This is kind of a "rough draft".
prompt: This is the opportunity for you to tell us more about yourself and your goals or interest in a particular field of study, your readiness for college, preparedness for the major, as well as your activities and accomplishments. Explain any personal experience, responsibilities and/or challenges that have impacted you or your academic achievements and/or your choice of career.
There was never a doubt in my mind that I would be pursuing a career in the science field. Through middle school and high school when most students were eager to go to PE and art, chemistry and biology classes were the best parts of my day and I was glued to Discovery Health channel when the weekend came. At a very young age, my mother would constantly ask me what I wanted to do when I was all grown up: a veterinarian, a scientist or, for the longest time I wanted to become someone that cleans the crude oil off of animals. No matter what my answer was, or how often it changed, my mother was always there to support me.
In August of 2004, my mother was diagnosed with Stage 3B breast cancer a few days before my 14th birthday. After going to numerous doctors' appointments, her 18 months of rigorous chemotherapy started a few weeks later. I had watched her change before me as the chemotherapy continued. Her soft blonde hair faded to gray and fell out until she was bald. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were gone and it seemed like the color was sucked out of her skin leaving it pale and matted. Although it had seemed like this treatment was killing her, it had in fact saved her life. The tumors were gone and, 6 years later, she is still living cancer free.
I look at this experience in my mother's life as a source of personal strength; she never gave up going through this traumatic experience has helped shape who I have become today; it tested me in ways that no midterm or final exam ever could. I saw how powerful medicine is first-hand and how important it is in one's life. Throughout her chemotherapy my mother had constant questions for the pharmacists and doctors treating her, and they never turned her away. Their compassion for their patients and the enthusiasm they had toward their career had turned me towards the pharmaceutical side of medicine.
Cancer didn't stop my mother from continuing her life and it has taught me to enjoy every day that I'm living and to find something in your life to keep you going. It is important to have a passion for whatever path you choose and I'm choosing to pursue a career that will be meaningful and satisfying to not only myself, but to my community as well. I am prepared to study and to apply myself fully to the achievement of a Bachelor's in Biology and a Pharm. D. degree. This won't be the end of my education; it will be the beginning of my success as a pharmacist helping women like my mother overcome disease.
