College Admissions Essay: A Hollywood Ending

A Hollywood Ending
His backpack over his shoulder, my brother grips the paper tightly in his hand. While his feet shuffle across the hallway towards his room, a deep-rooted yell from the kitchen follows. Proceeding in reverse, he reaches our parents with curious eyes spotting his report card. As our parents stare, their faces slump into a shameful woe. “C’mon kiddo, you have the potential to get at least a few A’s next semester.”
That single word. Potential. Most define the word as encountering a prospective future; or maybe as having the potential to operate a business, or the potential to play college sports. It exemplifies the success in an individual. Or so does it? For when I was on the school soccer team my freshman year, my coach said that I had
potential to play Varsity. I was beyond thrilled to hear the words potential and Varsity contained in the same sentence. Three years later, and “potential” became etched in the team’s mind as a negative connotation. Each phrase out of our coach’s mouth labeled “potential” ended as a failure. No matter how much work each put into practice, the team couldn’t live up to his expectations.
Once again, around my freshman year, my coach told one of my fellow friends and teammates that he had the potential to play college division I soccer.
I, for one, knew this was a long stretch, but my friend had high hopes and practiced hard. He hardly noticed that fewer than 5,000 high school soccer athletes played division I (“Estimated Probability of Competing in Professional Athletics”). Senior year came around, and my friend had no expectations about going to college for athletics.
We, as people, look for the yellow brick road. We want a path paved to success, only for an exceptional nirvana, or a Hollywood ending to follow. These are both expected at the least to each individual, especially within the realm of dimmed possibilities.
Consider, for example, all the Internet ads one views in a day. There are millions. Actually, to be more specific, there are around thirty billion floating around in cyberspace (Kim). There is a plethora that gives the intention that any person can win an iPod, win a car, or win 2,000 bucks per week for life! In the long run--after “investing” several hundred dollars to receive the prize that can potentially change one’s life--it ends as a tragic deduction of money and
dignity. In our community, a failure is simply known as a lack of success. It is frowned upon, and people attempt to not fail. Now substitute this word for “potential.” Each of these failures creates an open abyss in an undeveloped individual. Failing, to myself, reminds me of a canyon; I am not able to jump over this hole. On the contrary, people look at having potential and a smile arises, knowing there is a chance to prosper. But this is the opposite; having potential means one hasn’t succeeded yet. So, I guess people could say, having potential is also shortcoming. Having potential means the canyon has not yet been leapt. Next semester rolls around, and the same scene develops. My brother once again grips his report card and my parents once again give him a frightening glare. He hands over his grades with the same shaking hand as last semester. The grades mirror the ones from last semester. So similar, to the least, that the question followed: “Are you sure this wasn’t last semester’s grades?” My brother serves as a perfect example of how potential means nothing. Nothing. People need to get into their minds that having potential is rather a failure. Once there’s even a little fragment of success in the picture, let me know, because that will be the first time where “potential” led to a Hollywood ending.