Words of Wisdom by Bowman

Words of Wisdom by Bowman - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

Most people would call a seventeen-year-old boy young and naïve and although this might be true I still have learned a lot over the near eighteen years I have been on this earth. I have learned how to tie my shoes, how to deal with tragedy, and how to deal with success, yet there were some things I wish I had known a little earlier in my life. The lesson that I most wish I had learned earlier in life and that I would advise younger students to do would be to study hard in school. This may seem like a simple piece of advice that many younger students think they are doing, or think they do not need to do, but it would have greatly helped me if I had listened to my own advice.
School always came rather easy for me so I never found the need to study until sophomore year in upper school when I took the first class that truly challenged me, Honors Algebra II Trig. I am so thankful that I struggled in that class because it taught me how to study. It taught me which methods worked and which did not. This was a valuable lesson, which will help me greatly later in life. Unfortunately being an upper schoolboy I still only studied for the classes I found difficult, and simply coasted by in the classes I found easy. In classes I could have gotten a 100 in, I would settle for a 92 so that I could watch Netflix, play video games, and hang out with friends. Flash forward a couple years, and now college acceptances have come out. I was accepted to five schools and waitlisted at UVA. The University of Richmond, my first choice, accepted me, but unfortunately offered me no scholarships with very little financial aid. If I would have learned when I was younger to study then I most likely could have gotten a scholarship to the University of Richmond. Instead I may not be able to go, and if I can go I will have to put severe financial stress on my family. I will forever have to live with the knowledge that if I would have studied harder in school, I could have gone to my dream school for a reasonable price, but now that may not be able to be possible.
If I were talking to a younger student I would implore them to take school seriously. Friends, Netflix, and videogames will always be waiting, but your studies need to come first. High school truly can affect the rest of your life, so take it seriously and give it the respect and attention it deserves. Simply studying 15 minutes a night or even studying two days before tests could be the difference in a college acceptance and college denial. It could get you a scholarship to allow you to go to an expensive private school with little penalty to your parents. I have made my mistake and I hope younger students can learn from it so they do not make it as well.