Describe why, as a student, you think that you are a good match for The University of Texas at Austin and also what individual characteristics you possess that you believe will help you to make a contribution to the UT-Austin campus.
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A while back, I asked my group of friends why they seemed to enjoy teasing me so much. Their answer was that it was hard to resist because I was such a nice person. This logic doesn’t really make all that much sense to me, but I suspect that they feel they can get away with it and still hold my friendship. Now, don’t go thinking I’m a doormat. I swear I pack more punch than do any of my other female friends. But I think I am the most accepting, in most areas, and I just can’t seem to pick on them in return. I don’t feel that this is a bad thing, and I really don’t feel much pressure to change. There’s nothing wrong with being the nicest one out of the group.

I’m also the least susceptible to peer pressure out of those I know. I don’t have a great need to conform. I mean, I wear two belts, and no matter how much grief my friends give me, I rather like the oddity of them. On a larger note, my lesser need to comform gives me strength to keep to my morals and ideals. I think that this is always important, but most especially during high school and college years. I can’t wait to get out there and experience a different world, but I believe that it is important to remember who I am amidst the barrage of new things that will be thrown at me upon my entrance into college, especially into one so big as UT Austin.

One of these ideas that I value is that of hard work. I do believe in natural talent, but I also believe in doing something with it. I’ll admit that I study harder than the rest of my friends. Some of them have more skill than I, but I have the higher class rank. It irritates me when I see good talent go to waste. I try to urge those close to me to buckle down and get some work done, when possible. This has often helped during group projects and things of that nature, as the group as a whole would have been less effective without my cajoling. I can’t wait to be in the atmosphere of UT Austin where others are as willing to work as I am. And though I know that there will always be someone who needs to be dragged along, I am prepared for that.

I have had the desire to continue my education in medical school for several years now, and I know that The University of Texas at Austin can help me there. UT Austin is affiliated with the UT medical school, and, as UT’s flagship campus, I feel that UT Austin will best prepare me to enter the world beyond the first four years. Over the summer, I actually worked with a surgeon who graduated from the UT medical school, thus proving that I can get where I want to be through UT. I am ready for the challenge that UT Austin can give me. I am ready for the coursework. I am ready for diversity. I hope I am ready to strike out on my own. . .well, hopefully not quite on my own. I am ready to meet the challenge of making new friends on a large campus.

But despite my workhorse attitude most of the time, I still have this childlike tendency to be pleased, if not overjoyed, with the small pleasures in life. I enjoy balloons, cookies, jingle bells, Christmas lights, rainbows, and choral music. One of my favorite things to do is to go to work on an early Saturday morning. If I get up at the right time, and if the morning mist has not yet lifted, I can see sunbeams sift through the treetops and out over the water as I cross the lake bridge. It is beautiful. No one else is crazy enough to be up that early, and so I can drive a little under the speed limit. I think it’s effective stress relief, which I need much of the time. Sometimes I feel that I’m at both ends of the extremes. I am easily stressed and easily overjoyed, but I think that balances me out. What amazes me is that so few people take pleasure in a warm cookie. Somehow, I think other people have lost the joy of the little things. Or maybe they just don’t stop and look. But whatever happened, I know that I will continue to point out the rainbow through the clouds, just in case.