I got accepted into cal berkeley, ucsb and ucsd. When I was originally writing my essays I just wanted to read one from another average student like me that did not have a life altering experience, spontaneous revelation, or terrible catastrophe that happened to me so here are my essays, hope it helps 
Reading is my first love, but it didnāt start that way. I remember sitting on the edge of my seat in class, anxiously tapping my foot against the cold metal chair inaudibly pleading that I wouldnāt be next. I often memorized page after page prior to the teacher calling on the next student, just to save myself from the embarrassment of reading too slow, or stumbling over the simplest words.
As time progressed, my feeble attempts to read became apparent to my teachers. They began to send me to a counselor that helped me achieve the reading level of the rest of my peers. I practiced reading dialogues and phrases until I was confident enough to tackle the horror of reading a passage in front of the class. Eventually, I wasnāt reading just to get better, I was reading for enjoyment and pleasure. I completely fell in love with the ability to dissolve into a book.
Stories become my own personal airline. They sweep me away from my mundane life and take me to places I may have only imagined. They have always been the one constant in my unpredictable life. Last year I read over 150 books within six months. In times of depression and joy reading has been my solace and escape. The ability to delve into another personās life is an ineffable fascination. Hearing their perspectives and reactions to different situations is the true beauty of reading.
As a selected member of Youth Leadership Cary volunteer program from school, I was fortunate to have met 81-year-old Bettie at an assisted living facility. Upon meeting Bettie, while nervously grasping at some common interest, we began discussing our most beloved books. To our surprise, we both adored Pride and Prejudice. It was simply the rudimentary knowledge of our favorite book that immediately bound us together, constructing a bridge that connected our two different generations in a most profound way.
Reading goes beyond understanding language and writing, it transcends the reader through time. It can connect people through the simple bond of an admired character or a reflective line. I read to educate myself about my own mind, other personalities, and the perplexing and compelling world around me. It has impacted the way I live, the way I consider everything I come across in life, the way I treat others, and even the way I see myself. I want to experience a story for myself; I crave to make my life worth reading about. My life should be a book where the reader ends the last sentence without remembering turning a single page.
Born in California and raised by southern parents, I value this strange yet unique combination that has shaped my life. Living in a southern rooted home, my familiar atmosphere was much different than my classmates. When school began I promptly omitted the āyāallāsā and silent āgāsā that flowed so freely in my motherās Kentucky drawl, and attempted to adopt my peers Californian dialect. I was determined to eliminate these traits that made me stand out from an early age. I later realized I that donāt need to control aspects of myself in order to adapt to new situations.
In the third grade, I moved to North Carolina where I found my southern-ness comfortably erupting again. Although there was the downside of having to adapt to the mosquitos, humidity, and long wet summers, I discovered my love of the traditional East Coast game of lacrosse that I may not have found in California. The sport gave me a competitiveness I originally only experienced in my schoolwork. Being selected captain of the Varsity Lacrosse team as a Junior bestowed on me the authority to schedule and organize team practices and strategies. I enjoyed the responsibility this leadership role gave me, and it taught me to efficiently manage my time between lacrosse and achieving the grades I desired. While I was promoted as lead hostess at my after school job, I found myself vigilantly scheduling my time around my schoolwork, lacrosse, and my new job. I thrived on this fast-paced existence.
The stability in my life was abruptly imbalanced as we moved back to California for my senior year. Everything familiar in my habitual schedule was no longer discernable. It was as if once again someone shook up the snow globe of my predictable life and I was free falling into the unknown. With a new neighborhood, a new school, new friends, and even the new palm trees in my backyard, everything was foreign to me. I began to feel like a character in one of my books, but this time I had an opportunity to write my own chapter. I no longer strived to conform to my peers, but rather treasured each individual quality that makes me distinctive. I found a new love in my southern origins including comfort food, country music, and all my long-lasting family traditions. Letting go of the friendships I cultivated for half of my life in North Carolina was difficult, but hopefully the new ones I have created will last equally as long. My West Coast experiences of my multi-cultured school, newfound love of sushi, and the cloudless daily blue skies exposed a new side of my personality. I find I am not filled with the anxiety of starting college that my peers are experiencing as I know how enriching change can be.
I now go through life taking all of the pieces with me; the people I meet, the places I go, and the things I see today will shape who I will be tomorrow. I know now that my future will embrace all of the different cultures I am destined to encounter. While I have only traveled a short distance from east to west, my transitions have impacted my aspirations to travel the world. I want to travel in order to understand and acquire varied points of view in life.