Future Aspirations: College Admission Essay Sample

From a young age, I knew the career path I wanted to pursue. During the tenth grade, my mother mentioned working on the F-15 for Northrop as part of the team that was redesigning electronic countermeasure hardware. She told me about another team member with whom she had attended college; this man had previously served on a nuclear submarine in the Navy. She spoke highly of him and said that he commanded the utmost respect for everyone he worked with, yet humbly helped those who requested assistance.

That was not the first time I had heard of those qualities in a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. As I deepened my search for additional information, I was put into contact with Mr. Gary Ebanks, the father of my swimming coach, who went out of his way to speak to me about his experience at the Academy. His interest in electrical engineering led to discussions about the difficult course work. More importantly, he spoke to me about what it means to be part of the Naval Academy as well as about the classmates you meet who become family. Now this isn’t about just what those people have done for me, but rather what they have shown me about being a Naval Academy graduate. They are special people: humble, intelligent, and generous. That is the type of person that I aspire to be. Four years ago, I had an experience that directed me toward a path of greater moral character.

A trip to Oklahoma for a swim contest had an unexpected impact on my life. During breaks from competition, my family and I visited several interesting landmarks, one being the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. As we meandered through the Memorial, my youth prevented me from understanding the enormity of the massacre. I did not grasp what the chairs represented, and why there were smaller chairs. My father explained to me that the smaller chairs were for the children who died. I did not think about it much then, but now that I am a bit older, I understand that the lives of possible great leaders were cut short by the catastrophe. The young were stripped of opportunity not by choice, but by force. After coming to that realization, I realized that I wanted to use the gifts I have to excel and serve others. I am not only pursuing this opportunity to join the Naval Academy in order to serve our beautiful country, but also to provide an example of someone to look up to. Every time I read the paper, I see that our country is torn. All of the crimes being committed are by people who have forgotten the core values of our country. Ideals such as equality and freedom of speech and religion have been overlooked. To be a great country, we must be individuals, but we must also have the same positive moral beliefs. One must show respect in order to gain respect. Following these guidelines will make our country unite as one, once again.