Tell us about a talent, experience, contribution of personal quality you will bring to the University of California.
I came to America, my village's word for the glorious country, from my native Cuba at the tender age of six. My family constructed a make-shift boat out of used garbage bags and wooden planks. We set sail across the Gulf Sea the following Spring, but soon encountered rough waters which shattered the boat and my family. Clinging to my plank in the chilled water, I could only pray that the waters would take me to shore. Two days later, I arrived on the shores of South Florida.
Personal statements aren't about what one has accomplished; more who can best cheat the system without getting caught. Seeing as one needs a court order to view my medical records, you can tack on the fact that I have AIDS, Leprosy, Gonorrhea, Diabetes and three forms of life-threatening cancer to my immigration story. It may not be true, but it sure sounds good. Unfortunately for me, I'm of European descent (I like to say ethnically challenged), was born into a middle-class family and live in a culturally diverse city. It is common knowledge that any person of European descent living in America is living the privileged life. I should know, I?ve been told by many Affirmative Action liberals that I am better off than many of the minorities living here and that the minorities deserve the same chance I have?
The personal quality I bring to the University of California is a, rather rare, attitude. I am very much a straight-shooter and have no intention to over-glorify my sheltered life experiences. It is this brutal honesty, and underlying humor, that will add to the atmosphere of the UC system. I would imagine reading the same identical, mundane template type of essay gets old after a while. Too many people sacrifice their dignity to take a pity, life affecting tragedy and glorify their perseverance over the one bump in the road. Either that or people will suck-up and reiterate their scores, ranks and marks shown on their academic record. Holden Caulfield of J. D. Salinger?s The Catcher in the Rye could not have come up with a better classifying term for these types of people: phonies.
I am not one that openly conforms to something I?m not willing to be and it is this quality that society lacks. My open thoughts, paired with my confidence makes for a knock-out combination. I am not afraid to say what everyone is thinking, I?m not afraid to question someone when I believe they?re mistaken, I say what?s on my mind. I like to do things on my own terms, which explains the outlandishness of this essay. All that matters is my personal satisfaction of knowing that I truthfully answered this question, while upholding my values and ethics.
