<p>I am a senior from out of state (Virginia) and am applying to all nine UC schools (UCLA being my top choice). However, there are two personal statement requirements and I have only written one essay that overall covers both topics.
To clarify, the prompts are (with a word limit of 100 for both responses):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>General- Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?</p></li>
<li><p>Freshman- Describe the world you come from for example, your family, community or school and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I don't know how to split up my essay in order to fit both questions because my life is just that complicated, and I feel like it just wouldn't work. PLEASE someone help me categorize this somehow. Also any advice on my essay (good bad eh) would be greatly appriciated!</p>
<p>THANK YOU :)</p>
<p>Here it is:</p>
<p>It feels as though Im always leaving my home behind. Eight years ago, my family and I moved to Los Angeles California from Iran. I was only nine years old when I was given the opportunity to resurrect my life in America. Although I felt blessed to have parents that sacrificed their own lives to offer me a better chance at life, I nevertheless faced the consequences of being a foreign immigrant. I will never forget my first impression of California as I arrived in LAX. I knew that I had landed in a place that many others had only dreamed of. Though I was only nine years old, I knew how lucky I was to be breathing Californias air.</p>
<p>I began to attend school shortly after we settled in, and that is when I realized how difficult my life was going to be from there on. To begin with, I was completely estranged from the world that I knew of and had no knowledge or background of the American culture. I attended school everyday though I knew that I wasnt going to understand the lesson or make any friends because I neither spoke nor understood English. </p>
<p>But after six years of mostly living in California, I began to feel as though I had finally found my place in the world. In-N-Out Burger and the iconic Hollywood sign became as familiar to me as my own backyard; the aptly named City of Angels became my home. Yet, almost as soon as I realized that California was where I was meant to be, my father temporarily left me and my mother to pursue his fellowship as a gastroenterologist in Virginia. Although his move was an important opportunity that had the potential to further his career, it drastically affected my family in the time that he was away. My mother, after being diagnosed with a brain tumor, had gone through a period of chemotherapy that left her debilitated and dependent on me. As an only child, I suddenly had to learn how to take care of my mother as well as myself, all while struggling to fulfill my own dreams.</p>
<p>With my father gone and my mother ill, I was forced to become an adult and learn how to deal with an unfamiliar reality of hardship and sacrifices. As hard as I tried to manage/juggle both taking care of my mother and being a successful high school student, the responsibility often felt overwhelming and began to take its toll. By the end of my freshman year, I rearranged my lifestyle to meet my mothers needs because I felt I was the only one who could take care of her and ensure her well-being. In addition to the stress of my mothers illness, there was the added difficulty of a language barrier with her lack of English comprehension. I not only accompanied her on our many trips back and forth from the doctors office, but also became a translator for her physicians and administered her medications. </p>
<p>The strain of managing the family on my own hindered my ability to focus on school as much as I could have. I knew that I needed a change in order to take back control of my life. Thus, soon after my mothers chemotherapy treatment ended, I made the single most dramatic decision of my life. On January 12th, 2010, I decided that I was willing to move in with my father in Virginia, which for me meant starting my life all over again. Moving across the country wasnt easy; in fact, it was one of the toughest transitions of my life. Although this decision reunited my family, it alienated me from the world that I knew and loved. Once again, everything seemed to be spinning around me and I felt as if I had nothing to grab on to; nothing stable to reassure me that everything was going to be alright. But every day, I envisioned my goal of coming back to California as a motivation to improve myself here in every way possible. By the end of my junior year, I was proud to see that I had come a long way as a result of hard work: my GPA went from a 3.4 to a 4.2 within little over a year. This would have never happened without my unwavering love of California and my longing to eventually return.</p>
<p>Moving to Virginia has not only provided me with a preeminent academic experience, but allowed me to become the person that I am today; determined and independent. Pulling up my roots and facing different challenges over the past few years was never easy, but it has given me a resilience and strength I never knew I had. I moved across the country so I could achieve my goals without outside distractions or negative influence. However, for all the benefits it brought, leaving California also made me realize that it is exactly where I belong. I believe that my circumstances have allowed me to find myself and excel to the best of my ability no matter where I am. My experiences with so many changes and obstacles throughout my life have offered me ways to maintain perseverance in the face of adversity, and I find myself prepared to meet any future challenges I may encounter. Although I am writing this from thousands of miles away, I envision my future in California and am determined to come back and make a difference in the only land in America that I call home.</p>