Scholarship Essays for College Admissions

“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP,” the abrupt pounding of my alarm clock obnoxiously awoke me. I turned over and took a quick peek at my clock, six o’clock, way too early. Slowly, I forced myself out of my cozy warm bed, putting on my running apparel; mittens, a hat, and layer upon layer of shirts. As I stepped outside, I was greeted by hanging icicles and glistening snow on the roads. It was the middle of a Minnesota winter; a bitter wind nipped at my checks, and I started my run with difficulty. Since ninth grade, I have run every day before school. Even though things can get very difficult, I never give up, I keep pushing on. My determination to be the best keeps me going.

Last year I demonstrated my determination to succeed when organizing prom. Everyone at Hastings High School looks forward to prom all year; it is our only formal dance. Even though it is held in May, girls get their dresses in December, and guys ask their dates even before that! It is also tradition for the four junior class officers to organize everything for prom. Since I have been the secretary of my class throughout high school, I had a mammoth obligation. Ordering sets and trying to imagine them magically transforming our gym was the easy part. However, as prom neared closer and closer it became more difficult, and we realized the gym was not going to be magically transformed; it was going to take a lot of work on our part. Two weeks prior to prom I spent my nights setting up for prom, going straight from school to golf practice to prom set-up until midnight. Even though the hours of hard work were well.HARD, it was worth it in the end. My drive and determination to make prom the best it had ever been paid off in the end as students, their parents and teachers alike marveled at our hard work.

My determination to be the best is also evident in my schoolwork and athletics. Golf is one of the hardest sports in high school to balance with schoolwork because of the amount of school we miss. Golf meets usually start early in the afternoon, so on the days we have meets, we miss the second half of the school day. As many would assume, it is extremely hard to keep up my grades when I am missing class three days of the week. Time management must be perfected for the golf season. Last year, my golf team, which I was captain of, was very competitive, coming in second in our conference and third in our section, (first place team finishers go to the state tournament). Although we excelled at golf, we also excelled at our time management, and school. Even though we failed to make it to the state tournament, we were named Academic State Champions. This means we had the best team cumulative grade point average in the state for girls golf. This was a great achievement for my team; it acknowledged our hard work and determination, on and off the golf course.

Three times is how many times I have taken the American College Test. My sweaty palms and heavy breathing however has not helped me, my scores have been disappointing all three times. Nonetheless, taking this stressful test three times shows my determination. I have not gotten down on my self either, a number is just a number, it does not represent who I am at all. Although I have not scored exceptionally outstanding on the ACT, I did improve my score every time I took it. A lot of hard work, and a little improvement every time adds up. Like Gandhi said, it takes drops of water to fill a bucket.

My determination to be the best I can be is evident in the hard work I put forward in all of my activities. I do not have a first priority, all of my activities are extremely important to me, and I take great pride in them. Although difficulties often stand in my way, I will never let them deter me.