Spelman College essay

PROMPT: Seeking knowledge and commitment to service are integral parts to the spelman experience. Discuss and illustrate ways you have shown commitment in both areas.
(500 words max i have 896, what should i cut off)

Carl Jung said, "Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens." That means everything will become clear only when looking inside of your heart. Seeking knowledge takes patience because education cannot be shortened, or limited, and commitment to service takes integrity because of devoting yourself to treat others with respect and because of reflecting good character and morals. I am not shy of these two factors because my family applied them into my life and into my heart, which has made everything before me clearer.

At the age of nine, my mother told me, "Baby, the longer you stay in school, the more money you would make." I told her that I wanted to stay in school forever, and she laughed at my naïve answer. She hugged me tightly and told me that it is important that I make money, but it is more important that I make something of myself and that the only way to do this was to further my education. This advice was coming from a young mother who dropped out of college and moved from Chicago to escape my abusive father and relocated to a rural town in Mississippi to provide a safer environment for her children. She is considerably patient in which she raised her two children and continued her education after they were independent enough to dress themselves and cook their dinner.

I have frequently changed schools from elementary to now. I sought after knowledge, reading anything over a few hundred to a few thousand pages and competing against student's grades. This year I even changed my schedule several times only to have the perfect, most challenging classes. I am curious and very competent, and I have unique style of gaining knowledge: if something interests me, I will keep poking at it until I am done with it.

My curious ways of gaining knowledge played a big role into finding my dream profession. I suffer from asthma and had a serious asthma attack one summer. I remember the long, white coats swinging back and forth around me and the sound of bubbling liquids and oozing gases entering and escaping from inside of me. It was weird, but it made me feel better as if it awakened me; that is when I realized I wanted to be physician and ironically, physicians are in school for a long time.
For as long as I could remember, I have avoided an all-girl college. My reason being: the pettiness and the stereotypes. Being a female that has attended both predominantly black and white schools, I have dealt with many kinds of behaviors that have scared me away from many colleges. I received a letter from Spelman and was invited to a reception. I figured it was worth the time, and indeed it was! The representatives were so lovely, and I wanted to be just like them. I want to be a ‘Spelmanite'.

From 8th to 10th grade, athletics have filled my schedule; soccer, tennis, and softball were sports I was devoted to.
I am a bit of an existentialist; searching for my sole purpose in life through experience and choices made. By serving and seeking knowledge, I find myself in the process. I am on a journey, and I do not think any other school besides Spelman College can make this journey larger than life.
As a junior in high school, I counseled the elderly at a retirement home that was right behind my house. It amazed me how much of an impact I was to some of the people there; some of them were lucky to have their families visit them, and some did not have a family at all. I met an old classmate of my granddad's, who was also forced to drop out at 6th grade to work in the cotton field. His story compelled me the most because it helped me learn more about my heritage and how important education is.

I was a babysitter for a young lady who lived down the street; she had three kids: two boys and one girl. Since October of 2009, I have considered them my kids because I was literally part of the family. I was with them from dusk to dawn sometimes, and if we were not playing the Wii, we would be watching scary movies; I love my kids. I enjoyed watching them grow; they come to my waist now and comprehend so much it is scary.

My town had an event at our local library that provided free tax assistance. I was a volunteer from March of 2010 until the end of April. I met many people with many different stories; some people got laid off from their jobs and only received a couple of hundred dollars worth of refunds, and others received far less than their disability checks. If there was one thing I learned in life at that moment, it was how simple things like money can change lives. That summer, I was awarded the People's Choice Award in my town's newspaper.

When I earn enough money from residency, I plan to open a health care center for my small town that will be open all day in order to create more jobs and more volunteer opportunities for everyone. To become a physician takes more than just commitment; it is an ongoing journey with service and knowledge.

THank you.