Personal Statement: Why I Want To Go To College

It is no secret that a college education facilitates opportunities for the most promising careers and jobs in the long run. Even for most jobs overall, a high school diploma isn’t impressing anyone and it may have to be accepted that a minimum wage job will be the ceiling for any type of work-related income. And remember,

In my life, I would be certain to say that I was two distinct people; a child before Temple University, and an individual afterwards. In the years since my graduation, I enjoy reminiscing on those long past days. I was lazy, meek, I had no motivation to do anything and lacked the skills as well. Truly I was going nowhere, until I received a letter in the mail for an application I had completely forgotten about. I was accepted into University, an implausible thought to my young self.I was ecstatic, unable to process what had happened to me.

“Be realistic Mariel”, “Are you really going to go through with the idea of college?”, “People like us never make it.” Those were words engraved in my mind as a result of some of my loved ones not believing in me. To them the odds of me obtaining a bachelor’s degree were too farfetched; a waste of time and money. However, my mindset never quavered; I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish translation and interpreting, maintaining good grades while actively participating in campus organizations and community service events. In fact, here I am today, applying to

My parents have always supported me in everything, but unfortunately they cannot afford my college tuition. That is why I’m

To be honest, I never thought I would be able to graduate from high school or even get accepted to college, but after so many years I am achieving everything that I thought of as impossible. I have two important motivation one of them are my parent. I always seen them working

They wanted me to have a better future than they; do not struggle in life just to make ends meet and give back to those who did not have the opportunities in front of them like me. Their reasons made total sense to put time and effort into a university who could provide me with resource to the real world. However, I never really gave a deep evaluation of how much college could offer by going to it. These past few weeks, I’ve experienced many things that have changed my views on such little things I never questioned. With just a short period of time, my perspective on “why go to college” had changed completely.

I enrolled in college not knowing what exactly to expect and with many doubts but by taking that gigantic leap out of my comfort zone, my life has changed drastically. In high school, I was never the type of student to strive for A’s or to be on the honor roll. My siblings were the ones who did great in school with minimum effort but I struggled and often became discouraged.I remember vividly telling my mother I was going to drop out in the ninth grade. I thought I would be stuck at a warehouse job but now I have goals and dreams, all because I took one

As a first generation college student, I have the desire to not only make my parents proud of my academic achievements, but to be the first person in my family to receive a college degree. At a very young age, I was always expected to receive A’s and B’s in my school assignments, as well as my final grades. However, I was never rewarded or congratulated whenever I did receive those grades because it was already expected of me to achieve them. Hence, a time in which I have experienced failure but also felt like I let my family down was when I received a D in my Critical Thinking course I was already retaking for the second time. The first time I took Critical Thinking was during the summer in which it was an 8-week long course.

" Education is not preparation for life;education is life itself." -John Dewey I have always felt integrated in my love for education. Discrimination never stole from what felt like an intellectual thirst I could not quench. Attending college had been a goal of mine since I was young, conceived from the curiosity of the world I could not touch with my hands. Unfortunately education in our society is no longer seen as freedom to explore culture and world knowledge, but as mandatory attendance in an institution where the individual is only perceived as successful when their degree is in practice.

Many times in life what we dream, what we want, does not happen the way we expect to happen. In order to attend a four-year university to get my bachelor’s degree I had to go through a series of situations that would teach me how to be a better student and a better person. Being an immigrant, and especially a teenager, is not easy and it was not easy to me at all. When I was in my junior year of high school, I only had one year living in the U.S. I was still trying to adapt to my new country, to my new life, to my new school; however, it was not as easy as it seems, although I was always an excellent and hardworking student back in my country, El Salvador, I was not succeeding the way I wanted to, especially in school.

Four years ago, I remember being told, “We both know you can do it, you are just not putting in enough effort.” In the middle of my eighth grade year, the dreams of going to college and having a better life for myself was not important at that moment. College didn’t matter to me as I was with the wrong type of friends who always influenced my behavior whether I knew it or not. While I knew that I was capable of being on the high honor roll, it didn’t seem to matter to a thirteen year old. Knowing that college was still years away, I didn’t want to focus on it so early in my life. My grades and behavior were the main reasons I was on the border of not graduating.