I am applying to UT Austin and just finished my first essay for admission.
Limit is no longer than 120 eighty-character lines of text (including spaces and blank lines).
Thoughts please? and is it too long or too short?
Prompt: Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.
Over time, there have been many people who has stepped into my life and impacted me in a way that helped sculpted the person I am today. All these people, ranging from teachers, classmates, peers, and to the ordinary individual, have influenced various aspects of my life based on their character, morals, and sense of compassion towards me. I am grateful to have encountered each person that chose to enter into my unbalanced life, even though they did not know what they were getting themselves into. Each and every person that has impacted my life have imprinted a permanent mark that I will carry on with me going forward as I begin my next chapter in life, but there is one person in particular that will leave a mark that goes on beyond forever, my beloved mother.
Growing up as the youngest of four children, the American cliche was for the mother to display the upmost affection towards their youngest child, and boy did my mother fit that notion precisely. As a child, I would describe myself as free spirited and not having a care in the world for anything, only focused on fitting in with the crowd at school. Conforming to what the other kids were doing and establishing myself as the cool kid in school seemed to be priority number one during that time; with that came an abominable report card, which meant a unpleasant meeting between a stick of a broomstick and my petite, elementary buttocks. My mom would use these practices to discipline me and would then lecture on the importance of having an education. Like any other single digit aged kid, I took that with a grain of salt, only pretending to acknowledge her to make sure my behind would not turn a shade of purple. Looking back on such events, I understand why she did all of that and furthermore I thank her for it. Having the opportunity to hear her story of the sacrifices she made to get to America during the time of the inhuman Vietnam War through a middle school project was remarkable, but to know that the main reason she did so was to provide a better life for her future family was truly inspirational. Her tale inspired me in a way that from that day on I made it a priority to make sure that her sacrifices would be all worth whiled. She has indirectly impacted me in way that just makes me want to not only have a successful life, but also be a remarkable human being. My mother leads by example, having to be on her feet at least ten to twelve hours with only a day off to provide for her kids, but never once have I heard a complaint out of her. She makes up a big part of who I am today because of the fact that everything I do, I do it to make sure that at the end of the day my mom has a smile on her beautiful face.
As a young adult now with a whole new arsenal of knowledge and thought, I can conclude that my mother will continue on in impacting my life without really trying to do so. I yearn for that day when I can go up to my mother, eyes bawled with the upmost adoration, and thank her for raising me to be the person I am today, thank her for the sacrifices she has made for my benefit, thank her for teaching me to be a good person above all, thank her for teaching me life lessons without really trying to do so, thank her for the impact she has made on me during the course of my life, and finally I want to thank her for her love, her indescribable motherly love, that she has divulged in me even before I was born. I am blessed.
