College Admissions Essay: My Pursuit Of Success

For most of my adult life, I have struggled to define success -success, in the sense, that I have never been where I wanted to be. I grew up in a small one-bedroom apartment in East Los Angeles where we struggled to pay the monthly rent of $500. My grandmother had been renting this apartment for 30 years. My mother and her four siblings were raised in this apartment. None of my grandmother’s children graduated from high school. Instead, they drove trucks for a living, joined the armed services or went to prison. This would make graduating from high school and attending college very difficult for me.

My family did not have the tools to guide or motivate me to consider another way of life. We lived in a neighborhood where generations of families continue to grow and expand; yet very few ever leave the boundaries of East Los Angeles. Much to my family’s surprise, I made it through high school and became the first in my family to graduate with a high school degree. After graduation, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do next. I began working and attended various community colleges off and on during this time. However, it wasn’t until I began attending East Los Angeles College that I began to feel I was headed towards my evolving definition of success.
I slowly learned how to learn, by studying, doing research and seeking out answers to my own questions. This is important to me because for the first time in my life, I believe in myself. At ELAC, I became inspired by students with similar backgrounds to mine who were transferring to prestigious universities. I began to believe in myself and understand the powerful role education can have for people of my community. At this point in my academic career, my background has allowed me to grow into a resilient Latino, committed to excelling academically and defying the norm of communities like