永远不要低估自己 Never Underrate Yourself

It was in the evening of December 22nd, 2013 when I received an exciting email from George Mason University (GMU), congratulating my acceptance into the school and wishing me a great holiday. Like other high school seniors, I was quite excited of the good news because it meant that I had set myself a pathway for my post secondary life. since then, I sort of lost the motivation to apply for other colleges, thanks to the senioritis (aka the laziness of being a senior). However, there was a school that I wanted to attend since my junior year. I set the school as my goal and worked hard toward it. It was Virginia Tech (VT).

From the day I received my GMU acceptance email to the deadline of application for VT freshman admission, my mind was hesitating about whether I should apply to VT. The main reason I hesitated was that I thought I was under the admission qualification based on my academic records. My GPA was 3.9, and my SAT was only 1050 based on 1600. My friends had kept telling me that I had quite good grades for Tech, but for some reason, I just kept thinking that I wouldn't be admitted because I knew a lot of friends who had like 4.0 or above and 1200 or above. Plus they were taking 4 - 5 APs this year. Therefore I felt quite bad about my academic records, even though I obtained straight A's for three consecutive years.

I just couldn't decide on my own, for my mind wouldn't stop thinking about my academic difference among my friends. Then I figured that maybe I should talk to my mom about this matter from her perspective. I did talk to her and I was glad that I did. She did an awesome job at pointing out a few positive things that I failed to considered. First, I only moved to US for 4 years. With my grades, I actually did extremely well considering I wasn't born and raised here, and English wasn't my first language. Secondly, I was the first generation in my family to go to college, and colleges do take this status into consideration. And finally, what was the matter if I choose to apply? it wasn't like I would lose anything or be at some kind of disadvantages just because I applied to Tech. Then again my mom greatly reminded me that if I never tried to do it, I would never know the result. I would also be regretful of not trying to do it. This simple yet powerful idea ultimately boosted my motivation to apply for Tech.

Thank goodness I finally decided to give myself a shot to try for Tech two weeks before the deadline. I requested my official transcript to be sent to admission office just on time, and began to fill out the application information and also brainstorm the ideas for personal statement. The information filling part was easy; it only took me ten minutes to finish it. The hard part was personal statement. Anyway somehow I managed to get my personal statement done, and I had just enough time to submit the form on the night of the deadline. One last move: I clicked submit button, and it was sent successfully. I sent it.

Fast forward to three months later, on March 21, VT freshman applicants including myself were nervous and excited; it was the decision announcement day. Beginning at five o'clock of the evening, I constantly attempted to access my application status page. I even clicked the F5 button so frequently that it was about to explode. The webpage was not responding at all because nearly ten thousand applicants were attempting to access the tiny server at once, causing the internet traffic jam. I finally gave it up and waited until ten o'clock in the evening. Then at ten o'clock, I successfully logged into my application status page.

So I got into the page, and I nervously clicked my current application status. Under the status was the decision. I scrolled and scrolled and then, my mind was totally blown! I started to yell out excitedly and couldn't stop. The decision tab said, "Congratulations! You have been offered admission to second-choice major!" I did it, keeping telling myself that. I made into my dream school. That night I just couldn't stop smiling, even when I was in my bed. I was also imagining myself walking around the campus as a Hokie!

All in all, I was really grateful that I decided to apply for Virginia Tech. If I didn't try, I would never realized that I would actually be admitted, considering all of the advantages I possessed over other applicants. I would never learned that I actually had the potential to be admitted into the school. And most importantly, I would never be admitted into my dream school, VT. From this, I really learned the idea that if one didn't bother to attempt, oneself would never know what potential one had, and also the fact that I should never underrate myself. In the future, I would keep my lesson in my mind and apply it into everything I do.

Finally, I would like to gratefully thank my mom for constantly pushing me toward this decision. Without her advice, I wouldn't possibly be attending Virginia Tech. Without her, I would probably still be underrating my abilities. So, thank you so much, mom! What you had done had left me a positive impact on my life. Thank you.