Scholarship Essays for College Admissions

The first eight years of my education were spent home schooling and being taught by my mother. During that time, my education was an eclectic style in which we primarily focused on and enjoyed English and language arts. The areas of math and science were not strong points for my mother so naturally we shied away from those subjects. As a result, I excelled in linguistics, but my skills in mathematics and science were deficient. Along with wrestling with those areas, I also felt socially lacking because I spent my time in the home and very little time around other groups of children my own age. Finally in my 8th grade year I made a life-altering choice. I decided to challenge myself further by enrolling in a public junior high school. This was unarguably the biggest step I had ever taken. Upon arriving at the school, I found that I was painfully shy and had a hard time comprehending even the simplest concepts of math and science, though I worked diligently in both fields. When I was asked at the end of the year by my English teacher to write and orally give a speech at my 8th grade graduation I was terrified about speaking in front of such a large audience. However, I overcame my fear and recited at the graduation.

By my 9th grade year, my social skills were slowly improving. I could actually carry on a normal conversation without feeling self-conscious. I had worked hard enough to be placed into an algebra one class. But because my science skills were below average, I was put into an integrated science one class. Because my mother and father had very little understanding in these fields, I knew that I would have to learn on my own in class and by taking advantage of tutoring sessions. By my sophomore year, I was on track in college prep classes in both math and science. Though I struggled through geometry, I found myself enjoying my biology class. At the end of the year, I even went on an extra-curricular trip for a week to Catalina Island to learn more in the field of biology. In that one week, I learned more about science than I had in my entire years of schooling and I truly enjoyed it. That trip literally opened a new world of life to me through experiences such as snorkeling in the ocean, hiking the mountains, and sailing on a boat. By the time I became a junior, my relaxation around others had improved dramatically; my friends even began to describe me as outgoing. While I found it much easier to converse with people, I also found that my ability to understand math and science had progressed. I was able to explain how to do problems in algebra two to my classmates and I understood why chemicals bonded in chemistry. In truth, I began to actually take an interest in the two once-hated subjects. Now, as a senior, I can’t believe that I am actually enrolled in a physics and pre-calculus class. I never thought that I would have made it this far. My desire to go to college made me press further and harder than I ever thought that I could and I feel pride that I was able to reach this goal without the academic help of my family. I knew I had to do this on my own, and I did. Now, because of my experiences, I know I can rise to life’s challenges and overcome obstacles that I might have found impossible before.