Unusual Chance

BrilliantOne
Tue, 16 Oct 2012 09:19:00 +0000

Hey everyone,
I graduated from high school last June. High school was a pretty tough time for me, I got diagnosed with Diabetes in 11th grade and in 12th grade I became so depressed that I was put into immediate psychological care and I was almost medicated. I didn’t even want to go to school anymore I didn’t care if I graduated or even what happened to me in life. One thing you should know is that I was never a troubled person before. I was always one of the top students in the school and an all around happy person. The problems all fell on my in my last year of school. One of my teachers recomended that I take a gap year and travel. I was skeptical of course because I had always imagined myself going straight to college after high school. However I went on the gap year anyway and It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I decided to travel for 6 months without my family. I spent one month in London (during the olympics) and then I spent one month in Cairo. I did alot of walking and I met alot of new people and made a few new friends in both places. I even went to Tahir Square and saw some of the people who were still protesting in the streets. I rode a camel around the pyramids and I one day while I was at one of the museums in Cairo, I went to see the mummies that they had and they even opened the case that one of them was in to clean it. (some wierd liquid was oozing out of it’s mouth) So I got to see it up close and personal. I had the opportunity to spend one weekend in Alexandria where I got to see the Great Library. I decided that I want to learn more about Egypt while I’m in college. After egypt I went to Khartoum, North Sudan where for 4 months I taught English to 4th graders in a private school. It wasn’t just volunteering or anything either I was an actual teacher! I organized all the lessons and taught them and graded the students myself. I made the tests and met with the parents and gave extra help to those who needed it. It was an amazing experience where I gained alot of newfound respect for teachers. While in Sudan I also went to see this woman who lives in an old little shack that has more mosquitos in it than oxygen. That old lady taught me Arabic and I can now read and write as well as speak arabic. When I first went to this woman we started with the aphabet! but because I was dedicated to learning the language I went to her for 2 hours a day and practiced all night. I then entered an essay I wrote in Arabic into this National Literacy competition in Sudan and I was shocked to learn that I won first place. And I entered this competition 2 months after starting to learn arabic. On my gap year I have also read over 60 books in 3 languages, (Arabic, English, and French which I am almost fluent in) I was raised as a muslim but in my travels I have seen and read alot and I have been to many mosques and spoken to many religious leaders and educators and I have come to the conclusion that Islam is not the right religion for me. I still respect the religion and all but I just believe that for me personally the religion is not what I beleive in. One of the things that bothered me the most about the religion was that it taught that homosexuality is one os the worst sins a person can commit. But I don’t think homosexuality is wrong at all! One of my best friends in the world is gay and I respect her and admire her for her strength and courage. That was the first thing that made me truly question the religion after that I found many things that I didnt agree with. I wouldn’t really classify myself as belinging to any religion but I guess the closest thing would be deism. I will say that my ACT was 28 and My SAT is 2020 and even though I’ve taken 10 AP classes in high school I only got a 5 on one test (AP Psychology) My gpa was 3.8 and my class rank is 148/603. Most of the classes I took in high school were math and science classes which I hate. I have amazing writing and language skills but in high school I was always pushed into the science classes but my parents, teachers, and even admittedly myself.I know that my essays will be unique and flawless and my recomendations will be amazing. Brown has been my dream school since I was 14. I know the numbers about my application are not too good but I guess I’m just hoping that the other stuff is unique and impressive enough to at least give me a chance. So what do you guys think? Do I have a chance?