College 101
What matters to you, and why?
The Prompt
What matters to you, and why?
The Essay
Intro
When I was eighteen, I watched my friends scatter across the country, and in a couple cases, across the world. The bulk of them were going to college. All of them were following some kind of dream, and higher education was the key to it. I was no different in that I had a dream that called me. The difference was that I was unable to follow it.
I was already a parent and in a year and a half, I was a parent twice over. Raising both children was more difficult without a degree just because it limited the kinds of jobs I could get, let alone the kind of career I wanted. It grew even more difficult when I was raising both children by myself.
I am not complaining. If I had to do everything over again, I would do it the same, give or take a bout with food poisoning. I have no regrets about how I lived my life, or the two great human beings I raised. I am not writing about regrets, and I am not applying to college out of bitterness. I want to go because there is still so much life ahead of me, and my dreams were only delayed.
Body
Langston Hughes said it best in "A Dream Deferred," and though he wasn't talking about a career, his words still resonate with me. My dream has been deferred long enough, and it is time I took the steps to see it fulfilled. A college education is the lynchpin, and from there, graduate school. It will not be the life I saw at sixteen. It will be so much richer.
Through my children, I got to watch dreams becoming born. I helped nurture those dreams through childhood, before sending the kids off to college to see them fulfilled. I sacrificed parts of myself without considering because I knew it was important for them. They deserved to see their aspirations met.
It is through them I understand the importance of meeting one's aspirations. The light I see in their eyes when they were accepted to their schools was a light that had not yet appeared in mine. Yet when they brought their acceptance letters to me, I could feel the joy radiating through them. It was palpable. Their futures had opened up like the clouds after a hard rain. I knew I needed that experience too, and now is the time.
My life has given me the kind of experience most college students couldn't dream of. I am, after all, the parent of one college student and one college graduate. I know what it's like to yearn for something far greater than myself—to stay awake nights with the hopes for a better career, or any career at all. To know that I can take what life wants to give me, if only for a little time.
Conclusion
I understand the value of what I am getting. Returning to school after a long absence might be hard, but I know what's waiting for me at the end: It's the same feeling I felt in my kids when they were accepted. A dream within reach feels like the rays of the sun. It feels like hope—hope that I can pursue something I have kept on hold for over two decades.
The dream never really died, and I don't think it could have. But it would have remained inside, and probably turned me hard and mean if I ignored it. I never did, because I never wanted to turn my back completely on it.
This is not a different life I want. This is another phase of it. I have already seen, lived, and loved so much. I am looking forward to so much more, to embrace the part of me that I put away. I already know the joy that will come with it through my kids. I want them to know the joy that comes with the knowledge a loved one is doing the same.
Why This Essay Works
Any student of a non-traditional age (that is significantly older or younger than eighteen) is going to have an interesting story for why they're choosing to attend college. Don't be afraid to tell it. Chances are, it'll be the answer to whatever essay prompt you're tackling. A student of this type should look at their age as a huge bonus. It's a quick reference on what to write.
This student talked about their kids, another thing that older students might share with them. In so doing, the student used personal experience to talk about what mattered. Namely, they had a blueprint for their life that was changed with parenthood, delayed for twenty years, and now they have a chance to go back to school and are leaping at it.
The student uses some poetic language—and in one case, a touch of humor—to make their point. Nothing about this looks forced; it's always best to write what's inside rather than write what you think someone wants to hear. This honesty and sense of earnest hope is a winning combination.