Woodford R Porter Scholarship Program - Essay Example

May 27, Financial Aid Office of Louisville Louisville KY 40292 Attn: Committee on Financial Aid Re: Scholarship Appeal Dear Sirs/Mesdames: First and foremost, I am hereby thanking the Woodford R. Porter Scholarship program for awarding me a full tuition scholarship that would give me the opportunity to secure a productive and rewarding future. My first semester at the University of Louisville as a freshman went smoothly and I ended up with a 3.45 GPA. I enrolled in two (2) highly challenging courses at the same time, Biology 242 and Chemistry 201, during the spring semester. I was so determined to meet the prerequisites needed for my major in biology. By my sophomore year, I added Biology 244 to my class schedule. I eventually found the load to be highly demanding; as such, I withdrew from the class to avoid generating a low grade. Regardless of the course withdrawal, the challenging academic requirements caused my inability to meet the GPA requirements of my scholarship. I am hereby appealing to the committee to re-consider sustaining my scholarship with the firm commitment that I would work fervently to meet and maintain the required GPA. I am hereby providing the details: Relocation of my parents Other confounding events and circumstances apparently rationalized my inability to meet the GPA requirement. One of the main reasons that I attended the University of Louisville was because it was in close proximity to where my parents lived. My parents understood that I was going to College at a younger age than all my peers and they believed that I still needed a support system at least for my first full year at the University. However, because of great job opportunities in Texas for my parents, they decided that since I obtained a good GPA during my first semester, I was stable enough to be left in another state by myself. Part-time job I got a job as a hostess at Griff’s restaurant to augment the financial resources I had to support living alone and studying, at the same time. With the time allocated for work, there was evidently lesser time allotted for studying and going to REACH sessions. As soon as I started to see my grades suffer detrimentally, I decided to stop the job. I gradually improved over time with my test grades but the first two test scores were way too low for me to eventually make at least a B in the class. As such, the significantly low test scores evidently caused my GPA to drop. Transportation issue Transportation was also a big issue for me because my parents used to accommodate my transportation requirements. With their relocation, I had no way of attending deaf events for my ASL class. ASL students were required to attend 10 hours of deaf events but I was only able to attain 4 hours out of the 10 needed because I had no way of getting to the events. Spending time with friends I was used to the holistic support provided by my parents. As such, after my family left for Texas, I spent more time with friends. Likewise, I have never been alone and at the age of 17, I found it difficult to adjust quickly. Their relocation left a void which took a toll on my academic pursuit, especially since I had started to take my core pre – med classes. I felt lonely and I acknowledged that I relied on friends to fill the void. Moreover, I believed at that time, an alternative support system is the camaraderie, physical, and emotional support that friends could provide. I thought that by spending extra time with them, I could also solicit academic support in courses that we shared. Delving into extra-curricular activities I tried to be a well-rounded student and participated in extra-curricular activities. As such, I also engulfed myself in numerous school organizations such as NRHH and RSA which occupied a lot of my time as we had bi-weekly and sometimes weekly meetings that I had to attend. The fact that I acknowledged my mistakes and the weaknesses that contributed to my inability to achieve the required GPA, I tried to devise various strategies to cope with the lost time and attempt to increase my academic performance. Eventually, I started going to my SI and REACH sessions provided to me by the University of Louisville and I even went as far as getting a private tutor for my Chemistry classes. My grades started to go back up but unfortunately, my previous test grades were too low for me to be able to get at least a B in my Chemistry and Biology Classes. I believe that my mistakes were based on the fact that I was trying to replace the time that I spent with my family with allotting time with friends. In retrospect, this lessened the time that I could use to study. Furthermore, I tried to prove myself as mature to my parents by getting a job so that I did not have to rely on them for small necessities now that they lived in another state. Also, by going through the RA job process, I spent a lot of time preparing for the group and individual interviews rather than focusing on academic endeavors. Lastly, the fact that I lost my source of transportation caused the huge decline in my ASL grade while still aiming to getting at least a B in the class. However, I was unable to gain the 10 hours required for the class despite my attempts at trying to getting my classmates to take me to deaf events when they went. Nevertheless, I believe that life is a learning process and higher education is one of the main avenues for professional growth which would enable students to develop and assume a more responsible and mature stance in future decision-making processes. Moving forward, I am being proactive by retaking my Chemistry and Biology classes in the summer so that my GPA increases. I believe in second chances and hope the committee would provide me with the opportunity to maintain and sustain the scholarship program so that I would eventually become a medical doctor in the future. I am now aware of the mistakes that I made and would definitely avoid repeating errors in the future. Equally important, the ultimate reason for the need to sustain my scholarship is to assist parents in supporting my academic pursuit. In a family of six, my mother is the main individual responsible for paying most of the bills in the family. My father just recently got a job about three weeks ago and had unemployed for the past two years. My mother was the one shouldered the responsibility for paying the mortgage and supporting my other three brothers with their necessities. As such, when I was awarded the Porter Scholarship, we were all very grateful of the financial assistance. However, if I do not get the scholarship back, I fear that the financial burden would be assumed by my mother; so, I plan to find a job that can help me pay for my education. I am sure this option would not be the best recourse for me based on what had already transpired. Yet, gaining a higher education is acknowledged to be of utmost importance to me and my family. The challenging experience detracted me from sustaining high academic performance. However, it provided me with the needed incentive to work harder and be more mature in prioritizing academic endeavors. I plan to complete my degree and to graduate with honors. I hope that the committee can see from my previous semester that I am capable of raising my GPA even beyond what is expected and will allow me the privilege to continue pursuing my degree program. I humbly appeal for the committee to give me another chance to continue availing of the benefits of the scholarship program. I further undertake that, if given the chance, I will excel and make myself, my parents, and the Porter foundation proud. I know the importance of education and even more, the opportunities that the scholarship has given me. Mr. Porter said it best when he said “education is the great equalizer.” Knowing this, I will not let this stumbling block prevent me from reaching my goal and I will also not let the Woodford R. Porter Scholarship down when given a second chance at proving myself. Sincerely, Read More