'I'm pregnant?' - Admissions Essay - core values

Hi everyone, I am writing this essay to apply for an undergrad program. Any suggestions would help.

Describe a personal scenario you experienced that challenged your core values and explain how you responded?
I'm pregnant? Was the thought that ran through my mind after just hearing the news confirmed by my doctor. This was going to be my second child, the first being 3 years old, with my husband. From our first experience and with no outside family support in Florida, I knew much of the nurturing and caring early on would come from me.

I was a graduate student far along in my studies still working to tie together the incompatibilities of my research project and I was now confronted with the truth that things would become more complicated. To date, my research efforts to make a fully functional antibody had yielded a partially functional antibody and further analysis needed to be done to figure out why and make a new prototype. I realized that I would not be able to dedicate long hours in the lab to essentially redo what I had already spent 5 years doing and risk missing the first months of my child's life.

Being pregnant should have been a joy, yet I was torn and questioned my family values over my career goals. Was this the career I wanted, one that would demand time away from my family? Should I choose to defend for a Masters degree and essentially leave the hard work and efforts I had already put in? I decided to figure out the issues with the first prototype. I successfully narrowed down a wide array of possibilities to a few issues within weeks. Challenged with my pride and possibly looking like a failure, I left graduate school and defended for my Masters degree.

I am grateful for the decision I made. I have moved to Maryland for a stronger support system. This has allowed me priceless time to raise my family and reassess my career goals.

This is a good sacrifice you made for your family, and this is a good way to highlight it. So far I do not spot any error in your essay. Good Luck.

Thank you. I was a little weary about putting something so personal and I did not want to look like a failure with my final decision.

Yes family first - and you still where able to pursue your professional development. That's great for you and your family. By revealing that you had previously sided with your family other than siding with the strong desire to divide your time from family and work, it shows where your priorities lay. And that's great.