Undergraduate / UIUC Transfer - Life is a like a game of cards [4]

In an essay of 300 words or less, explain your motivation to transfer from your current/previous institution to Illinois and how your academic interests and/or professional goals will be fulfilled in your intended program of study.

Game of Cards

I've come to relate life to a card game in which we must heavily assess the hand we're dealt and be wise in playing them to our advantage. I never realized that I was losing opportunity when I decided to play my cards wrong for four years straight, and it never did hit me until I observed the joy of hard work paying off in eyes that were not mine. Stanford, Michigan, and Illinois t-shirts bombarded the hallways on the last day of classes, and I was wearing a shirt of a school that I was not sure I'd even be attending. My lack of focus landed me in a mess of a situation in which I had two cards left to play, and I decided to attend Lewis University. The summer following my senior year was a very introspective time for me, I completely reassessed the four years that preceded, trying to pinpoint a reason why I didn't possess the joy that my peers had. It boiled down to the realization that I never had a goal to work toward, so I set one for myself, and it was to transfer to a school that I was proud of and selected not because it was the only institution that let me in, but because I felt that the culture of the establishment is one that I would be able to flourish in. It was then that for the first time in a long time I possessed a focus, and I began to play the game right. I believe Illinois will be an academic and intellectually challenging experience for me that will result in peak personal growth and placement at a consulting firm that will allow me to help other people play their cards right.