Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations. *
Sitting here and writing this paper, I have been thinking about my youth, all the way back to the time I first came to the United States of America. I and my family have been here for four years and we have had a tough time dealing with our new lives. My mother and father have only a high school education level and I had barely finished my seventh grade. No one in our family could either speak or understand English so that had become one of our biggest obstacles.
The first year in the United States was the most challenging year for our family. My parents had worked like machines and did everything that they could do to survive in this new land. Therefore, I promised myself that I would do my best in school and propel my potential to its zenith so that I could fulfill my parents' efforts. I started simultaneously taking many English courses and higher level exams to qualify for AP classes in my school. This helped me achieving more advanced education standard to be qualified for universities. I have worked like a bee to compete with all kinds of people in this mean and inequitable world. Sometimes I felt exhausted, but in my mind, I never failed to embrace my dream. Some of my friends asked me, "What are you trying so hard for? You know that you have no chance to compete with the students that live here for a long time, they have more opportunities than you and all your efforts will be wasted". I immediately responded, "I know that the result of my GPA and SAT score is not as good as others, however, unless I receive a letter of rejection from universities for some other reason, I will never let anything destroy my hope". I agree that it is hard for me but for all the effort and hard work I have done, I believe I deserve to be a student in a quality university. Now that I am a senior, I cannot believe what I have accomplished in the past three years was so successful. I want to say thank you to my family, my teacher, my school, and even counselor because they have been trying so hard to help me attaining my aspirations.
