College Admissions Essay: A Career As A Talented Student

From the earliest I can recall, I always wanted to be the best around. I believed in doing whatever necessary to be number one without regrets. For the longest time I completely believed this naive statement. I became an unbearable child who demanded perfection in everything given to him. But one day I started my descent, from having a massive ego, when I began fifth grade. I was always on top of the class getting perfect scores and showing exceptional skill in athletic activities. I shamelessly believed it was my right. I had an unchecked pride that I could not hide. I always pushed to better myself but I was a brat. I soon discovered competition and couldn’t handle it properly. I would go into a blind rage whenever alone in the school restroom

A girl name Susan out shined me in class and with years of experience in gymnastics she could most certainly demolish me in any sport. I slowly moved away from athletics as well as start to care less and less about academics. I was still a gifted student, but chose to hid my talent in order to seem as if I didn’t care. This made me more popular among my classmates but heavily impacted my studies. I ran from conflict and hid from failure. I was a coward. Until 7th grade. A math instructor, named Mr.Catanese, told me “The only true failure in life you gotta worry about is quitting even though technically you fail but don’t worry about that.” For the last two years I became someone who didn’t care about status or privileges. I became a nicer person to everyone around me. I may have no longer been the best but I was liked and had friends for once. I was happy and yet something felt off. I was driven to be better than anyone else and stopped myself at every point imaginable. I wanted greatness but I also wanted happiness just as much. Those words will not leave my mind. The only true failure in life you gotta worry about is