1) Academic Preparation
The UC seeks to enroll students who take the initiative in pursuing their education, and I am the very person who plans to major in sociology at this university. Initially, it was somewhat hard for me to decide what field I would major, yet thanks to my university professors who introduced me to different areas of study, I understood that sociology is precisely what I would like to be doing till the rest of my days.
My experience in sociology would start in high school where I would organize a high school club called “international unity” that would deal with volunteer work in our communities. Although volunteering at different places, I liked my church volunteering experience where I had the superb opportunity to help other people in need of necessities of living. I was able to meet new people and make new friends who as I realize now would always provide me with new experiences, ideas, and things that I could improve.
From my volunteering experienced I gained a lot of patience and tolerance as well as I managed to overcome some stereotypes related to culture, race, poverty, and success in life. This experience, in my opinion, will undoubtedly make me the right candidate for a university majoring in sociology.
2) Potential to Contribute
Albeit I am not much of a boaster, I can say that I am a very talented individual with numerous positive qualities which make me a perfect student for the UC. I started my higher education at a community college where I did not experience the right levels of motivation since I did not see quality education and school spirit that I had in my school. My school did not possess much of the extracurricular activities or social life that my peers or I could experiences. I had to take proactive steps and organize various school parties, hangouts or festivities with my friends. Often I would take me to create posters to hang in the hall, upload some material on the website so that all college students could remain updated on the fun things and participate in them.
While in college I continued my volunteer experience with the church helping those in need. Several times I would support the Salvation Army and my faith to organize some big programs for the poor, and I was genuinely impressed how many people are willing to help others. I should add here that due to my busy schedule I was unable to achieve excellent results in college and would even drop several classes to retake them at a more convenient time to achieve better grades. As I would get used to school and understand the ultimate importance of self-motivation, I passed all the classes with good grades and made it clear to myself that I need my Sociology degree from UC.
3) Open-Ended
I should note here the importance of different values that I was exposed to which certainly made me the person I am now: open-minded, determinate, loyal and curious. When I was a kid, the sources of my values were my parents, peers and the school professors. Needless to note that while my parents and the school staff would teach me ‘right things,' my older friends with whom I spent time after school would show each other just the opposite. As for the schools, I have to note that they aren’t value-neutral environments, and I was also exposed to the principles of freedom of speech, democracy, equality, fairness in the treatment of people around me in the society. Family and the community would enforce specific societal and cultural values that impacted by moral values.
My teen years were somewhat rebellious; it was a period when I criticized and challenged the prevailing moral norms of adults considering them outdated and unpopular. Several years later I understood that the simple principles of respect, honesty, loyalty, and honor would mean healthy functioning in the complex modern society. It took me years in college to understand the rationale behind Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage values that every successful leader strives to possess.
Nowadays, another authoritative source of inspiration that provides many different values to choose from and model after is the literature I read. Much knowledge and discipline I find in the autobiographies of the US presidents like John Kennedy, Franklyn D. Roosevelt, William Clinton, and George Bush Sr. There views and perspectives are different on various issues and even contradictory, yet apparently they teach a reader like me the qualities, core beliefs, and values that each of these willful presidents possessed. Being a fan of history, I quickly recall various historical events and then learn what values guided a given president or another political leader to act in a certain way.
Reading classical literature, primarily written by British writers, gives me another perspective on the values and norms development. The fundamental values taught in school worldwide all derive from the ancient and history and efficiently work as a summary of human ethical development. The works of the US founding fathers with Confederate (by Hamilton) being my favorite bring more light and understanding to me in time of confusion and pluralism of thoughts.
As for the criteria and decision-making factors, I use to revise my values I believe that it is a part of my weekly self-analysis. I usually start by thinking about three to five different values that shaped my life and had contributed to my success, achievement, as well as mistakes and errors that I occasionally make. Then I think of the particular ways where these different values helped me or ruined something in my life and sometimes even write them down. There I point out the advantages and disadvantages of each particular value, core belief or habit. The next step is to take out an extensive list of different values that I created several years ago and then select one or two new values that I would like to become a part of my daily life. After the value is chosen I mentally envision how that amount can be implemented. Specificity is the key here, and it takes me a while to define in greater detail how I would use the value and how it would govern my actions and way of living. Once I can envision the new value as a part of myself, I develop the action plan based on these specific details. My action plan comprises different events and due dates regarding the implementation process of my values in routine life.
I would like to conclude by saying that the weekly self-analysis I undertake also serves as a review process where I routinely examine my adopted core values to know how I am going and tune them up. During the self-analysis, I develop the procedures that make all my values the congruent cornerstone of my life. During my self-analysis, I tap mistakes and inconsistencies that might arise during my value implementation process and then find out the ways to improve myself to adopt the values appropriately. Sometimes it takes me a while to implement the cost I deem essential yet once achieved it drastically contributes to my personal growth as an individual.
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