College Prompt Essay Draft

University of California - San Francisco

• Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community, or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

Growing up with both parents working in the medical field, their time was almost always consumed by work. I often spent my time reading scary stories and question-and-answer books. If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I loved the sciences. I would consider it as my passion; I need science in my life. Occasionally, when I got sick of my science books, I would peek through my parents’ medical books. As I looked at all of the injuries and disorders, I knew one thing I was sure of: I was never going into the medical field. However a few observations and an open mind changed my opinions drastically.

My parents were always considered as the people to go to when they needed the support. Whenever relatives or family friends had problems at home, or even high blood pressure, they would ask my parents for advice. And I really liked that. I wanted to become the person everyone goes to for support. I wanted to help people, to know that I’ve changed someone’s life. And before I knew it, I was looking through jobs in the medical field. The medical field created a big impact in my life. Thinking about it now, it’s impossible to love science and hate the medical field, but I did, and I don’t regret it. But being in the medical field satisfies not only my need for science, but my need to help people as well.

• Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution, or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

Today, I’m known as the goody two-shoes with the good grades, but even though my GPA may be high, it hasn’t always been like that for me. When I was younger, school was never really important to me. I didn’t pay attention to my grades, let alone realize how important they would be in the future. However, in the sixth grade, I had gotten fairly good grades, or so I thought. My two closest friends, who had done much better than me, were happy that I ended up with what I had gotten, but I wasn’t. I came home to share my grades with my parents, who were ecstatic, but that was where I realized that I could do so much better. 

I started to study more for my tests; to put more effort into my homework. I paid so much more attention to my grades, to the point where my GPA the most important thing to me. I studied when I first got to school, and as soon as I stepped foot in my home. And my hard work and determination had lead me to leave the eighth grade in the top 5 of my class. I continued to work as hard as I could in school, and it has gotten me so far. I realized that anyone could change. Anyone can become whoever he or she would like to be. All they need is support, determination, and a little push.