For graduate school - Personal Statement Example

That night was the turning point in my life. It made me realize a few things that I should be grateful for. However, feeling appreciative of these amazing gifts was not the only way to express my gratitude for what I have been privileged to possess. Rather, it is the contribution I could make in the society in order to share what I have been fortunate to have that actually matters. I understood right at that moment that the only way I could repay my parents for all the sacrifices they made for me in getting a good education is to do what my father had hoped I could do best in the society; that is, to help and share my knowledge in the field of Applied Math and Statistics.

As the years passed, I have come to realize that the road to my goal was not that easy. Like most students who grew up in a normal school in the United States, every day was a challenge. I went to class, wanting to excel. Unlike others who go to a boarding school where they are disciplined in a stricter way than in a normal school, no one supervised my performances in the classroom. As such, I could have been lazy and lax in my studies. Although my parents were furnished with my grades, they do not get involved in my scholastic performance.

It was not because my parents did not support me and help me with my responsibilities in school. Rather, it was their trust in me. They allowed me to direct my studies, from elementary to college and even at present. Furthermore, I did not want to bother my parents with any of my school responsibilities as they already have so much to handle, raising our family and ensuring there was enough food on the table. As such, having only myself to depend on was a far better challenge than obtaining the highest Grade Point Average or GPA in college.

Intrapersonal struggle, I have come to realize, was a lot more difficult. Free will becomes a disadvantage instead of an advantage. There was no one else to blame for the consequences of the wrong decisions I would make except myself. Exercising my own free will was so tempting that I thought I just had to exercise mine by choosing not to do my homework assignments, skip classes, and party. There were just so many things I thought I could do that would make my life in school a lot easier. Nevertheless, the thought of an obscure future as a result of choosing the easy way in college was more stressful than doing the right things that were expected of me.

My professors and family deserved to see they had trained me well. Others may think being in a normal school from primary up until college is easy, but the truth is, it is the contrary. Because one has more freedom to do things in a normal school than boarding school, practicing diligence is much harder. Nonetheless, it has shaped my personality and my attitude towards learning. The challenge of facing myself and my weaknesses was the toughest, yet the most rewarding. If it had not been for these personal difficulties I had to overcome, I would not recognize my strength in academics.

To encourage myself to focus my interests in school, I had to search for that one thing that would ignite my passion for learning. Even at a young age, I had already found myself fascinated by the way mathematics works. This realization of the fun I had while I taking my Math classes from elementary to high school was my motivation. My love for numbers, analyzing problems and solving them kept my life in school on track. I wanted things to be as precise as they could be, just as