To be, to dream--to do, to live by Tam

To be, to dream--to do, to live by Tam - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

Growing up, I did not know what I wanted to be; I was too preoccupied with cartoons and games. My parents wanted me to be a doctor because they wanted me to make big money and not do strenuous, low-paying, exploitative jobs like them.
My first recollection of what I wanted to be was a wrestler, like the ones on T.V. that I watched every Friday night. They had awesome theme songs, were totally ripped, were widely admired, and did some cool wrestling tricks. (I remember doing an Angle Lock move on one of my friends in 5th grade.) However, reality caved in on me (I was chubby, physically pathetic, and short) and I sought another career.
At the beginning of middle school, I wanted to be a K-Pop Male singer, because he got all the girls and was sexy. I suppose I wanted to be desired since my experience with women up till then had been abysmal (rejected and ignored). For the same reason, I later wanted to be a musician in high school (my sex hormones were running loose). My dream careers all the way up to my senior high school year was basically focused on coolness in the eyes of my male peers and desirability in the eyes of my potential female mates; I wanted to be what I then lacked.
In my senior year, I switched my career's focus to things that I was good at, such as Mathematics & Physics. I eventually settled on and have remained on the electrical engineering path, which was my high school teacher's previous career; I liked the guy, the way he talked and walked, so I followed his path.
Although I have been adhering to my electrical engineering career, my intent has changed. My original intent was to do something I was good at and make good money--selfish reasons. My current intent is to build useful skills to benefit people around me and society as a whole. Focus on giving back and you will live a life with rich experiences.