For as long as I can remember, my mother has told me that my life would be very hard. "You're Mexican," she said. "I came here when I was twenty and my life was hard and I'm straight!" My mother left Mexico for the United States on the eve of her twentieth birthday in hopes finding a better life. Four difficult years later, she met my father, married, and later had me. "I knew from the moment you were born...

Essay central to work experience

Up until two years ago, I was embarrassed about the fact that I am a Boy Scout. If ever I had to don my olive green hiking shorts and khaki shirt ensemble to attend a troop meeting, I would rush to my family's car in fear of someone outside the troop spotting me. I was always smug and haughty at the meetings, talking back to my short, bald-headed troop leader with my rebellious-teenage attitude. I had a friend in the...

High ACT scores,...