Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
Growing up without a set goal in my self-identity, I unknowingly steered myself into despicable people and lost myself in the crowd. Childlike and naïve, my ignorant mindset to follow others' paths, rather than my own, led to extreme illogicality. My academic routine in my early years of middle school were to cheat, copy, and share others' words. A genius in dishonesty was my expertise. "Intelligence" read on my progress report; high grades exerted determination and accomplishment, but, the truth was just the opposite. My choice to be guided by immoral footsteps of disreputable "friends" began the effortless cruise through my education. Difficult responsibilities flew past me while I took actions on an easier route. On the due date of a monumental essay, I was eager to receive what I believed was a remarkable grade, yet, my expectations were not fulfilled. My teacher confronted me with the realization of identical wording in mine and in another of his student's essay and explained the unethical offense of plagiarism. My performance of invaluable experiences in classrooms emerged into this awful act of academic crime. Plagiarism on my permanent record, alongside an acquired referral, cognizance arose over me. I came to the revelation that I placed myself where I did not belong: surrounded by unjust individuals whom I did not share commonality with. The actions I engaged in were not who I truly grew up to be. That moment, I knew I mistakenly admired the wrong type of people. Not only the punishment I was forced to endure, but the substantial embarrassment I experienced in front of my teacher, classmates, and my family hurt emotionally and precipitated into a disappointment in who I let myself become. The feeling of being looked down upon was humiliating. I received a zero on the assignment and an 'unsatisfactory' citizenship score for the rest of the grading period. With a tremendous performance of failure, dereliction was nowhere near where I hoped to be.
Only after the dreadful predicament, I began to understand the inadequacy of publishing another's words as highly dishonorable. I learned the aspects of a deceitful offense and taught myself potentially never to plagiarize again. Doing so, I acquired knowledge of my own character in the ability to express my own cogitations, emotions, and opinions. Deeply thinking of my ideas taught me more of myself and who I am rather than the ideas of another. Adulthood to me was the success in confirming to lead, never follow, which was a decision I should have made long before the incident. Withdrawing myself in inadmissible circumstances certainly allowed me to reach the gathering of prosperity, the major possibility of shining up to the absolute top. Blossoming into a brighter individual by focusing on life's importances, I exceeded in school, made honor roll, acquired a position in employment, and took care of responsibilities. Not only growing up through age, but through an ultimate sense of character and open-mind, I produced progressive change. The gaining of one's true self requires a bold step in taking control, which is a necessity in life, or it may create obstacles in conquering achievements. Transitioning into the reality of worldly surroundings in thriving as an adult, life opened doors for me and offered me an opportunity to improve, concluding to a new beginning of enhancement in the work toward my future without the impact of others. Failing was my journey to strive, grasping it as a power to reach self-betterment.
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I am not sure if you really want to be discussing the fact that you previously plagiarized an essay in response to this prompt. While I agree that you are thinking outside of the box and giving the admissions officer some food for thought regarding the advent of your maturity, the essay could also backfire upon you as the prompt normally requires a positive rather than negative life changing event. This essay seems to better fit the "honor code" prompt of some universities. My opinion is that you should try to write this essay in a positive light. That way you can show off your maturity and allow yourself to be seen as a positive influence to the students in your department rather than risking being viewed as a possible negative influence and jeopardizing your chances at admission. Again, it is a good story about coming of age, I am just worried about the possible effects that the story may have upon the consideration of your admission. Remember, plagiarists are expelled from school, so openly admitting it without being asked is something that you have to consider using pros and cons.
