Undergraduate / 'What makes me, me?' - Howard University addmission [4]

EF_Susan
Thank you, I have nearly completly finished it, but I have 1000 words, I'm not too sure if the University will like it though, appariently these essays are suppose to be simple with everyday life things including mistakes, I don't know if I have to do it all over again :/

Undergraduate / 'What makes me, me?' - Howard University addmission [4]

This is the complete finished version:

What makes me, me? In my opinion, to determine what makes you, you, you have to consider the life around you, it's just like Karl Marx quoted 'It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness '. Consciousness is how a human being defines themselves with their surroundings and the things having an influence upon them. I have had many influences on me, having a mother originating from Ghana and a Father with parents originating from Ghana, but my father himself was born in Germany. I was born in Germany as well, but grew up in Ghana with my Grandparents, then went back to Germany at the age of 4. I went to German schools, but spent only 2 years at a German High school. At this stage of my life, my mother had re-married, to a British soldier coming from St Lucia. My mother wanted to get me prepared, as we will have to move to a different country one day, where I will obligate to attend an English school, so I started going to a British School, organized by Children School Education, at Year 9 and am now currently in Year 13 finishing off my A-levels.

Having more than one cultural influence on me, I truly consider myself a Ghanaian as I am proud of my country and give it a lot of support. I keep hold to my Ghanaian influences, but also my German ones, which I consider to be my 2nd nationality. I considered joining a British society as more of an advantage to experience another culture, which is also one of my interests. What makes me, me is where I'm from and how I have been brought up, to be a young, striving, intelligent, respectable young Girl.

'Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure' This is a quote I correlate to. I in life I have had the troubles of putting myself below others, especially after changing from a German to an English school, as I felt out of place and insecure. I have been working on this though and have now realized that it is not a big deal. I could not speak fluent English before either, but everyone was very kind and helpful, and helped me get on target with everyone else. One big factor that helped me achieved this was the fact that I went to a boarding school in Year 9, before moving to Cyprus for 2 years, it helped me be more independent.

Another weakness as already mentioned would be independence. Boarding school helped me be more independent and also sixth form, which I am doing at the moment, is helping me be more independent by letting me choose my University choices myself and also the courses I would like to study.

One of my strengths would definitely be my parents and my grandparents. They have great belief in me becoming what I want, which is a lawyer, and support me all the way. From these people I have learnt how to be respectable which has always made me shine out, as in Ghana, respect is more vital than here in Europe, so many teachers compliment me for the respective manner I have towards them and others.

Another strength I have would be the ability to adjust well and fast. At boarding school I made some of the best friends and although it was only my first year at an English school, and not being fluent in the language, I made great achieves in classes. I won the award for best modern foreign language student for German and French.

One of my motivations would have to be my parents, who have struggled to get to where they are now and have motivated me in every way possible. I want to be a qualified solicitor in the future, and I know that to do this I have to work hard and not let myself be put down but fight my way through any struggle, which is what I have learnt from my parents, that anything is possible, you just need to believe.

Another quote from Marianne Williamson's 'And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, Our presence automatically liberates others', motivates and inspires me highly, because I want to study law because of the struggles we have in this world and the poverty that is happening around us, I want to make a difference, and by doing this, I believe that I can be an inspiration and a motivation to others to do the same.

I am a very cultural person; I hold unto my Ghanaian roots and share them with others. I am also very open to learning about other cultures. One thing that interests me most is languages and cultures. To me these things are very important, as these are one of the biggest factors of influence upon and around us. I think I am unique in all my strengths, weaknesses and motivations. We do not all share the same backgrounds and struggles, but whichever one we do go through gives us different aspirations and makes us unique in our personalities. I am unique in the way I can communicate with people, as I can get on well with anyone, even if we do not share the same interests

Howard University would increase my strengths by giving me the opportunity to make me more confident and more of a role model to other young girls who may have never thought of having this opportunity. The opportunity to find out more about black history, will also giving me more inspiration and knowledge to also spread to others. Going to Howard would be the first big decisions I have ever made in life, putting myself first and thinking of my future.

One of my weaknesses, as I had already mentioned, would be being independent, but that is not all of my weakness, I think I could be independent if I had to, but the though t of being miles away from my family is another challenge. I see this as an opportunity to challenge this weakness and make a move towards building my future. It is not that I do not have any family in the US, I have aunties, cousins and uncles that live there, but I'm just not that close to them.

I always Imagine what my future will be like, I imagine myself in an office doing the work I have always wanted to do and being able to help my parents out more, being able to buy them things they could never afford for me, and just being a role model to many other young people and standing out from most of my friends who will be going to University in the UK and in Germany. 'It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us', and I am ready to face the light.