Hello everyone! I wanted to leave one of the essays I wrote when applying to the University of Florida. I remembered the frustration I used to get when I first sat down to start writing ANY essay. I feel as if our future in writing is influenced by the professors we get, and that is not something that we can always control as students. Before I applied to the University of Florida, I saw other students cry over not getting admitted, so I felt extra nervous. I want students who are going to enter this competitive world to have something to hold on to in order to get started.
Love you all!
Something Special - Statement of Purpose - University of Florida
It was a Tuesday afternoon, I found myself in front of a scale and decided to step on it slowly. I was 21 years old and weighing 302 pounds. After struggling with my weight for years, I was finally diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a condition where your body is resistant to insulin, the hormone responsible for lowering toxic levels of sugar in the body. The high levels of insulin affect the ovaries, increases the level of testosterone in a female, and stores fat. This makes it harder to burn fat with diet and exercise because insulin is constantly present and working to store fat. After many years of putting myself in the position of a victim, I decided to listen to my father's advice:
"It is not about the cards you get, it is about how you play the game with the cards you get."
I decided to start the Ketogenic diet, a diet consisting of extremely low or no carbohydrates. I only ate meat, green salad, eggs, and protein shakes mixed with water. This was a process of more than a year where I had many ups and downs. I thought those success stories on the Internet were impossible, and that those people who lost weight had something special that I was not born with. It soon became my story and maybe, I also had something special. I believe that: "something special" represents a desire, that when it is so strong, it can take you anywhere in life.
It took me 18 months to lose 167 pounds, but it took me 24 years to learn what I am capable of doing. I saw the power of "desire" and the beauty of "dreaming". It is from this that I have developed a relentless character that is goal-oriented, persistent, optimistic, energetic, and self-motivated. As a person who refuses to say: "I can't", I will be an asset to the University of Florida and value the opportunity to attend your school, because I will always give my best to overcome the challenges that your courses can bring.
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