My Life After High School Essay

I knew at a young age that I wanted to attend a university. When I was in kindergarten, my dream was to become a doctor. During career week at my elementary school several parents came into the classroom and spoke about their careers. Several of the parents stressed the importance of doing well in school, going to college, and obtaining a degree. I did not fully understand what this all meant at the age of four, but this idea of attending a university after high school was something I would hear multiple times in my life. My family consists of my mother, father, and older brother. My father did not pursue and education after graduating high school. My brother, who is nine years my senior, a role model to me as I was growing …show more content…
The first few years were tough because my mother had lost her job at UCLA and she was the only one in the household working. After nearly a year of applying for jobs and not hearing back from anyone my mother decided that it was time for her to go back to school and earn a degree. Her dream was to become an educator and she decided to pursue that dream. During the time that my mother was working on her bachelor’s degree, my grandfather was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer and my mother did what seemed to be impossible to me. She became my grandfather’s primary caretaker while caring for my brother and me and being a full time student. She graduated Magna Cum Laude a year after my grandfather passed away and went on to earn her Master’s degree and fulfill her dream of becoming an educator. My mother was an elementary school teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District. She lost her job in 2012 during the LAUSD budget cuts and layoffs. She lost hope of finding a teaching job after a year and a half of searching and is now working at UCLA in the cancer registry department. My mother’s journey in education has greatly inspired my own journey. She has been the largest inspiration in my life and I hope to make her …show more content…
After three years at my community college I graduated and applied to a few universities that had interesting programs. I have always felt somewhat disappointed in myself for not completing community college in two years, but after watching a TED talk by Scott Dinsmore, I feel better about my academic timeline. He said, “you don 't have to be the fastest marathoner in the world, just your own impossibilities, to accomplish those, and it starts with little bitty steps” (Dinsmore, 2012, 10:32). My journey through community college was not quick and I was unsure that I would graduate or transfer, but I did and I am proud of myself for that. I chose to attend UCSB for a few reasons. The first reason that appealed to me was the history of the environmental studies program here. The second was due to the wonderful experience that my older cousin had here. The final reason was that my fiancé lives in Santa Barbara and had no interest in moving out of state or to a different part of the