College and Thirst by Helen

College and Thirst by Helen - January 2018 Scholarship Essay

More than any other word, “thirst” describes best why I want to go to college. “Thirst” not only means that one longs to drink; Thirst exemplifies a wild, passionate desire for something -- anything. I want to go to college because I thirst: I thirst for cold, hard knowledge of mathematical formulas, scientific theories, significant historical events, how to write better, and how to speak better; I thirst for independence that will allow me to become an adult; finally, I thirst for the opportunity to discover who I really am and what I truly enjoy.
I thought I was done knowing who I really am and what I truly enjoy at the end of middle school. But I was wrong. Starting in my freshman year, I began to like math more, and want to learn all its applications. In tenth grade, I found out that I really liked chemistry. I also discovered interests for business law and accounting. In addition to foraging and discovering new interests, I fostered old ones. Music and reading excited me in middle school -- and they excite me more now. At the end of eighth grade, I never dreamed I would ever like accounting, law, math, or chemistry, so who knows what college will bring? My eagerness to learn more about things I do and do not know describes only part of my thirst, however.
Though I have an idea of what I want to do for a career, I thirst to know it is truly what I want to do. Many people have told me how they went to college thinking they were going to have one job and left college on a completely different path. No one knows if that will happen to them, and I certainly do not know if it will happen to me -- but when or if the time comes, I will gladly accept such a change. I never had any dramatic changes in life up until this point. Being in a new environment, with a new schedule, new lifestyle, new people, and a new degree of independence are things that I not only want: They are things for which I thirst. College will make me smarter, more capable, and a better human being -- no word describes why I want to go to college better than “thirst.”