UGA supplemental essay
I'm planning to submit this as my final supplemental for UGA, but I would welcome any suggestions or recommendations for anything I can add or fix. Thank you :)
Prompt - The transition from middle to high school is a key time for students as they reach new levels of both academic and personal discovery. Please share a book (novel, non-fiction, etc.) that had a serious impact on you during this time. Please focus more on why this book made an impact on you and less on the plot/theme of the book itself (we are not looking for a book report).
Growing up as a passionate reader, no novel truly made a lasting impact on me. However, after reading Educated by Tara Westover, I found myself turning its pages with an unexpected fascination. Tara Westover's memoir recounts the challenges of overcoming her survivalist Mormon family to fulfill her dreams of attending college and receiving an education. The novel entails horrific stories of physical and verbal abuse from her family, as well as severe neglect and a disregard for knowledge and emotional development.
As a high school student struggling with aspects of my identity, Westover's journey towards freedom and knowledge deeply resonated with my understanding of growth, determination, and adversity. Much of my transition from middle to high school and onwards was spent building these characteristics through dialectic behavior therapeutic skills, or DBT skills, which furthered my fascination with Westover's personal transformation. These DBT skills not only prioritized expanding knowledge of emotional regulation and psychoeducation but also worked to objectively perceive my challenges and improve my overall wellbeing.
Westover's ambition to attain knowledge allowed her to separate herself from her trauma and perceive her abusive environment from an objective standpoint; by doing so, Westover was able to strengthen her own identity, passions, and emotional resilience. I realized my exploration of dialectic behavior enabled me to do the same. The growth mindset I had obtained from it allowed me to not only understand situations logically, but to remove myself from challenging obstacles and recognize the decision that would facilitate the most inner growth.
Educated by Tara Westover enabled me to recognize the great expanse of knowledge I had access to, ultimately motivating me to value my academic and inner growth. I realized that being educated does not solely mean knowing the facts, but instead it meant expanding my ability to intentionally nurture room for success, resilience, and identity. Transitioning into a new chapter of my life, this novel enlightened me and pushed me to realize that the power of knowledge is ultimately the key to achieving freedom and authenticity in all aspects of my life.