Graduate / Where will you go if you had a ticket? - Prompt C for Texas Apply Universities [2]

ticket back to childhood

In my mind, the concept of freedom changes as we grow up. During childhood, we have a freedom from responsibility, and as we mature into adults, we have freedom from dependency - we can make our own choices. Before I grow up to be a self-sustaining woman, I would love to use my ticket to go back in time to my childhood...

There was pin drop silence in the middle of the hot summer night. All the adults - my parents, my aunts and uncles, my grandparents - were asleep in my house.

I was lodged under one of my aunt's arms in a tight embrace. I slipped through her grasp unnoticed, while replacing myself with a four-feet-tall fuzzy blue stuffed bear. Then, I tiptoed to the top of the staircase and opened the door to the expansive terrace where my cousins were waiting for me for a night of fun.

We watched several movies on our laptop, ate cartons of ice cream, drank soda from the two-liter bottles, and played multiple board games. In the end, exhausted, we laid down on top of the roof and looked up at the clear sky with the twinkling stars. I felt the humid air around me, the hard ground beneath me, and the trickles of sweat on my forehead. That is when I realized how beautiful the moment was, how free I felt in that instant, and how much freedom my parents had given me throughout my life - no chores, no work, no responsibility.

However, I knew that one day I will be faced with those challenges and when that day comes, I will be prepared. I will be creative, thoughtful, and open-minded while overcoming adversity and always be positive when confronted with hardships.

I will always be mindful of my surroundings and live in the present at every split second, cherishing each moment of my life - from my freedom during childhood to my independence in college.

Undergraduate / Essay about an experience that helped shape my character. [4]

there is nothing impossible

The summer before senior year, my friends started preparing for the SAT, filling out college applications, drafting college essays, and getting summer jobs. The only thing I made time for was to play tennis. My entire schedule was based around tennis - how early I needed to sleep, when my next practice was, how nutritious my diet was, and what my fitness plans looked like. I was confident and had a strong belief in myself and my dreams.

When I lived in India during my elementary school time, I observed that most kids around me lose their chance of creating childhood experiences as soon as they begin school. Parents send their children to school for eight hours, put them through additional tutoring sessions for two to three hours, force them to self-study for three to four hours, and pressure them to do well in school every single day. So, I wondered, "Is this healthy for the children? Is it necessary?"

Well, that's what my cousin told me, and at the time, I believed her. She had no proof, she could not predict my future, yet I didn't question a thing. Why? Simply because she is a year ahead of me in the game of life. I accepted these views and took them to heart. These hardships of school and life were ingrained in my head so well that I started to become reluctant to study, terrified to face new challenges, fearful of new life experiences, and anxious towards the pressures of the coming years. Yet, I still thought: she must be telling the truth, she does have more experience than I do, but it still left me confused.

I knew needed to turn to someone with even more experience. Someone with a different perspective - my father. I asked him for advice and he simply said "Every person has different goals in life. Yours might be different from the others around you. Everyone has different qualities, you have different ones. There is nothing impossible as impossible itself says that 'I'm possible'". I understood. Ever since that day, I have appreciated hard work instead of despising it, I have strived for knowledge instead of letting it demotivate me, and I have valued challenging situations instead of fearing them.

Now, my cousin's belief does not apply to me, but I don't just ignore it, I respect it. Our goals in life may be different, but our drive and passion are the same; They are correct and so am I.

Currently, my decision of choosing Running Start has benefited me in numerous ways. I have more time to focus on my fitness, diet, self-tennis practice, setting personal and life goals for my future, and most importantly, travelling to other countries to gain experience from international tennis tournaments where I get the opportunity to practice with the top two hundred tennis players in the world. These experiences give me a chance to identify some of the gaps I need to overcome. That is what (((name of college))) will help me with; It will provide me with the necessary resources to reach my desire of a professional level, and my business degree will further my success in life after my tennis career.

Quote I live by: "Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard!" (551 words - needs to be 500)