Undergraduate / UT Austin- Grandfather Inspiration [3]

Hi this is my essay for Topic A for University of Texas at Austin. Any grammatical corrections would be greatly appreciated, as well as critique and comment as far as flow and content of the essay. Do you feel it is interesting?

The topic is: Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.

"Welcome to New Delhi, India" Anybody who was travelling to New Delhi for the first time surely missed that sign upon exiting the airport-I know I did. The noise, the flood of people and cars, the smell, the humidity-I had entered my worst nightmare. Moving to India in the middle of high school from my safe suburban bubble in the Rocky Mountains was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. Sitting in Colorado, unaware of the true vastness of the word I live in, I could have never appreciated some of the things I do now.

My grandfather was born in Ludhiana, India in 1941 before the infamous partition of India and Pakistan. As Muslims, his family migrated to a small city during the partition in Pakistan called Gujarat. Surrounded by post-partition struggle and chaos, the success which he obtained seemed like a near impossibility. Anybody who might have predicted that he would gain scholarship to a top university in Pakistan, study abroad, become a UN Diplomat, and open multiple businesses in the U.S. would have probably been called naive. I've heard stories that he used to stay up at night and study by candle light in a windowless room the size of a closet. Living in the U.S I never grasped the sheer willpower and determination it must have taken for my grandfather to achieve the level of success he did.

It's a lot simpler in the U.S; the competition isn't as fierce as it is in impoverished countries. Everybody has the opportunity to attend public school, and nearly everyone has equal opportunity to attend university. After moving to India, I was faced with the reality that nearly hundreds of millions of people live on less than a dollar a day. Seeing similar conditions to which my grandfather was raised in left me speechless. In the States it's easy to say the sky is the limit, but that's not the case in the rest of the world. My grandfather's ability to make that statement apply to himself despite coming from such a humble background speaks volumes of his achievements.

While living in Colorado, life seemed as if it was just going to happen by itself. Sure I found my grandfathers story inspirational, but I honestly didn't appreciate it until I was put face to face with the type of people he used to live amongst. For the past two years I've been travelling to the slums of Delhi to teach young children English. I was amazed by the amount of effort the students put into their studies, considering their limited opportunity for education. With their work ethic they could go far in life, but the harsh reality is that despite their hard work, they could at most achieve a 10th grade level education, let alone dream of going to college. Although my grandfather wasn't necessarily from the slums, creating something from nothing the way he did is something to be admired.

His hard work enabled a myriad of opportunities to the generations that would follow him. This put the opportunities presented to me throughout my life in perspective, and helped me appreciate the value of my education and lifestyle. I realize that if I put in as much effort into my studies as he did, I indeed can become anything I want. My life experiences have shown me that not all people in this world are fortunate enough to have the opportunities that I have. By seeing firsthand how unequally life treats people, my goals and perspective in life have changed so as to allow me to take full advantage of all opportunities presented to me in life.

Undergraduate / UC essay- Learn form your mistakes [3]

Starting high school I made a lot of mistakes, I made bad choices that affected my academics as well as every other aspect of my life. 9th grade was probably the worst year of my life, but, in retrospect it also served as one of the best. I can look at all the mistakes I made and try to cover them up, or I can look at them and make sure nothing similar to that ever happens again. This turned out to be one of my biggest strengths, the ability to make a mistake, no matter how big or small, and ensure that it never happens again. The feeling of achievement is the greatest feeling in the world, every time I accomplish something I always savor the moment of success. Success tastes even sweeter after following the bitterness of failure.

I had gone through one of the toughest years of my life before leaving for India. The first year of high school struck me with unforeseen pressures and adversity. Although not intended in a harsh manner, students felt racist and prejudice jokes were taken lightly. I too felt this way, but I subconsciously began to strive to display that I was no different than anyone else which distracted me from what was important. I began the year as a confident and achieving student, but ended it as a lost personality with little direction. After moving to India in 10th grade with hopes of starting over, I met with what seemed like a nearly impossible syllabus, and felt defeat rolling over once again. I was enrolled in a program called IGCSE, which is comprised of a two year course spanning both freshman and sophomore years. Though I had only one year to complete the two year course, I slowly began to realize that I was as capable as any one of my classmates. This was the beginning of my newfound confidence. From here on out, I focused on improving myself in everything I did.

"Learn from your mistakes" - this may be one of the most repeated quotes of all times, yet it rings so true. Making mistakes isn't a bad thing, just as long as you've learned from them. Each semester as I strive to better myself, I keep the mistakes I've made in the previous semesters in the forefront of my mind. Some might say that it's not a good habit to keep yourself weighed down with the mistakes of the past, but I use them as a constant motivation. It is the fire that fuels me. Success isn't just one big bang of a moment; rather it is smaller moments of achievements that finally lead to the bigger feeling of accomplishment. Being able to learn from my mistakes has made me the tenacious person I am now. I am still competing to be the best in what I do, and as long as I keep pushing forward, I will be that much closer to reaching my goal.