Personal Statement: ADHD, pretentiousness, self-consciousness etc.

rosymindedfuzz
Wed, 31 Jul 2013 21:15:08 +0000

Gibby: Thanks for your input! I completely agree it is extremely long-winded. As for the including of my diagnosis, etc. the prompt was asking me to detail how a certain hardship stopped me from achieving, what I did to overcome it, and why I feel that I am passed it and now in the position to succeed. That’s why I had to write so much about it. Regarding the personal statement, I know I can’t afford to spend the whole paper just writing about ADHD, so your condensed version of my essay seems like a good place to start.

SplashofScience: Thanks so much for your insight and honesty! I’d like to think I’ve already found the motivation I was in sore lack of and, although it might not be apparent, I feel that I’ve reached the point of frustration, dissatisfaction, and gained that sense of urgency and ambition that you’ve mentioned in your response. My frustration comes from knowing that I haven’t been achieving my full potential, a notion that has only recently occurred to me. Prior to realizing that, I was adept, I guess, at rationalizing my apathetic existence. The conclusion I always came to was that no goal was worth the energy to pursue because all accomplishments are rendered meaningless in the end (how original right?).

You are correct though that I have little to show for my new-found ambition. But I think that’s mostly because of how recently it developed. Come November, I’ll hopefully have something for the personal statement. For what it’s worth, I calculated what my GPA would be by the end of spring if I kept a 4.0 average for the rest of my sophomore year. It would come out to 3.68 overall, and I think my UC GPA would be even higher than that. In addition, if I’d take 6 honors classes by the end of spring, I would be guaranteed admission to any UC (sadly, other than UCLA and UCB) through the TAG program. I also plan to throw in some EC’s such as the school newspaper, clubs, leadership, etc. Taking 17 units this fall, and 9 in the spring. This will bring my total up to 71 I believe. (Gibby: From what I’ve heard, there is no limit for CC’s, the university will pick which units will transfer if your total units exceeds 70).

Now, that load isn’t something to brag about, but from where I started I’d like to think it’s been a decent turnaround. When I first started college at my previous CC, I was placed on academic probation with a 1.00 GPA (prior to that I was a mostly C average student in HS, and even worse in middle school). Then I transferred to my current CC. Started off strong, slacked off for a semester and my GPA went down to a 2.3 IIRC. Then in 2011 I started to gain some motivation. Retook 3 classes (2 F’s and 1 W) and aced them. President’s list in fall 2012, and a 3.7 in spring 2013. So I’ve had an upward trend in GPA. If I keep a 4.0 until spring, hopefully that makes the trend even more evident. I should also add that I haven’t taken a math class since senior year of high school, which I failed unsurprisingly. Until this summer, I was at a HS Algebra math level. Over the course of spring and the first half of June, I used the Khan academy to bring my math skills up to a precal level so that I could test straight into calc and analytical geometry. I passed and plan on taking stats this semester and calc during the winter/spring.

Hopefully that gives you a better picture of what I had to do and what needs to be done to salvage my academic future. I don’t want to put any blame on my parents, friends, bullies, etc. so all I’ll say is that somehow I came out of childhood extremely lacking in discipline and regard for my future. I essentially had to completely reconfigure my brain (the ADHD diagnosis and treatment helped) within a span of two to three years.

Like I said in my essay, I am purposefully being irrational about my goals. I don’t have high expectations, just high hopes. I would be a little ticked off if I didn’t get it in (highly likely that I won’t) but I wouldn’t give up on my future because of it. Regardless of what happens, I’ll be satisfied with knowing that I actually tried. Even if I don’t get in, I’ll still take as much as I can from the experience of working toward that goal.