College Admissions Essay: The Importance Of Education

Once you’ve been in school for nearly 12 years of your life you think you know all of the tricks to conquering the school year. When a problem arises you think you know the easy way out of it or the perfect way to avoid it. Some kids probably believe that as you continue on through your education these problems will just simply decrease. As a junior in high school, I’ve come to find that that assumption couldn’t be more false. High school came as a scare to me and I felt that I was the only one going through those typical teenage problems; however, after reading How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, by Paul Tough, I began to gain some of my confidence back.

Drucker, H (2012, May). Going Back to College as an Adult: The Benefits. Retrieved from

I am a girl who grew up with low income. Along with that my parents are both deaf alone with my big sister I watch after who has down syndrome. My father is no longer in my life so it’s my responsibility to take care of them. This isn’t a sob story about how awful my life sounds but how much I embrace it. Without my responsibilities I would have never grown to handle so many things I have accomplished. I was able to take college courses at Normandale Community College for free through Post Secondary Education Option (PSEO). I will also become my sister’s legal guardian this early summer. I work two jobs and try really hard to make sure I’m doing well in my classes along with making sure my family is okay. Why I am saying all this is because I feel like I

I was born on September the 7th of 1994 in the San Francisco Bay area, not very far from Silicon Valley. The year I was born President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade agreement with Mexico and Canada which helped to stimulate economic growth about twenty years ago. Living in California made my Dad the open-minded liberal that he is today, and because of his love for discussing politics I was raised listening to him have friendly debates with my very republican grandpa over every economic issue from climate change to healthcare. For about a year and a half after I was born my parents, older brother Daniel, golden retriever sandy, and I all lived in a classic colonial style home just south of Santa Clara Valley. My father was the breadwinner in our family working as an engineer for Portola Packaging. A job he was offered not long after graduation from a small private engineering school in upstate New York called Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. My mother also worked full time but as a loan underwriter. After being offered a great relocation package by Portola to the east coast my parents quickly decided to pack up our house and move to Pittsburg Pennsylvania. In addition to being closer to our extended families they also believed that raising a family in Pennsylvania was far

I have loved sports my whole life, even at a very young age. I would watch it with my dad, and he would take me to sports games. I loved to play basketball in the backyard when I was little. I have always loved cheering for my favorite sports team. I love watching the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Two years ago my dad surprised me with Vikings tickets. I was so happy to get to go to a game. Sports has always been a big part of my life. Two years ago, I got a new view of sports when I started umpiring.

Here I am, wanting to leap off this uncomfortable green couch and beat my head against a wall to try and write a paper and remember the times when I was younger and probably attempting to do the same thing. I am positive literacy has played a big role in my academic life; otherwise I would not be sitting in a lounge on a college campus trying to write an autobiography. Unfortunately, it has not made a significant dent in my life outside of school. The days where I decided “Hey! I’m going to sit down and read this book,” are few and far between. I can probably count all the books I read for pleasure on my hands from the past ten years, and the amount of written work I composed outside of academic papers and text messages are not much more.

Across the generations of my family, I see a trend towards both a higher education and a higher salary as generations are born. The oldest generation I was able to find information on was just two poor uneducated farmers. The next generation was a majority of farmers and other low salary jobs. They also had a majority of grade school educations. But on my Mother’s side some of my relatives began to get high school educations. With this education they became a store owner, tool and die maker, and a railroad engineer. All representing that a higher education can lead to a more successful life. The third generation of my family tree was a majority of average working class individuals who the majority of had a high school education at best. The

Whenever the girls volleyball team runs sprints, I always scream, “I love this!” at the top of my lungs. But not everyone on the team is quite as excited as I am, so I am met with harsh stares and confused looks. Though all our bodies burn and there are a million other things I rather be doing, I constantly try to convince myself in practice that I love doing things that make my body fill with pain. I, in a sense, “fake it ‘till I make it”. But I rather call it optimism, a quality that dictates my life.

The purpose of education to me is freedom and have a happy, comfortable life. I was told by whole family that with education can help you to be anyone and go anywhere. It was also support by one of the most influential chiefs of the Navajo people, Chief Manuelito who said, “Grandchildren education is the ladder.” Every time I hear that quote, I understood that education is a tool to get you a good life or to go somewhere. My family wasn’t wealthy and struggle with the bills and my parent told me if they completed or went to college they will be living a more comfortable life. In my opinion, they taught me to be grateful of the things they gave me and to understand that I can’t have everything I wanted. With their support, my sister and I was determined to get good grades and work hard with our school work. Even in college I will keep that determination that I had in high school. So, I can get that diploma and start living a comfortable life or still pursue a higher degree.

Some might call it “nosey” or “annoying”, but I've always favored the term “curious”. From a young age, my thirst for knowledge has been unquencable and well-known to those around me. My parents, teachers, and any other adults within an earshot were plagued by my constant questions. By the age of six, I had become obsessed with finances. I felt like I needed to know every last detail of people's fiscal affairs. Unfortunately, my six-year-old self was too young to realize that this was considered distasteful. Often at night, while my dad sat at the dining room table to pay his bills and balance his checkbook, I would accompany him. My interrogation into his finances was unrelenting, and most of the time he would comply. Whether he wanted me

As you read this essay, picture a country where two out of five children are not in school not because they don’t want to get an education, but rather, because their parents are unable to pay as little as fifty dollars for them to get an education. Growing up in the rural area of a small village called Obagie the south side of Benin City, Edo state, Nigeria was not a pleasant experience. Born into a family of eight, and the first male child of a family that relies only on small farm production, my parents could only afford to send myself and two of my siblings to an underfunded public school. I categorically knew that I would end up getting just a High school education. Since leaving my four other siblings at home was worrisome to me, my younger

Life always presents you great opportunities to succeed, but it is you who must decide whether to take them or leave them. This scholarship is a great opportunity for me to continue investing in my own education, since I consider it to be my number one priority, and as I believe that education is the key to impact and motivate others through one’s own testimony, and to also inspire others to pursue their own goals .

My education is my responsibility, no one can hand it to me, it cannot be bought, it can only be earned and worked for. You can pay for college, but that does not automatically mean that you are paying for an education. A person can attend class everyday and choose to not learn. It is a fact that I am going to need an education if I am going to have a comfortable lifestyle. Careers and jobs are becoming exceedingly competitive, leaving the best opportunities to those who have chosen to further their education. The great part about furthering my education is that I actually desire to do it! When I contemplate about not being able to further my education due to financial burdens, it completely breaks my heart considering I know what the value of an education is.

Education is central to my identity. My parents moved from Nigeria when I was 3 and my father knew that the only way he could get a better job was if he went back to college and get a degree in the United States. I saw how hard my parents juggled college life and work life to support us and themselves. While I have always loved learning, I have not always unable to learn as much as I wanted. In middle school, despite being a straight A student, I failed my 7th grade statewide math exam. This made me realize that I needed to extend my studies beyond the classroom, and work hard to find work that was challenging enough to allow me to grow intellectually.

The worth of education has somehow become less. Is it because people think their "social lives" will be hindered by the unlawful time they must give up to read these so called leaves with ancient inscriptions on them? Do they feel that education is beneath them, that if they were to even try to expand their minds; they would be deemed an outcast? The answers to these questions lies in society.