Undergraduate / UCF Essay - Advice? - Obstacle, Family History, Choose to Apply, Qualities [2]

Essay: The personal statements are a very important part of your application. They assist the university in knowing you as an individual, independent of test scores and other objective data. We ask that you respond to two of the topics below. Your personal statement should be no longer than a total of 500 words or 7000 characters for both statements combined. The best personal statements are not necessarily the longest ones.

1. If there has been some obstacle or "bump in the road," in your academic or personal life, please explain the circumstances.
2. How has your family history, culture or environment influenced who you are?
3. Why did you choose to apply to UCF?
4. What qualities or unique characteristics do you possess that would allow you to contribute to the UCF community?

1. For the majority of my upbringing, I had an overall stress -free life growing up. However, with one horrible accident, my family's life completely changed. Sunday August 17, 2008 was the most unfortunate day of my life, and it happened to be the day before I began my 8th grade year. At around 5:00 in the morning, I was awoken by my older brother, who was screaming that we had to get out of the house. When I opened my eyes, everything was hazy and I was very disconcerted. It took me a few seconds to realize that, as I passed by the kitchen to get to the front door, my kitchen was on fire. About five to ten minutes passed before a police officer and fire truck arrived. In that time, I could see that my dad was very emotionally distressed. I knew that I had to be strong mentally for both my dad and my brother. Not once did I cry, because the only thing on my mind was giving my family all the support I could possibly give. As a result of this experience, I became a stronger person. Most people thought that this road bump in my life would affect my school work, and it did, but not negatively. I became more studious, responsible, and I worked even harder to obtain straight A's. My goal was to do the best I possibly could for myself and to make my family proud because of all they have done for me.

I'm working on number 2 right now, but this is my first draft essay. If anyone has any constructive criticism, I gladly welcome it! Thanks for reading :)

Undergraduate / "House Fire" - Common APP ESSAY [2]

Topic: Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

The most impacting day of my life occurred one Sunday morning in August, 2008. At around five o'clock in the morning, I was awoken abruptly by my older brother. He was screaming that we had to get out of the house immediately. When I opened my eyes, everything was hazy and smoky and I was very disconcerted. It took me a few seconds to realize that, as I staggered by the kitchen to get to the front door, the kitchen was on fire.

When we escaped the smoky atmosphere of the house, my dad was not with us. Horrible thoughts flooded my mind wondering if my dad was hurt, or even out of the house. Thankfully, he came around the side of the house soon after unhurt, except for the cut on his forehead. About five minutes passed before a police officer arrived and another 5 minutes before the fire truck arrived. In that amount of time, I witnessed the intense emotional distress on my dad's face. At that moment I knew that I had to be strong mentally for both my dad and my brother. We ended up losing our house that day, but we were all able to move into my mom's small apartment. Even though this event was very traumatizing, I tried my best to look forward in life and be positive about what could come out of this experience. The most important goal I had in mind was giving my family all the support I could possibly give.

Most people thought this incident would detrimentally affect my life, but instead it had the opposite effect. As a result, I became a stronger person by learning how to control my emotions and handle bad situations in a logical manner. I also grew to be more ambitious and driven by being more studious with my schoolwork, responsible with my chores and deadlines, and involved in my school and community. Life is unpredictable and can be quickly taken away or completely changed at any moment, and from this day I learned to never take it for granted.