In 500 words or less, please describe your personal and educational goals. What challenges have you faced that have helped shape those goals? How have you dealt with those challenges?
Peer pressure-most of the time, the term has a negative connotation and makes people think about the shadier side of student life, such as drugs or thievery. However, as a student in a city where students compete to excel in both academics and extracurricular courses, I was pressured to work beyond my own capacities. It took me several years to discover that there was life outside of school, and that I was destined to only strive for my personal best, not for others.
From fourth through sixth grade, I felt as though I was chained underwater, straining to break a few millimeters above the surface. All my friends were APAAS students who seemed to be geniuses at math, writing, and history while I struggled to grasp the basic concepts of the class. However much I tried, I never seemed to be able to work the math problems or spin out captivating narratives as easily as my table partner. Compared to my classmates, I even felt a sense of mediocrity in athletics. I was on swim team, but I was never as fast as the other swimmers in my class, who were all Junior Olympians. No matter how hard I tried, I could never catch up, and my desperation led to a lot of late-night studying and an overall sense of hopelessness.
Then suddenly, middle school came. Escaping from my small community of APAAS students, I realized that I wasn't half that bad. Everything felt so much easier when there wasn't any pressure to be better than I was. I excelled in middle school, and it was the first time I truly enjoyed school and made many friends. In elementary school, I was so focused on catching up my classmates that I didn't have time to get to know the people in my class. In middle school, everything became better-my grades rocketed, I escaped the rut I had fallen into in swim team (I finally passed the 30 second mark in freestyle after three years!), and I made real friends, not just acquaintances. Middle school really helped me understand that I would be happiest when living up to my own standards.
In high school, the students are just as competitive as in elementary school. However, I found that I didn't care about my friends' grades anymore. I now know from experience that I only wear myself out if I try to be better than I am. While my classes are not the most advanced, I sleep earlier than any of my friends, am healthy, and feel comfortable with my schedule, and that's what matters to me the most. I learned to deal with peer pressure by simply brushing it aside.
criticize please!
Peer pressure-most of the time, the term has a negative connotation and makes people think about the shadier side of student life, such as drugs or thievery. However, as a student in a city where students compete to excel in both academics and extracurricular courses, I was pressured to work beyond my own capacities. It took me several years to discover that there was life outside of school, and that I was destined to only strive for my personal best, not for others.
From fourth through sixth grade, I felt as though I was chained underwater, straining to break a few millimeters above the surface. All my friends were APAAS students who seemed to be geniuses at math, writing, and history while I struggled to grasp the basic concepts of the class. However much I tried, I never seemed to be able to work the math problems or spin out captivating narratives as easily as my table partner. Compared to my classmates, I even felt a sense of mediocrity in athletics. I was on swim team, but I was never as fast as the other swimmers in my class, who were all Junior Olympians. No matter how hard I tried, I could never catch up, and my desperation led to a lot of late-night studying and an overall sense of hopelessness.
Then suddenly, middle school came. Escaping from my small community of APAAS students, I realized that I wasn't half that bad. Everything felt so much easier when there wasn't any pressure to be better than I was. I excelled in middle school, and it was the first time I truly enjoyed school and made many friends. In elementary school, I was so focused on catching up my classmates that I didn't have time to get to know the people in my class. In middle school, everything became better-my grades rocketed, I escaped the rut I had fallen into in swim team (I finally passed the 30 second mark in freestyle after three years!), and I made real friends, not just acquaintances. Middle school really helped me understand that I would be happiest when living up to my own standards.
In high school, the students are just as competitive as in elementary school. However, I found that I didn't care about my friends' grades anymore. I now know from experience that I only wear myself out if I try to be better than I am. While my classes are not the most advanced, I sleep earlier than any of my friends, am healthy, and feel comfortable with my schedule, and that's what matters to me the most. I learned to deal with peer pressure by simply brushing it aside.
criticize please!
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