Undergraduate / Personal Accountability - UT Undergraduate Admissions [3]

Prompt:
Choose an issue of importance to you-the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope-and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

Essay:
In an overly litigious society, we are always on the lookout for someone to blame for our problems. The lack of individual personal responsibility is a major concern in our society. You can hear, or overhear, it almost anywhere: the bathroom at a bar, your classroom, the next booth over at a restaurant, and even in your own home. A reason why someone was incapable of doing something. You hear someone say "I do not know how we can be expected to show up for a class that begins so early," or "pay attention throughout a class that goes so long," as if that person did not register for that class knowing full well what to expect. I think the mindset that are lives unfold in spite of our choices is a dangerous concept for society to adopt.

Take a look at the mortgage crisis going on in America. People were approved for loans, despite being incapable of maintaining the necessary payments. Now certainly it is deplorable for financial institutions to play on the hopes and dreams of these individuals, but it is not as if Wells Fargo broke into someone's home at night and forced them to apply and then accept a loan at knife point. If these people had looked at their finances and said to themselves, "as much as I could use this money, I simply cannot afford to accept this loan at this time," the crisis could have been averted. It required a degree of complicity on the part of the lenders and the borrowers.

I have grown so weary of listening to the myriad of excuses people toss about so casually. It could have something to do with my background in the Marine Corps, but I would like to think It has more to do with me personally. I understand that people fail; I have failed on countless occasions, but my failures are ultimately mine and only by accepting them can I begin to improve myself. I went to a rural high school with a terrible academics program. For half of my algebra two class, my classmates and I were left bookless and directionless when our teacher took an extended leave of absence. I came away with very little from the class and the next year when I attended a different suburban school, I found myself ill prepared for further math classes. I ended up being placed in a remedial math class. It would have been easy to give up on math; I could have said it was all my old schools fault, which would have only been a half truth. I would have been the one who decided to quit; the final choice would have been mine. I did not give up, instead I took responsibility for my shortcomings and addressed them.

It is too easy to look at our lives and find all the reasons why we are not to blame for how events in our lives are unfolding. Obstacles will appear in every life and they are not always of our own making, but if each person took a proactive stance in dealing with these obstacles they would be more likely to overcome them. At least if each person was willing to face the part that they have played in their failures, they might be more likely to avoid repeating them.

Undergraduate / 'Leaving the Marine Corps' - Statement of Purpose, Electrical Engineering Major [4]

My Essay:

Leaving the Marine Corps turned out to be the hardest thing I have ever done. I knew that I did not want to reenlist; the Corps had been good, but it was not what I wanted for the rest of my life. It was the period of inactivity after leaving the Marine Corp which depressed me greatly. I need to be challenged and I need focus in order to thrive and at the time I had none. I realized that in order to derive any further satisfaction from life, I needed some sense of direction. I needed something I could pursue passionately.

Then it occurred to me suddenly, sometime later while reading, I would be an electrical engineer. It seems so obvious in retrospect, but at the time it was one of those Eureka moments. I was reading "Count Zero" by William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk. In it the characters move through a world where technology, especially electronics, are ubiquitous. It was extremely appealing to me; it was a world I wanted to be a part of; to be an agent of change; to bring about something tremendous and new. It was these thoughts which made me realize that electrical engineering was for me; through an applied science I might change how we live, or even what it means to be human.

After learning more about electrical engineering, I realized I already had a conducive background. In the Marine Corp I was trained as a structural mechanic and when I arrived in the fleet I was placed in the hydraulic work center. After some time I would develop a knack for fixing portable hydraulic power supplies, a complex mix of mechanical and electrical components. It was an aging platform to maintain, but this provided me with an abundance of experience. The electrical components ceased to function regularly and the rotting wires which connected everything begged to be replaced. This meant that after repairing the defect that had been reported, I often found more repairs were needed. It might be considered tedious work, but I enjoy problem solving. I was always curious to learn more about my profession, but there was no further education to be had. My classroom would have to be the grease soaked maintenance area and my teacher would have to be experience. This is why I am excited about the opportunity to learn more at a school of engineering, where I can learn from those who know so much more than I do.

When I started school again in 2011 I did so with some small trepidation, because my grades thus far had been below average. I worked hard with the knowledge that I would need to increase my GPA considerably in order to gain admission to any good engineering school. My first semester came and went and I was successful. I really felt like I had begun to build some momentum and with each passing semester this momentum increased. I think my success in school is owed to the degree of focus I possess. I know where I want to go, so the steps to get there have become apparent. My grades are one of best way to communicate my devotion to becoming an electrical engineering, so I cannot accept anything less than an A.

The process of becoming an electrical engineer is long and one of the hardest steps can be getting accepted into a respected school of engineering. Whatever hardships I might face, I am thrilled to have discovered my calling. I know that any obstacle I face will be an opportunity to grow, personally and professionally. This is why I want to attend the University of Texas at Austin; it is an opportunity to grow as part of an excellent engineering school.