Fact or Fiction: College Admission Essay Sample

If I had been asked a couple months ago to describe my dream job, I could have told you my dreams to the last detail. It would have started something like this: 'I walk into a hospital every day, greeted by friends and colleagues. I want to do general surgery in order to help those who need it. I want to spend time with the families, help them, and let them know that I am able to take care of their loved ones.' Of course, that’s what I would have said before. Now, it’s a completely different story.

Fast forward, ask me now, and see what I say. My response would be something like this: “.......". I don’t even have a clue where to begin! Sure, being a surgeon has been my dream since I was just a kid. It’s what I always remember wanting to do. Yet now that I’m older I find myself thinking it through so much more than ever before. Helping people is important to me, yes, but now I’m forced to look ahead, and as I do, there is so much more to consider. What is my family life going to look like? Where will I have to go to find work? Will I be able to travel? Spend time with my kids? Have a social life? There is so much extra baggage that goes with being in the medical field, that now it may only be a dream.

Consequently, if it’s a realistic dream you are asking for, I don’t know where to begin. I find myself hoping to be medical. Yet I know that it can’t happen, because my dream lifestyle doesn’t accommodate for it. So that makes my dream job look more laid back. Maybe because I’m so close to my father, a pastor, that’s the type of career I can see myself in. The career where I get to spend as much time as I need to with my family, and when I need to take off of work, I can do it; never having to miss a parent teacher conference, a recital, or a performance. Maybe because I love spending time with my mom, a high school counselor, that’s the type of career I see myself in. The career where I can spend the summers free from worries, and I can spend that valuable time with my family. Taking my kids out for ice cream, or watching them swim in the pool.

Yet how often are dreams real, tangible things? So if it’s merely a dream you are looking for, that I can describe. I walk into the hospital, greeted by friends and colleagues. I chat with patients and I do surgery. I help people. However, then my son calls, and needs to be picked up from school. So I drop everything, leave the hospital, and go to spend time with him. My wife wants to take a weekend and do something romantic. So I take off work and sweep her off her feet. Then I come back to work and continue to live a medical dream.

Is it a dream? Yes, but there’s no harm in dreaming.