try and scare us into doing our work, but they really weren’t. By the time I realized this, however, it was a little too late, and I was faced with two options; attend summer school to regain the credit that I had lost, or face my peers when school started up again and be two credits

I believe the turning point of my life began with the separation of my parents. I had always imagined myself living in my native homeland of the Dominican Republic. Yet, my life would drastically change as a consequence of my parents divorce. A few weeks after my parent’s divorce, my mother and I arrived undocumented in Boston, Massachusetts. Thus, at the age of fourteen, I found myself in a new country with few family and friends. The following chapter of my life would require me to not only make sacrifices but also become more independent. The meaning and value for me becoming independent at a young age was twofold: (1) I was able to help my mother financially and (2) I learned the meaning of hard work and perseverance. I recognize that my tangible core values cannot be measured by test scores—though I have done well academically—but by my desire and perseverance to become a successful Latina.

Sophomore year turned out to be the worst year that I’ve experienced in all my 16 years and 3 months of living. Remember when I said that the advice given to me by one of my teachers was engraved to the deepest part of my brain? That means that I didn’t remember that until a couple of months ago. But, it was already too late. I was already knee-deep in the mess I created.

The end of my Sophomore year was the worst time of my entire life and the main cause of my beliefs and ideas of myself. Depression hit me hard and fast like being in the two minute and twelve-second knockout boxing match with Muhammad Ali, but gratefully received help from my family, school, and a special someone. It played a massive role in my effectiveness in school work and social life, but that became the start of what I would call a blessing. Motivation and ambition came quickly after the second semester after months of pressure and love from others who I am proud to call family and friends.

It's impossible to think about things that have significantly impacted my life without considering my mother's diagnosis with cancer. It has changed the way I approach nearly everything in my life, and has led to other significant experiences. She was diagnosed the beginning of my Sophomore year, so I've had to balance home and school obligations nearly my entire high school career. I had to take responsibility and start acting more maturely, whether I wanted to or not. My mother suddenly couldn't do many things she used to be able to do, and as my father travels every week I had to step up and fill the void. Through doing this, I've become a lot more independent, and gained better clarity into my priorities and what I want out of my life.

There is no doubt that when an adult enters school, they begins the process of balancing work, family, and school. For me, the pressure at times has been unbearable however; like most people, I find a way to maintain my sanity. This course brought to light, that everyone is just a moment away from entering into a crisis. Furthermore, it is also common that crisis happens when normal lives but something may dramatically happens that in an instance, changes mental stability. Being able to maintain a level of sanity often requires either intervention from a professional counselor or the opportunity to self-empower through personal investigation. In this instance, one of the required readings for this course was Schneider’s book on

My parents’ divorce left my mom in a desperate state. She swallowed her pride and found a shelter through Boston Housing Authority for herself, my sisters, and me to reside. In the shelter, there was only one room and one bed, so I often found myself studying on the bathroom floor. I didn’t want to disturb my younger siblings, but I was determined to get my homework done. I maintained exceptional grades through secondary school despite my circumstance. Nevertheless, I am grateful for those moments. My battle with hunger and bullying transformed me into a tenacious and enterprising woman. If I had not experienced tribulations, I might have taken my education for

Junior year was a big year for me, I had again put off going to Plainfield high and I shouldn’t have. Still, with the ACTs coming up and all. I had to study, College was on my mind and I knew I had to do well. Later during that school year, I finished the ACT, did decently on it and finished the 11th grade.

In the dreaded year of 8th grade, it was my mission was to conclude my studies with a report card entirely full of A’s. I was heaving myself through the mountain of assignments, projects, and tests, it was becoming hard to bear. With my brainpower revolving around school, grades shrouded my view and I didn’t possess an ounce of time for family. I felt like an outcast, in my room, fenced in by papers and essays, while my family bonded and laughed together. It ripped me to pieces, but I couldn’t abandon my dream. It was imperative that I found a way to maintain harmony between my studies and family. Dreams are the basis of the path a person follows in life, however, in order to attain their ambition people may sacrifice family affairs.