Sample
Admissions Essays - Accepted by Harvard (Courtesy of EssayEdge)
"Mike"
Influence?
Why is it that the people who influence us most influence
us in ways that are not easily quantified? Through her work
with abused children, my mother has shown me the heroism
of selfless dedication to a worthy cause. By being an upstanding
individual, my playwriting teacher in middle school acted
as an inspiring male role model at a time when I needed
one most. By being approachable and interesting, my World
History teacher in my freshman year of high school opened
my eyes to the connections between a society's culture and
its history and broadened my view of cultures and the world.
While these influences mean much to me and have contributed
greatly to my development, they came too easily to mind.
The
fact that I could sit down and write a list of how these
people influenced me suggests that the influence did not
alter me in any profound way. These people are all my elders,
and perhaps I feel distanced from them. The person whose
influence shook me to the deepest level is a person whose
influence is nearly impossible to describe. Mike, the best
friend I’ve ever had, changed me, and I changed him at one
of the most crucial times in our lives: the seventh grade.
We developed our personalities, our senses of humor, and
our love for girls at the same time and in the same manner.
It would cheapen his influence to quantify it; I am what
I am because of him; I cannot say that about anybody else.
Mike
came to my school in the seventh grade, and we immediately
clicked. Before he came, I didn’t feel like an outcast by
any means, as I had my friends that I had known since first
grade. However, until Mike, I never had anyone my age to
identify with completely. Mike made me feel confident in
who I was; he reaffirmed my drives and my thoughts and my
inspirations. At this awkward stage in our lives, we found
uncritical appreciation in each other. We both were obsessed
by movies and had a similar sense of humor. We had the same
problems and the same thoughts. That was all it took.
Halfway
through that same year, Mike and I became inseparable. In
fact, our yearbook had a section that lists the names of
students and what they were never seen without. Under Mike,
it read: “Ted, ” and under Ted: “Mike.” I became a staple
at his house and he at mine. We no longer had to ask our
parents if it was ok to have a sleepover on weekends, they
assumed we would. On weekdays, we usually walked over to
his house, which was near school, and hung out there till
I had to go home. Our favorite past time on those long afternoons
after school was to walk to the nearby food mart and get
a bag of chips and two 24 oz. Coca-Colas. Watching a movie,
we would sit on his couch with our chips and Coke and talk
about our dreams of working together in the movies. Mike
wanted to be a director and actor, and I wanted to be an
actor and a playwright/screenwriter. It was the perfect
combination. We even tried writing a few scripts together.
Of course,
as two seventh grade boys, it wasn’t all skips through the
park either. We were extremely competitive and would get
into brutal fights for seemingly no reason at all. One time,
I pulled out a chunk of his hair, but I don’t remember what
started the fight. I think that our connection was so intense
that we could not have normal emotions toward each other.
As friends, we were best friends, but in an argument, we
wanted to fight each other to the death. Still, the Wrestlemania
days were rare; ordinarily, the intensity of that connection
was a good thing. I was pretty shy about girls, and when
I did talk about them with guys, I would usually just say
a girl was "hot." With Mike, I could really talk
about girls and who they were; with Mike, I didn’t have
to put on my public “cool” façade but could really say what
I felt about a girl.
Then
we went to separate high schools. We tried to maintain the
friendship, and you might think we would have been able
to since we had been so close, but we drifted apart. Our
friendship was based on being near each constantly, of growing
up in the same town, under the same conditions, with the
same hopes, fears, and dreams. Now we still go to movies
occasionally and hang out, but it's not the same, and we
both know it. I thought Mike and I would be friends forever,
and maybe we will be. I mean, we have to make those movies
together, right? But the way things look right now, I doubt
we will ever reconnect. Our friendship in the seventh grade
was magical, and lightning doesn’t strike twice.
My playwriting
teacher from middle school left, but I handled it. I learned
a great deal from him, and I appreciate him for the subject
he taught and the way that he taught it. I will probably
miss my parents when I leave for college, but I doubt the
separation will pain me deeply since the connection between
parents and children will always be there. With Mike, I
lost the best friend I ever had, and I lost that forever.
Losing that kind of bond cuts deep, and I know it's the
type of wound that doesn't heal. It’s the type of wound
you just live with.
But
just because we're not friends anymore, it doesn't slight
the times we had when we were friends. Those times are what
influenced me so deeply. No, Mike did not work some lesson
into my heart, he worked himself into my heart, and even
if I never see the guy again he changed me forever. I think
that finding someone who you truly connect with and feel
that you were destined to meet, someone who you feel truly
understands you and makes you feel special, I think meeting
someone like that is one of the most profound experiences
you can have.
For
access to 100 free sample successful admissions essays,
visit EssayEdge
.
|
