Conquering to Achieve by Erin

Conquering to Achieve by Erin - July 2015 Scholarship Essay

Goals are important for people to have at all stages in their lives. A child may have a goal of being able to pour a cup of milk for him or herself. Teenagers want to get a job to earn their own money. As a college student who is approaching graduation, I am eager to obtain my Bachelor’s degree in Human Services. I am applying for scholarships to help fund my Master’s program in Management in Healthcare Administration. My main goal for my Master’s degree is to maintain a minimum 3.5 GPA.

When I began my Bachelor’s degree almost a decade ago, I was too busy exploring the newly created Facebook and hanging out with my friends to pay attention to my plummeting grade in chemistry. When the semester ended, I had a C minus, but the rest of my grades were in the B range. My second and third semesters were better; I received A’s and B’s, but I still have that C minus lingering on my transcript.

I left my first college in December of 2007. It was very expensive and I did not know what I wanted to do with my life, so I left. Fast forward about five years. During my five year “intermission,” my father died unexpectedly, I met an amazing man who I am proud to call my boyfriend, and received a full scholarship to finish my degree at the University of Phoenix online. I resumed my degree program in 2012 and have never gotten anything lower than an A minus because I take school very seriously.

School is not easy for me. My boyfriend and I have a home to maintain, I work at a local adult day center that I adore, and I have two chronic health conditions that leave me with brain fog, chronic pain, and debilitating fatigue. Sometimes I come home from work and I feel like I cannot keep my eyes open. I will begin reading a chapter for school a few times because my brain is foggy and I cannot comprehend the information. I know I need to be patient with myself because many people who have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia drop out of school; critical thinking is exhausting, joints in fingers and wrists are sore and make it hard to type papers, and staring at a computer screen can cause migraines.

I am thankful for my dedication to school this time around and I hope to maintain the same work ethic as I continue into my Master’s degree program. I love working with the elderly and the medical field in general. Maintaining good grades is important to me because it proves that I can do whatever I put my mind to do if I am willing to work hard enough.