College Admissions Essay: Perfectionism In High School

Beowulf was a perfectionist. He carried out his plans of killing the monsters meticulously, that way ensuring he actually defeated them. Just like Beowulf, I have to ensure I complete all my endeavors perfectly. This practice often leads me towards stress, frustration, and poor time management when it comes to schoolwork. In the past three years of high school, this problem has impeded me from finishing essays, homework and other activities not related to school such as decorating my room. More often than not, I do not conclude my tasks; not because I do not care, but because I focus too much on the details. My perfectionist attitude, just like the dragon that blocked Beowulf from reaching the treasure, blocks me from concluding my work.

In a study conducted by the Department of Psychology at the University of Kent Keynes College, their research argues that pushing for perfection is not “maladaptive” and is not related to the competitive anxiety that athletes experience. Perfectionism is a simple personality trait that is found in several athletes. Perfectionism can be best described by an athlete who strives for flawlessness and excellence and tends to set high standards for performance. Some researchers view perfectionism as a trait that is adaptive that assists the athletes to achieve their goals. However, on the other hand, other researchers argue that perfectionism is a maladaptive trait that can negatively affect the athlete instead of benefiting their performance. In

3. Growing Up: Growing up is the process of becoming more mature and wise. As people get older, they begin to see the world in new ways and use past experiences to shape their decisions. The process of growing continuously adds more stress to lives, while simultaneously adding better rewards.

When Mario Hernandez and I had agreed to go to the Military Ball as friends, I honestly did not know what precise reaction to have. “You’re paying for your seat as I’m paying for mine, deal?” he politely asked. The only thing I can clearly remember was being content knowing I did not have to be paired up with some random guy that day. I had a date with a perspicacious, humorous, and indulgent guy. Therefore, I closed off our conversation with, “agreed.” My satisfaction had induced a ravishing rush inside of me. I was filled with anxiousness and excitement, until I realized that the Military Ball was the same day as Youth 2000, my second retreat.

Looking back to my younger years, I never wanted to play or even talk to the older kids in the playground. Just the fact of them being older than me intimidated me, so I would play only with kids in my age group. The summer of my junior year, my parents didn’t have money to be spending on the little stuff that I wanted, so I decided to apply at Burger King. Fast food restaurants usually just have teenagers working there right? Wrong.

Perfectionism can be a medical issue, not just a flaw. Thirty percent of people are perfectionists comparable to Jill in the story “Pancakes”.

Going into highschool, I was constantly asked by family, friends, and teachers the dreaded question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” While other fifteen year olds at the time seemed to know exactly what their dream occupation was, I had no clue. I went to school, studied, got good grades, but no specific class stood out to me as a favorite. This continued until I took my first chemistry class in my freshman year and my blurry idea of my future started to come into focus.

This paper will examine the correlation between perfectionism and eating disorders. Perfectionism can be found in a person as a trait or as a pathological personality disorder. Pathological level of perfectionism can cause maladaptive patterns of behaviors including parental disappointments, social isolation resulted by high standards from society, obsession, and body dissatisfaction. These patterns of behaviors make them more vulnerable to psychological disorders, particularly eating disorders. People tend to develop eating disorders when they feel dissatisfied about their bodies and this risk is higher when they are perfectionist.

Did you know what you wanted to do when you graduated high school? I did not know what I wanted to do when I graduated so I talked to my family and friends about what should I do. My father and mother wanted me to go to America to study. The idea scared me because I had never been so far away from my family before. I applied for the scholarship and was accepted, so soon I found myself on an airplane to New York. I was to go to the language school until I got acceptance into the university. Coming to America was the greatest challenge of my life because I had to leave my family, prepare all of my stuff to take with me, fly on an airplane by myself, and learn a new language. I am glad I overcame my challenge because I have many positive results since I came including learning English, entering the university, and making new friends.

Some people may argue that school is not necessarily a tool for learning itself, but a tool which teaches us how to learn. The intensive amounts of time spent working in and out of school is something that anyone can use to reach success in their life with the right approach. I’ve worked hard to make sure that this holds true for me as well.

Coming into my first year of playing club volleyball I was young and timid. I went to tryouts like all the other girls in my age group and I was easily intimidated. I went to four tryouts and no teams called. Giving up hope my mom pushed me to go to one last tryout. As soon as I walked into the Vision gym I knew I wanted to play for them more than anything. I can honestly say that tryout was the hardest I have ever worked and I earned my spot. That was three years ago.

School can be excruciatingly stressful at times, especially for a perfectionist which I happen to be. With this perfectionism, I 've had a fair share of continuous stress, and frequent headaches. I 've strived to be perfect for as long as I can remember, yet it took until the third trimester of last school year for me to finally realize that perfectionism isn 't actually what it is made out to be. While this perfect mindset may be looked upon as good, it is not. It 's a cruel beast staring over my shoulder and many others as well. It makes me create unreachable goals that only cause me distress, hence my maxim, "Reach for the Sun but Not Too Close to Burn."

I clasped my knees to my chest, sinking as far as I could into my sweat soaked sheets, and buried my face beneath my hands. And yet, the spoonful of cumin continued to prod between my fingers as exasperated voices shouted, “koli, koli!” eat, eat! My body had already purged itself of anything that might have been converted into useful energy, and my limbs trembled from exhaustion. I eventually relented, choking down the bright yellow powder as the faces around me grinned and nodded with contentment. This bout of food poisoning had been a truly unpleasant physical experience, but long after my body had healed, the same nagging questions continued to surface in my mind. Why did they insist on me eating that stuff even though I didn’t want to?

Perfectionism is a good and bad thing. It can be extremely harmful to some and others it could help them get their everyday lives back together. Most of the time perfectionism is found to be taking to seriously and can end up harmful to someone. There are three of many different ways that take a big part in perfectionism being harmful these three are: It causes depression, It causes anger, and it also causes loneliness and life satisfaction in colleges students.

It is not an uncommon occurrence for a parent to approach me to ask me about the methods I use to get good grades. They always seem to assume I dedicate countless hours to formulating study guides and reviewing material. They believe the only way to reach “my level” is to sacrifice sufficient sleep and a social life. This, however, cannot be further from the truth. I earn my good grades without sacrificing other important aspects of my life by planning ahead, collaborating, and using efficient study methods.