I believe that I am one of the most hardworking and ambitious students at NYU, as every semester I am unsure if I will find a way to pay, yet I continue to reach for my fullest potential. I come from an economically disadvantaged town in Southern California, San Jacinto, where most of the parents of my peers had not exceeded a high school level education. Although San Jacinto is growing, as the cost of living is much less than in surrounding areas, most of my classmates did not have ambitions to seek higher education. The few who go on to attend Mount San Jacinto Community College are often forced to drop out before finishing their degrees due to their economic situations.
I attended a small and poorly funded charter school in the eighth grade called San Jacinto Valley Academy. Even though the charter school is not within the public school district of the valley, my test scores caught the eye of the senior counselor at San Jacinto High School, who asked to meet with me to discuss the possibilities of ensuring my college attendance. He placed me in a program that is only offered to academically talented juniors and seniors at San Jacinto High School: I was going to attend the community college on full scholarship starting in the fall.
During my four years at Mt. San Jacinto Community College, the amount of classes offered decreased, and it became near difficult to get into one class a semester. I remained headstrong, though, as I was determined to complete my Associates Degree before the scholarship’s terms ended when I graduated from high school. Every semester during registration, I made phone calls (I strategically obtained the personal cell phone number of the Dean of Admissions) and office visits and obtained signatures and approvals for the classes I wanted. I still had to “crash” all of my classes, which means that I sat in on class meetings until a spot opened. After ten semesters—I took classes during the summer as well—of begging professors to be allowed into their classes, I completed my Associates of Arts in Humanities. I graduated with honors and Phi Theta Kappa recognition two weeks before I graduated from my high school. I am the only person who has done this, and, because this program has now been eliminated due to tuition increases, the only person who will ever do this.
My involvement in the college did not subtract from my presence at high school, where I was president of all four choirs, a lead vocalist in Jazz Choir, the head of a community outreach organization, captain of varsity tennis, and a member of many other clubs like textiles and design and National Honors Society. I graduated with a 4.5 grade point average and worked as a tutor at after school programs to pay for college applications.