Undergraduate / 'We were the only South Asian Muslim family' - statement for University of California [6]

Prompt: "Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

I was born and raised in southern California, specifically in the city of Fontana in the San Bernardino County. It is my home and I could not imagine growing up anywhere else. Most outsiders believe that since it is the biggest county in California it would have a large diversity with different cultures and traditions, that assumption would be wrong. It is not the most culturally diverse place in California that title would belong to places like Orange County or L.A. County. Here we were the only South Asian Muslim family that we knew of, that meant I was around a lot of people who did not really understand me and in order to fit in I had to intertwine my beliefs and traditions into the society I was born into.

School had always been awkward for me, starting all the way from elementary until high school. Whenever I would walk into a class for the first time I would see I a wide range of students. Some were black, some where white, others were Hispanic and then there was me. That one little brown kid sitting in the middle of the class, sticking out like a sore thumb. It took me longer than the other kids but I got over the racial differences and made some friends. Even after that I had challenges because of the cultural barriers between us, if I went to a birthday party I couldn't eat pepperoni because I cant eat pork, I couldn't go to the movies in the evening because that would be prayer time, and I would always be asked the same questions as to why I would fast one month for Ramadan. This was an annual thing and I never complained because I assumed this was how life was going to be for people like me.

As I soon learned, that theory was wrong. My family and I would attend many family gatherings for all sorts of reasons. Whenever we attended those festivities I always had a group of friends which whom I was very close to, mostly because our cultures were the same yet I never went to school with them because they lived so far away. After talking with them I realized our lives were very different, they lived in areas such as Orange County where south Asian people are not the minority, they all grew up and went to school together so they never had to deal with the pressure or challenges of trying to fit in. At first I was jealous that always had that close knit group but then I recognized that those kids are caught up so far into their own group that they are afraid or unwilling to branch out. That is what I was forced to do and I believe that it has made me a better person for doing so.

My world has influenced every aspect of my life and has made me the person I am today. Growing up in Fontana was always a challenge mostly because I never had a crutch, that one person that I could lean on and not have to worry about interacting with anyone else. However I do not regret my lifestyle I actually prefer it because it has made me a more multicultural person and with that introduced many other doors which I never knew existed.

Having some trouble as to how my surroundings affected my dreams because my dream has always been to become a pharmacist. can someone help me with that

Undergraduate / 'working extra hours at the store' - University of California [2]

Prompt: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?"

Throughout my life my parents have emphasized the impact that family has on one's life and how our forebears, whether near or far, shape us in ways we could never guess. The punch line of this lecture is always the same: India, where each generation of my family, before me, was born. Up until my sophomore year I had never met my family in India. They called occasionally but the language barrier made each attempt at connection a bunch of gibberish to me.

This all changed during the summer prior to my junior year, when my parents forced me to go on their annual trip to India with them so I could finally meet the family. One of the main points of this trip was to have me work with my grandfather, the mayor of Calcutta. I was to work in sales the entire summer to contribute to my grandfather's philanthropic project of sending underprivileged Muslims to Hajj, the pilgrimage to the city of Makkah required of all Muslims. I reluctantly agreed to help out, mostly because I was stuck with my grandfather and there was nothing else to do. However during my trips to the store, I began to see, really see, the overwhelming poverty around me. There were more beggars than buildings. Masses of people were in terrible condition, malnourished, with hardly a shred of clothing. Yet in the midst of such terrible circumstances, I witnessed again and again a faith in God beyond comprehension. The strength of their faith was the greatest motivating factor I could have asked for. So many of these people will never experience Hajj, one of the most joyous parts of being Muslim, just because they don't have the money; and there are much less deserving people who go just to prove their religiosity to the world.

I started working extra hours at the store, and even got another job at my uncle's motorcycle shop. My job was just to help out with American tourists because I spoke English a lot better than most of the other workers. Although I started the summer counting the minutes until I could come home, I never worked so hard in my life. I thought I worked so hard that I had enough money to send the entire country of India to Hajj. In the end, though, my earnings added up to around 30,000 rupees which turns into roughly 700 U.S. dollars! I was pretty disappointed with myself because in 3 months I made enough only to send one person to Hajj. My Grandfather could send 10 times as many people to Hajj with a snap of his finger! But he said he was proud of me and I knew he meant it. In the end I was proud of what I did too, even though it was not much in monetary terms. I learned a lot over my three months but the main lesson I grasped was that feeling sorry for someone in an unfortunate circumstance does not do anything; you have to actually spend time and energy to make a real difference in someone's life. That's why I plan on going back during the summer after I graduate to hopefully make an even bigger impact.