Prompt:
"Ana Flavia is the most stellar student I have ever seen. That girl is a genius!"
"With only 17 years-old, she was approved at every single Medical School she applied to!"
"She went to Harvard!"
During my Freshman year, these were the comments I frequently heard from everyone around my school. At that time, I wanted to be a medical researcher, and knowing that someone who achieved exactly what I wanted studied at the same school I did drove me to believe that if she could do it, I could do it too.
I logically concluded that, if I were like Ana Flavia, I would achieve the same stellar results. Therefore, I asked every single person about her: I wanted to know how that figure was, how she behaved, and what she did to become "Ana Flavia". I have also reached her and asked for some advice, which I strictly followed.
During my first year, she framed me from the time I woke up to study on Saturdays to the number of practice tests I did. However, I realized that I was building a character, a human-calculator who has never gotten a wrong question on a Math test, or who has always known from back to forth every single step of The Krebs Cycle. The more I compared myself to this "superhuman" that I created, the more frustrated I got.
"How can I take more than 5 minutes to understand the Lagrangian Standard Model equation? She would certainly take some few seconds!"
Nevertheless, I felt increasingly motivated me to be disciplined, resilient, and determined. I learned to never settle, but always aim for more, constantly seeking for improvement and growth. The more I worked on myself, the better my cognitive abilities got and, consequently, the higher my academic results.
On this road, I also understood that we all have genius and creativity in us: the way we live our lives and explore ourselves determine to which extend we develop them.
I also realized that her stellar achievements were not the result of some god-like feature that belongs to few of us. Instead, it was the consequence of a strong work ethic. More importantly, I also comprehended that I did not have to be "another Ana Flávia" to achieve my goals. I just had to be myself, the best version of myself; after all, Ana and I were so different! She woke up at 8 am to study on Saturdays, but I loved to wake up at 6 am; she wanted Medicine, and I discovered a passion for Physics; she had troubles with Portuguese; I, with Biology. Instead of building "another version" of Ana Flávia's puzzle, I decided to incorporate her pieces of commitment, dedication and persistence that I so much admire to construct my own.
Ana Flávia deeply shaped my perspective of myself and the world around me, driving me to also inspire those around me. I want to show people that perfect human-beings do not exist; that before cracking an essay, I had to throw many drafts away. After all, as Thomas Paine stated, "the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph".
Tell us about a person who has influenced you in a significant way.
"Ana Flavia is the most stellar student I have ever seen. That girl is a genius!"
"With only 17 years-old, she was approved at every single Medical School she applied to!"
"She went to Harvard!"
During my Freshman year, these were the comments I frequently heard from everyone around my school. At that time, I wanted to be a medical researcher, and knowing that someone who achieved exactly what I wanted studied at the same school I did drove me to believe that if she could do it, I could do it too.
I logically concluded that, if I were like Ana Flavia, I would achieve the same stellar results. Therefore, I asked every single person about her: I wanted to know how that figure was, how she behaved, and what she did to become "Ana Flavia". I have also reached her and asked for some advice, which I strictly followed.
During my first year, she framed me from the time I woke up to study on Saturdays to the number of practice tests I did. However, I realized that I was building a character, a human-calculator who has never gotten a wrong question on a Math test, or who has always known from back to forth every single step of The Krebs Cycle. The more I compared myself to this "superhuman" that I created, the more frustrated I got.
"How can I take more than 5 minutes to understand the Lagrangian Standard Model equation? She would certainly take some few seconds!"
Nevertheless, I felt increasingly motivated me to be disciplined, resilient, and determined. I learned to never settle, but always aim for more, constantly seeking for improvement and growth. The more I worked on myself, the better my cognitive abilities got and, consequently, the higher my academic results.
On this road, I also understood that we all have genius and creativity in us: the way we live our lives and explore ourselves determine to which extend we develop them.
I also realized that her stellar achievements were not the result of some god-like feature that belongs to few of us. Instead, it was the consequence of a strong work ethic. More importantly, I also comprehended that I did not have to be "another Ana Flávia" to achieve my goals. I just had to be myself, the best version of myself; after all, Ana and I were so different! She woke up at 8 am to study on Saturdays, but I loved to wake up at 6 am; she wanted Medicine, and I discovered a passion for Physics; she had troubles with Portuguese; I, with Biology. Instead of building "another version" of Ana Flávia's puzzle, I decided to incorporate her pieces of commitment, dedication and persistence that I so much admire to construct my own.
Ana Flávia deeply shaped my perspective of myself and the world around me, driving me to also inspire those around me. I want to show people that perfect human-beings do not exist; that before cracking an essay, I had to throw many drafts away. After all, as Thomas Paine stated, "the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph".