Pave Way: The Underdog's are here. by Caitlin

Pave Way: The Underdog's are here. by Caitlin - June 2013 Scholarship Essay

     I was an underdog. I was the runner up, or the second best, always a couple of steps behind the winner. Academics never came easy to me in High School, and it was something I had to put immense effort into, just to try and reach the academic excellence everyone else seemed to lounge in so effortlessly. Despite even my greatest efforts, I was always seen as mediocre, plainly average, in terms of academics. Praise and admiration was given to those students with sky high GPA’s and dazzling test scores, and by default they were seen as more deserving of greatness then us, the underdogs. But I didn’t agree with that, nor believed it-just because we’re talented in other things did not mean we were less deserving of success, opportunities, and chances.
      College is that chance, the ultimate one, and would quite literally completely alter the paths and directions our life would take. But suddenly, the cloying clouds that blocked that chance seemed to part, because of a much unexpected envelope in the mail, heavy with the weight of expensive stationary. I tore up the envelope, my hands shaking and my heart swelled up in my throat, beating like a humming birds wings. Surely I was too young to suffer from a heart attack, but it felt like I was. I couldn’t breathe-probably because I was holding my breath. I unfolded the paper in my hand; I was too terrified of what I’d see. I inhaled a deep breathe, mentally preparing myself for what I knew it would say. I glanced at it, and cliché as it is, my heart skipped a beat. I had been accepted to my first college-not just any college, but to my dream school, the only one I wished to attend, and the only one I naively applied to. Questions tumbled through my head: They accepted me? But how, my grades aren’t good enough, neither are my scores…but they think I’m good enough? I was on cloud nine, happy to a point of annoyance-little did I know that, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.      
     Three months later, I had received an email from the college, carrying a message that no excited senior should ever have to hear-they had mixed up my transcript with another application, and had accepted me by accident; due to this, they were pulling my acceptance, after letting me believe for three months that I was going to my dream college. I was shocked and distraught, but most importantly, I was infuriated-once again, I was the loser, the underdog, and not deserving of such an honor. That anger fueled something in me that was long delayed; a motivation that was unstoppable. I was the author of my life, and only I would decide what happened next. After various emails, phone calls, and time that seemed to drag on for an eternity, a conclusion was made-they would give me a chance. I would be allowed one semester, under careful watch, to see if I was worthy of it. They were giving me one chance. With that chance, against their low expectations, I ended my freshman year of college there on the Academic Dean’s List, and with an internship.
     Because of that chance, I proved that I could excel, that I did deserve to be there, and that I wasn’t an underdog. No one truly was an underdog, against my initial thoughts. College, to me, is a chance, that opportunity for one to prove themselves to the world, and to decide their own future. It is an opportunity to accomplish great things, and to become greatness, in our own form. College is the foundation of the rest of our life, and it is our own choice to determine what we do with it, and where exactly it will take us. With this chance, you can prove your talents, your ambitions, and accomplish anything. More importantly, you get to prove to yourself how special you are, and that you aren’t second best-you’re more than that. Is is the beginning of the rest of your life, and it is the first opportunity in which you decide what happens. College is exactly what you make of it-it’s the first chance you’re given to flip to the next page and decide what happens.