College Admissions Essay: Moving To A New Culture

Moving to an unfamiliar country during my teenage years is a big dramatic change for me. I dealt with a lot of anxiety and insecurities on how different I am from everyone else. To help me get started, I registered with just one class at my local community college. Living with my mother and to someone, I now call my father, I was

In December 2014, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education published “Rethinking the Admission Process.” This article was written by Frank DiMaria, who takes a look at the research of the former president of the University of Wyoming, Robert Sternberg. DiMaria explains Sternberg’s stance against the current admissions process. Sternberg has research that depicts, “GPA, standardized tests, and essays do not successfully measure the true talent of a college applicant.” He believes that the policies need to change. Sternberg offers an alternative to the current process. Sternberg has been a part of a new admissions policy testing students not just on their memorization and analytical skills, but on their creative, practical, and wisdom-based skills as well. Sternberg’s ideas stem from his experience with disadvantaged youth and their ability to adapt and overcome obstacles. Sternberg claims that students who grow up in the upper middle class tend to have an environment which better values the analytical skills that the current tests measure. He argues that, because of this, colleges may not be getting the most creative and adaptable students. He shows that some of these less privileged students are capable of handling a college workload even though they may not have been able to score as high on the SAT or other tests. DiMaria believes that through Sternberg’s Kaleidoscope policy may be a solution. The Kaleidoscope way of admissions administers tests which ask open ended

I, Bao Nguyen, as a Vietnamese immigrant that came to America in December, 2007, faced many struggles and difficulties merging one society to another. It was hard to adapt into a new way of life as I making the transition. I remember spending my first Christmas with my cousins, who only speak english because they were born in US. It was awkward most of the time but my uncles and aunts made me feel better by saying that I will fit in real quick. Then come Spring, my school transfer papers completed and I started to attend school. As a transfer student that can’t speak english, fitting in was not easy. My classmates looked at me with strange look, no one want to help me unless they were told to do so. They all made me felt excluded from the

that he is to be wed to a woman he has never met before. This is a custom that

It was a beautiful, sunny day in South Florida. I was six years old, playing by the pool with my new puppy. I loved swimming in the pool almost every day after school. I also enjoyed going out on our boat after school or crossing the street and going to the beach. My father came home one evening with some interesting news. Now, I do not remember exactly how I felt about the news at that time, but it seemed like I did not mind that much. He had announced that we were going to move back to my birth country, Belgium. I had been living in Florida for five years and it was basically all I had known so I did not know what to expect. I had to live with my mom at first, and then my sister would join us after she graduated high school and my father

Transitioning from the Democratic Republic Of Congo to the United States was a challenge that my family and I had to overcome. The main reason why we moved was because my father wanted a better life for my siblings and me. My father did not make enough money to pay for our education, food, housing, and other things. With the little money that he did make, he would give some to my mom so she could buy clothes and sell them in order to put food on the table. More often than not my mom was unable to sell anything so, we would go to my uncle's house to see if he could provide us with at least rice to eat with sugar. In my family's eyes, at least, the rice was better than not eating at all. One day, my father's friend called him and told him that there was a lottery game people were playing and if you won, you would be given the chance to go to the United States. My dad was the only one from my family who was allowed to play and after eight months had passed we were informed that we won! We were all so happy and ready to start a new life in America! The new excitement about moving to a better

Is it true that immigrant’s native roots never leave them? Do cultures keep the best interest in mind for immigrants? I live in the great state of Texas where according to the US Census for 2016, Hispanics account for 37% of the population. My church in Buda, Texas has 3500 families and is about 70% Hispanic in membership, moreover; half of our family friends are Hispanic and most of these friends are living the US culture. Some of our employees though maintain Spanish as their primary language. Immigrants have an unbreaking bond entwined with native culture.

The time I moved to America, as I was in the hostel I got to meet many new people ever. I thought it's not a big deal to adjust in a new country. But it wasn't like that, everything was different here food, clothing, lifestyle. It was very difficult for me to understand what should I do. I thought that my parents will

Only me and my sister moved to United States three years ago. Since my parents are not here in United States, I have to live with my aunt and her family. Living with other people and not with my family is really uncomfortable but I have to endure it since I have no other choice. Neither of my parents went to college, both of my parents are working day and night in Indonesia with the salary that is inadequate. The money that my parents earned by working day and night is still way less than the minimum wage workers here in United States.

When my family and I moved from Canada to United States 6 years ago, it was very hard for me and I had to meet and make a new group of friends. I was born in Canada, and I lived in Ottawa all my life until my family and relocated to Atlanta in 2011. At the time of the move, I was eleven years old and I had just finished Grade 5. I remember when my mom told me that we were moving to Atlanta, Georgia I didn’t know where that city was because I only knew the cities in Canada and not in Georgia. I was very sad and excited to move to a new city. I knew I would lose my friends in Canada but I also knew I would get to meet and make some new ones when I get to Atlanta.

If someone asked me where I am going to be in ten years, this would be my answer. I will have a great, high-paying job, and beautiful wife and family, and a nice sports car parked in front of my lovely house. When I look into the future, I see myself being successful and happy. Even though I always pictured myself this way, I never worried too much about how I would get there. I feel the Suffolk University can lay the groundwork for making these dreams into reality.

Adjusting to a new government, similar to adjusting to a new culture requires learning and adapting to new rules and norms. Dealing with this kind of change comes with new lessons, new understandings of life and new perspectives. Individuals have to learn things from scratch, learn to understand the culture and most importantly, people have to stop making assumptions. Moreover, a new culture requires a new level of open-mindedness. This is not always an easy process to go through. However, through education, creating valuable relationships and a positive attitude, it is possible to gradually get used to the new environment.

Psychologists had studied the culture shock, and they discovered that it has four stages. Honeymoon, anxiety, adjustment, and acceptance. Frist, honeymoon phase begins when students are leaving home with all farewells from their family and friends. However, the students’ emotions are mixed up, they are sad for leaving their family, friends, and hometown or happy that they will begin a new adventure, see a country, people, and culture. It continues, honeymoon stage, after the students arrived at the U.S. feeling confused and tired, but happy. With everything around you is new, you will be excited to experience a plenty of new things, such as restaurants, parks, malls, cinemas, etc. That would be enough to make you happy for a while, and like most honeymoon periods, this stage eventually ends. The second stage is the anxiety, which is the most dangerous once. At this phase, the students will start to feel lonely and homesick because you are not yet used to the new surroundings and meet people who are often not familiar. Besides, missing your family, mother’s food, and studying a foreign language, all that will make you ask

How many of you grew up in a different country, a different continent? Australia? Poland? China? Africa? or perhaps in Argentina? It does not matter where you were born or raised, it’s about the feeling you have to experience when you arrive in a whole new place. It is, indeed, an amazing, challenging journey full of new experiences. Simple cannot be the word to describe how the feeling approaches a person arriving in a new place. The feeling that consumes a person who is entering a different culture can be terrifying at first.

I’ve lived in three different states and attended six schools over the past eight years. Relocating from Texas to Michigan, and later Michigan to Georgia were big adjustments for me. I missed my friends and close relatives. However, I knew I had to make the best of my circumstances. Through these experiences, I began to learn to be more flexible, become more open-minded to different traditions, and be adventurous in different parts of the country-I played volleyball, joined a dance team, and even went skiing! At school, I also focused on excelling in my classes and challenge myself like I did when adjusting to a new town.