Personal Statement Sample #4I am a Mexican American who was
born and raised in San Francisco. This is my second year attending City
College of San Francisco. My educational goal is to obtain a Masters Degree
in Biology, and eventually pursuing my doctorate. I plan on getting my
Associates degree at City College then transferring to the University of
California Berkeley for my undergraduate studies and perhaps my graduate
studies. My life time goal is to improve myself and the standard of living
for my child through higher education. My career goal is to teach biology at
a community college level, and ultimately teach at a university. Three years
ago, I could not even see myself pursuing any goals that I had set for
myself. I got pregnant at eighteen, and decided to drop out of college so I
could work full-time as a co-manager at Contempo Casuals. Needless to say,
my parents were not happy. They had worked so hard to teach me important
values.
My parents did not realize all the important values I had learned from
them. Seeing my parents struggle to support me, my older sister, and younger
brother has helped me to learn some valuable rules to live by. first, that
you must work hard to achieve your goals. Second, that you must never ever
give up working for your goals. Third, that anything is possible if you try
hard enough. I apply those rules to my life even more so now that I am a
single mother of one terrific boy. He is the very reason why I am so driven,
and determined to make a better life for myself. His father is,
unfortunately, uncooperative and does not support his son by any financial
means.
Being a single mother is not easy. Sometimes I don't know how I will do
it to raise a fine young man. I will do anything to ensure him a good and
stable future. When he was six months old I realized the only way to ensure
his future was through higher education for myself. Knowing that was the key
factor to happiness I enrolled at City College the summer of 1996.
City College of San Francisco has helped me to realize even higher goals
than I could ever have imagined for myself. I had always loved the sciences,
but taking a biology class at the Summerbridge program emphasized that. In
fact, the Summerbridge program that was run through Univeristy High School
in San Francsico allowed me to take a high school Biology class when I was
only in the sixth grade. This class showed me the fundamentals of Biology,
and I enjoyed the class immensely. By the time high school came around I
already knew that I wanted to take classes in Biology. I was very lucky to
enroll in a class that was funded by San Francsico State University for a
Biotechnology Recombinant DNA experiment. Because of the level of
experimentation involved in this class, I learned so many lab techniques,
and had the chance to work with state of the art equipment. At this point I
decided that teaching Biology at a community college or university level
would be the best job for me.
Through my love for science I know I can make a difference in the lives
of my fellow Latinos. I want them to see science as a wonderful field of
exploration. In America, Latinos are very under-represented in science. I
want to change that, but I do realize that I must take it one step at a
time. currently, I am taking twelve units. I have completed thirty-four
units with a cumulative GPA of 3.57. I am also on the City College Speech
and Debate Team where I am developing my communication skills while
practicing my public speaking skills, which are essential to my career. I
was also invited to be a part of the National Institute for Health for
Minorities in Science where I get to interact with other minorities
experiencing the same challenges. Last but not least, I was just accepted as
a member of the Alpha Gamma Sigma Honor Society.
Although my parents are helping me, my financial situation is not good. I
do not receive any child support or welfare from the government. My parents
are left with the bulk of expenses that my son incurs. I work as a temporary
administrative assistant only when I can find a qualified, yet decently
priced babysitter. Unfortunatley, good childcare is expensive, and eight
dollars an hour is not enough to pay for baby-sitting and living expenses. I
ahve even had to stop working because of a lack of higher quality,
affordable childcare. Luckily, my parents try and help my son the best they
can.
I hope one day to pay my parents back for helping me out when I needed it
the most. I also plan to help my community be recruiting other Latinos into
college. I feel this is the only way we can truly advance ourselves and be
heard. We must prove that we too are a strong, powerful, and intelligent
people. I plan to help my fellow Hispanics by helping local organizations
that deal with the prevention of drugs, alcohol, and gangs. I also hope to
enroll at UC Berkeley where I can be apart of their Latino Studies program,
as well as the Latino organizations and clubs that support the advancement
of all Hispanics. Most of all, as a single mother, I plan to succeed,
advance, and survive with a good education.
