texas83
Aug 24, 2011
Undergraduate / "To improve my life and become a successful, thriving individual Personal Information [2]
There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, education goals, or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.
Every person in the world has dreams they want to live and goals they want to meet. Though those dreams and goals may be similar from person to person, everyone has a different force driving them. For me specifically, I know there are a few things I pull from this idea that make me want to attend college in order to improve my life and become a successful, thriving individual.
From the time I was born, my life has not been what one would call "picture perfect". I grew up in Texas City, Texas in a small family; although that did not automatically destine me for a life of small town feats, it appeared that way to me from a very young age. To understand, one would have to understand the demographic of the area in which I was raised, the area that points to either a lifetime of working at the BP Chemical Plant or getting stuck in another manual labor job. This is something one sees consistently over and over again, and it is something I have seen from my own parents, siblings, and a vast number of other people that I have come in contact with. When I was young, I never saw this as something discouraging or out of the ordinary, but as I grew up I started to see a bigger picture in the world-I began to see all it had to offer. Most people that grow up where I come from never get to experience these things and for me, I began feeling like if I also settled for "ordinary", I would be letting myself down to an exponential degree. I believe that the first step in my journey towards seeing all of life's grandeurs begins with going attending Texas State University and experiencing all it has to offer.
No one else in my family has had the opportunity to go to a university. Seeing my parents struggle due to their lack of a higher education has impacted me tremendously and has been the second most driving force in my decision. My father dropped out of high school and instead received his GED some time later. This made the jobs available to him very scarce and the pay for the ones that were attainable very minimal. This, combined with the fact that my mother has always been a stay at home mom, made financial stability tough for us. I recall times in which I would see the looks on my parents' faces because not being able to give their children as much as other families could crushed them. Their lack of financial backing lead both of my sisters to pay their own way through community college, only to receive jobs they truly did not enjoy.
Going to Texas State, would make both my family and myself proud, which is something that means a great deal to me. Furthermore, once I obtain a degree, I will know my future children will never be forced to go through the same hardships I experienced; I will be able to provide them with everything they require and deserve.
The final force that drives me is my experiences this past year. Prior to graduating from high school, my parents filed for divorce from one another. This truly rocked my world and took my life in a path I never saw coming. I found myself not even being able to attend a community college, and instead joining the work force at a grain elevator. This job required intense manual labor and long hours, extending to the early hours of the morning. These requirements were something I always hoped would not be my life. During the time I worked there, the older gentlemen I worked with would question why I was wasting my time there, as they had, and was not in college. That question continued to bother until one day when I was crushed between a steel beam and a street sweeper and extensively injured my back. The company never treated me with much care and continued to make me do the daily tasks I was hired to do, that were now almost unbearable. Day in day out I did what was asked of me, until it finally hit me that this was not the life for me and I should make my exit and pursue my education. Unfortunately, my mother asked me to leave her house so she could rent out my room to help her pay for the bills she had. This left me at a standstill until a very gracious friend of mine took me in. She said I could stay with her until she left for college in the spring, and then, doing more than she had to, started telling me of how I should also make the necessary arrangements to make my education possible. After hearing her out, for the first time I actually saw myself going away to a university and making a new start for myself and my future.
This is where I stand now, with my fingers crossed that I will soon be at Texas State University, making my dreams become realities. The opportunity is all I'm looking for so that I can do everything in life I want to, I can make a fresh start, I can make sure my children will have the advantages of life, I can make my family proud and most of all make myself proud. These driving forces I know will be what I need to succeed once I start college, and I have no doubts in my mind.
Thank you in advance!
There may be personal information that you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, education goals, or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.
Every person in the world has dreams they want to live and goals they want to meet. Though those dreams and goals may be similar from person to person, everyone has a different force driving them. For me specifically, I know there are a few things I pull from this idea that make me want to attend college in order to improve my life and become a successful, thriving individual.
From the time I was born, my life has not been what one would call "picture perfect". I grew up in Texas City, Texas in a small family; although that did not automatically destine me for a life of small town feats, it appeared that way to me from a very young age. To understand, one would have to understand the demographic of the area in which I was raised, the area that points to either a lifetime of working at the BP Chemical Plant or getting stuck in another manual labor job. This is something one sees consistently over and over again, and it is something I have seen from my own parents, siblings, and a vast number of other people that I have come in contact with. When I was young, I never saw this as something discouraging or out of the ordinary, but as I grew up I started to see a bigger picture in the world-I began to see all it had to offer. Most people that grow up where I come from never get to experience these things and for me, I began feeling like if I also settled for "ordinary", I would be letting myself down to an exponential degree. I believe that the first step in my journey towards seeing all of life's grandeurs begins with going attending Texas State University and experiencing all it has to offer.
No one else in my family has had the opportunity to go to a university. Seeing my parents struggle due to their lack of a higher education has impacted me tremendously and has been the second most driving force in my decision. My father dropped out of high school and instead received his GED some time later. This made the jobs available to him very scarce and the pay for the ones that were attainable very minimal. This, combined with the fact that my mother has always been a stay at home mom, made financial stability tough for us. I recall times in which I would see the looks on my parents' faces because not being able to give their children as much as other families could crushed them. Their lack of financial backing lead both of my sisters to pay their own way through community college, only to receive jobs they truly did not enjoy.
Going to Texas State, would make both my family and myself proud, which is something that means a great deal to me. Furthermore, once I obtain a degree, I will know my future children will never be forced to go through the same hardships I experienced; I will be able to provide them with everything they require and deserve.
The final force that drives me is my experiences this past year. Prior to graduating from high school, my parents filed for divorce from one another. This truly rocked my world and took my life in a path I never saw coming. I found myself not even being able to attend a community college, and instead joining the work force at a grain elevator. This job required intense manual labor and long hours, extending to the early hours of the morning. These requirements were something I always hoped would not be my life. During the time I worked there, the older gentlemen I worked with would question why I was wasting my time there, as they had, and was not in college. That question continued to bother until one day when I was crushed between a steel beam and a street sweeper and extensively injured my back. The company never treated me with much care and continued to make me do the daily tasks I was hired to do, that were now almost unbearable. Day in day out I did what was asked of me, until it finally hit me that this was not the life for me and I should make my exit and pursue my education. Unfortunately, my mother asked me to leave her house so she could rent out my room to help her pay for the bills she had. This left me at a standstill until a very gracious friend of mine took me in. She said I could stay with her until she left for college in the spring, and then, doing more than she had to, started telling me of how I should also make the necessary arrangements to make my education possible. After hearing her out, for the first time I actually saw myself going away to a university and making a new start for myself and my future.
This is where I stand now, with my fingers crossed that I will soon be at Texas State University, making my dreams become realities. The opportunity is all I'm looking for so that I can do everything in life I want to, I can make a fresh start, I can make sure my children will have the advantages of life, I can make my family proud and most of all make myself proud. These driving forces I know will be what I need to succeed once I start college, and I have no doubts in my mind.
Thank you in advance!