Thankful Thursday: College Application Essay

"Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world.

For, indeed, that's all who ever has."

- Margaret Mead

Jeshua

College Application Essay

Many people over the years have made minor and great impacts alike to my life. While these people may have gradually molded me into the moral person I am today, none of them have ever completely changed my goals and aspirations quite like my school’s most recent guest whose name I don’t even know. As surprising or cliché as it may sound, this older woman completely changed my whole career path in a 45 minute speech [about the School and Youth Program]. This lady from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society may never even know it, but she perhaps just saved many lives of hurting people 10-15 years down the line. Because of her, I am now pursuing a career in the medical field, particularly a physician or oncologist in the blood cancer field.

I am not usually the kind of person to make spontaneous decisions, but, I’ve been taught by my parents that when a switch turns on inside of you, you make the most of it and follow it with your whole heart, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Before the guest came to my high school, I was at a loss for words when asked what I planned on pursuing afterwards. I knew that I had an interest in cars, so I believed that eventually I would get around to doing something with them for my career but never knew what, or how, or even when I would do it. As I sat in my chair during the guest’s speech, my mind ventured into my past.

My past is probably the foremost reason that the switch turned on inside me during the lady’s speech. When I was six years old I fainted while walking up the steps to my front porch. My parents couldn’t find out why so they took me to the hospital to get checked out. The doctors ran all their tests and finally the results came back later during the week. I saw my mother on the phone with one of the doctors from Cook Children’s Hospital. She began to tear up and eventually cried uncontrollably. My father was at work at the time so he came home to a distraught family full of raging emotions. When my father hesitantly asked my mother what was wrong, she broke the news to him that his young, six year old son was in fact diagnosed with leukemia.

After many months of struggle and chemotherapy, I eventually began my journey of remission. I have now been in remission for eleven long years now. I believe that my unnamed guest at school was able to tap into my experience with a life threatening disease which ultimately led to a spark inside my soul to give back. I no longer feel driven to make my career solely about me. I no longer feel like a hobby for a career is enough. I am a changed person. I have no one other than a sincere older woman to thank for my life change