<p>Prompt: </p>
<li>Success in life is largely a matter of luck. It has little correlation with merit, and in all fields of life there have always been people of great merit who did not succeed. </li>
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<p>Karl Popper, Popper Selections</p>
<li>As Colin Powell said, “There are no secrets to success. Don’t waste time looking for them. Success is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” </li>
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<p>Adapted from Barry Farber, “Selling Points” </p>
<p>(beginning)</p>
<p>Success is only obtainable when one has earned it through hardwork and determination. Though “success” has often been falsely believed to be something that one achieves through luck, because of fortunate circumstances, one must earn his or her way to these positions. There exists many reasons why this is true, and substantial evidence lies in the business world, history, and even my personal experiences.</p>
<p>Favorism and social immobility are now things of the past, and with the law prevent depotism and developed nation’s notion of social mobility, success is open to everyone. Bill Gates had a childhood that started from the most “blue collar” neighborhood. His parents were working people and not necessarily CEOs of large industries. However, despite his apparent disadvantageous circumstances, he had worked hard throughout his life in order to achieve his goals. Many friends and family members of Gates actually expected him to work at the same company his father had been working at for over two decades. Bill Gates’ history was similar to a goldfish swimming up the Nile river. Nonetheless, he had defied the majority and achieved success. He had also found, through his years, that part of the business word was not about what you know but about who you know. At first, he had been profoundly discouraged, because despite all of the knowledge he had, he had almost no connectsion with powerful people. He changed this by demonstrating his knowledge and keen judgment skills to managers and bosses and worked up the corporate ladder. Depotism and social class used to be a hindrance ages ago, but today, we have the opportunities to achieve whatever we want.</p>
<p>The politicians we are aware of today all seem to be rich, white men, who had gained success because of unfair power, but in fact, many have achieved success by living the American dream, “the life from rages to riches.” Abraham Lincoln had literally grown up in a modest log cabin and worked with a sense of humility and pride. Any European in those days probably would have believed him to be “just another rich white male” who did not earn his success. This is false, for Lincoln was the epitome of what earned success is all about. He never went to school but taught himself how to read and write. He worked rigorously to campaign and speak his mind. In fact, during the election, he was the underdog. He was not expected to win but he defied the odds. Success is sometimes overlooked because of stereotypes, but if one works hard enough, he or she can achieve success in the most uncanny situations.</p>
<p>Small successes amount up to large ones. I had entered a math competition in which I had the disadvantage. I did not have proper training in order to win easily. However, I took one step at a time by pacing myself. One competition after another, I consistently won. Soon enough, I had become the champion of my region for that competition division in order to achieve profound</p>
<p>(end)</p>
<p>Critique in any way you want! It’s the Oct. SAT essay prompt by the way, and I’m curious of what you think of it. I want to see how accurate you guys are scoring this. I understand I wrote “depotism” when it isn’t even a word. I meant to write “nepotism”. Overall, the essay really sucked, but I’m curious of what it should’ve gotten. I’ll eventually post what I really got!</p>