Education is the key to life. Upon high school graduation, there are two very different choices students can make. They can immediately enter the career world working at a grocery store, fast food restaurant, or automobile shop. They may seem like stereotypical job, but these are the typical careers a high school diploma will get you in this day and age. A student also has the opportunity to spend thousands of dollars in order to pursue a college degree. Students with a college degree are more likely to get better higher paying careers than those with only a high school diploma to their name.
Each alternative has its own strengths and weaknesses, but I believe a college education outweighs a high school diploma by far. Moving on to an institution of higher learning takes a lot of perseverance, hard work, and dedication, but I know that a college degree will help me in the future to attain my dreams and everything I set out to accomplish in life. One of my many goals is to graduate from college with at least a Bachelor’s degree in marketing.
Today’s dire economic situation has caused pandemonium throughout the country. Thousands of people nationwide have been laid off or lost their jobs completely. In fact, California’s unemployment rate is at an all time ten year high of 11.5% as of March 2009. Some of my family and friends are freaking out how they will pay next months bills and whatnot.
I realize that it is getting harder and harder to find jobs today, so I want to do everything I possibly can to reserve a spot for myself in the workforce. I have often heard that today’s bachelor’s degree is yesterday’s high school diploma. I do not want to get stuck flipping burgers at the local burger joint so, I want to do everything in my power to get the best career I possibly can. The only way to guarantee a steady, stable, reliable job in the future is to start today and go to college. A secondary education will give me the tools necessary to build the foundation for my life.
The pursuance of a college degree will not only prepare myself for my future career scholastically, but it will also teach my many valuable life lessons as well. In college, I will learn how work together with others from many diverse backgrounds. The interaction with people of different cultures and beliefs will mold and prepare myself for life outside of college. I will also learn how to manage my time and money while I am at college away from home. If I can succeed in college, I will most likely make it in the real world as well. My four years in college will teach me how to be responsible for myself. In the dorm rooms, I will no longer have my parents watching my every move, making sure I study, do my homework, wake up on time and go to class. I know that my college career will make me a better, more well rounded individual in the future.
My father has always told me that he wants his children to have more opportunities than he was given while growing up. He still lives five miles away from where he grew up. In fact, he got his Associates degree at the junior college in the same town he was born, raised, and currently resides. Throughout my childhood, he has encouraged me to spread my wings and given me the desire to get the most out of life. It is partly because of him that I want to go to college to pursue a college degree. Although it will be difficult on my family financially for them to pay for me to go to college, he assures me that it is well worth the cost. It is because of the current economic situation and my family’s influence that I decided to pursue a degree in marketing at the University of Rhode Island.
When I was a little kid, I used to dream the day away about what my future would be like. At about five or six years old, it was my dream to become a paleontologist. From there I wanted to become a veterinarian, hairdresser, French ambassador, and art curator; the list goes on and on. By the time college applications came out, I had the idea that I wanted to be an art history major. It was not until my senior year AP English Language class, when I had an epiphany about what I wanted to pursue in college.
My English teacher, Mr. Ryan, gave me the tools I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Media, marketing, and its impact on America was one of the units I studied in his class. It focused mainly on analyzing how the media manipulates and controls its viewers. I became so interested by the way marketers have the power to influence such a vast number of people in such a subtle manner, such as advertising. At that moment, in the middle of a discussion, I figured out what I wanted to major in; I concluded that I wanted to major in marketing. It seemed like an incredible career to be able to decide when and where advertisements should be placed in order to influence people’s minds across the country.
Instead of immediately entering the career world, I have decided to go to college and pursue a degree in marketing. A college degree will get me so much further in life than just a high school diploma. I want to make a difference and succeed so I am going to carry through with my dream of going to college. It may difficult and stressful at times, but in the end it will all be worth it. I will not only learn important lessons in the classroom, but other equally important life lessons as well.
PS: This is a scholarship rough draft (very rough)
