What have you and your family accomplished together?

    My family and I don’t have a big list of accomplishments together. My parents themselves were very successful throughout their life, and I imagine they and their family have many accomplishments. But, I’ve never really done much. I just laze around and sit on the computer all day. But, that makes the few accomplishments I DO have much more memorable, one of which was my acceptance into Uni High.

    To start off my journey of getting accepted into Uni, I think I have to go back to why my parents helped me so much in the first place. It started with my brother. They didn’t know that the SSAT was something to be studied for, so my brother went in without any practice and still got away with an alright score. But, when they realized they had to study for the SSAT, my brother supposedly didn’t deliver. My parents thought he was hopeless because he seemed to barely have studied at all, so they didn’t even let him take the test a second time.

    As the second child and practically the second attempt, my family encouraged me to study a lot more than they did with my brother, but they didn’t force me either. If I didn’t have my parent’s encouragement, I probably wouldn’t have studied as much and would have gotten a really bad score. But, they didn’t make me study multiple hours a day either so I still had a healthy and happy mind.

    However, when my first SSAT test result came back, we noticed that it was the same as my brother’s. I think we were all disappointed, but my parents didn’t punish me for it. Instead, they encouraged me to study more for the 2nd time, and I did. This time, my score was alright. I still thought it was a little unsatisfactory. But, considering that my friend got in with a similar score, perhaps I still had a chance if I wrote a good application.

    The part where my family helped the most was probably my application. I was never the greatest writer. In fact, I would even go so far as to say I was below average. I just never really had much to say on my mind. So, that’s why it was so crucial that my parents gave me ideas for what I could write about. But, they didn’t force me to write anything dishonest or made me change any answers to an essay prompt. Everything I wrote was still from me, and they were just there to bring out my ideas to the fullest. Without their help, I doubt I would have written a convincing application.
  
    We sent our application in and now, it was time to wait for the results. Surprisingly, I wasn’t that nervous. I think it was because my parents were not at all harsh on me. They definitely wanted me to get in, but I don’t think they would have punished me if I didn’t get accepted. When the mail came, we noticed it was a thick envelope. We quickly unsealed it to be met with forms to finish the admissions process. We were overjoyed and celebrated.

    Reflecting on this experience, I learned that I shouldn’t just lose hope when something goes wrong. I had gotten a bad SSAT score on the first try. But, on the second try, I was able to do better. Sure, if I get a bad score multiple times, then that’s not that great. But, there are ways to retry some things in life. This lesson is actually surprisingly relevant to me right now. I just received my first SAT test score last Friday. It was bad. Very bad. But, I’m going to try harder. And, hopefully I will receive a satisfactory score next time.

Comments

  1. AndrewSeptember 15, 2021 at 6:56 AM

    I liked your essay throughout, but the last paragraph stood out to me the most. It's definitely the most relatable for me. I think that mindset of dealing with "failure" is really important, because it's something everyone has to steel themselves for at some point. It's cool to see how determined you are to improve.

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  2. Vraj P.September 15, 2021 at 7:06 AM

    I enjoyed reading your essay. The lesson you share is relatable for everyone. Your tone is conversational, and I liked how you ended the essay on a positive note. You are also critical of your own perspective (e.g. "I just laze around..."), which adds humor and makes the reader feel connected to the story.
    One thing that kind of confused me was when you talk about your first SSAT score. You say that when your brother got that score, your parents thought it was alright, but when you got that same score, it was not good. I see that you wanted to say that after learning you had to study for the test, their view on the score changed. I think if you could clarify that, it would make the essay clearer. Nice job!

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  3. Emily C.September 21, 2021 at 7:36 PM

    As someone who also had to take the SSAT and recently received a less-than-ideal ACT score, I can definitely relate to this essay. I actually wrote my blog post about the same prompt, and while I didn't focus on the application, I also talked about Uni. It was fun to see the same mention of thick envelopes signaling an acceptance.

    You did a good job of connecting to readers by using a light tone and admitting to some of your faults ("But, I’ve never really done much"). Through your mention of your "bad" SAT score and plan to try harder because of it, I think you point out a universal human experience.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jashan TSeptember 21, 2021 at 9:20 PM

    Immediately your essay struck as conversational with how you layed out your anecdote and your langauge. You story was definitely relatable for me, as well as most of the class, and because of that it managed to keep me hooked until the end. I found the first paragraph, particularly the "lazing around computer all day" funny and especially relatable. I liked how you presented multiple viewpoints of your family, like how they were strict with your brother but tried to encourage you a lot more. For improvements, I think you should talk about the lesson in the end more and what you think about the entire experience. Overall though, good job.

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