Impact of not Having a Plan by Samiya

Impact of not Having a Plan by Samiya - July 2023 Scholarship Essay

My biggest challenge in life has been adjusting to academics after moving across the world. In eighth grade, leaving my closest friends and teachers behind, I packed my belongings, and moved from India to the United States. It would be an understatement to say that not only was it such a drastic change, but a huge cultural shock. For instance, students here could be in more advanced classes but in India everyone learned the same content and the teaching methods were different; everything was done online instead of writing. Due to changes I faced in academics, it took time to adapt but just as I began to adjust a bit, COVID hit. I never got a chance to process what APs are or what the SAT is which are crucial components to the college process. Due to all this, I was faced with the challenge of not having a plan in mind for the road ahead unlike my peers. Since freshman year was virtual, I didn’t meet new people which meant I didn’t get to learn of opportunities from others and academics were impacted. COVID started at the end of eighth grade; so, in Algebra 1, we did not get to complete the curriculum. In biology class we couldn’t conduct experiments together which meant not obtaining a strong foundation in certain topics. After concluding my freshman year in Virginia I moved to Texas. Even though this may not come across as a huge change like moving countries, in reality, the new school was highly competitive, leaving me to start all over again. It felt like everyone knew what they were doing and never needed help. I, on the other hand, was struggling in balancing my academics and social life. During sophomore year I was doing better than 8th and 9th grade plus I had taken my first AP class: World History. The first nine weeks were difficult with adjusting to a new environment plus an AP class. I eventually dropped the class because I was almost always failing tests and no matter how hard I tried, went for tutorials, watched videos, I felt like nothing seemed to be working. Nonetheless, I strived to get better at time management as that is key with APs.
By the end of sophomore year, I applied for a competitive class called Independent Study and Mentorship and got accepted for my junior year. The class had 50 spots and there were 118 applicants in my batch. Even so, I faced more challenges: finding a mentor. It took about a semester and a half, much longer than my peers took. There were many rejections, ignored calls and people who were willing to mentor but had commitments. This was discouraging at times since it felt like everyone was advancing except for me. In the end, I learned that perseverance does pay off no matter how long it takes. I was glad that I was among the rare ones who persisted and got a mentor even though my field was niche because a lot of students with such fields didn’t get mentors at all. From my mentor, I learned that looking at the bigger picture is important instead of worrying about details and that is something I feel will be helpful for life.
Despite the setbacks of sophomore year, I ended up taking 3 APs junior year and didn’t drop out of a single one; I persisted through each class and passed 2 of the exams. I performed to the best of my ability on the SAT despite the fact that I didn’t receive any private tutoring since the beginning of middle school unlike my friends. Instead I prepped on my own using free resources, and with my mom’s help, I performed well. These experiences taught me that setbacks don’t define you and it’s never too late to prove to yourself that things can improve with perseverance.