High School Application Research Paper

As a young teenager starting my high school experience, I knew I wanted my next four years to be unconventional. My elementary years had been spent in Edina, a city next to my home suburb, Eden Prairie. Although I enjoyed attending school in Edina, I never quite felt that I belonged. All of my friends lived close to each other, and therefore had known each other before they had met me. In 6th grade that lack of belonging drove me to transfer to Eden Prairie schools. I made many friends in Eden Prairie and I finally had a sense of security in the friendships I had made. Although my friends were inclusive and kind, I never felt as though I had enough in common with them.
In my freshman year, I began toying with the idea of doing something unorthodox in high school. I knew I did not want to simply attend for the next four years, participate in clubs and sports, and go to football games. These ideas simply didn’t appeal to me, and I wanted to be excited about my immediate future. Soon, I was considering going away to a boarding school in England for junior and senior year. This particular school was offering full scholarships to a small number of US students. To be honest, the idea of starting anew inspired me; I could become whoever I wanted to be. I never ended up applying to the school. Although I was extremely serious
about the opportunity, leaving my family, friends, and country for two years felt like too much of a leap.
The next option I came upon was PSEO (Post Secondary Enrollment Options). PSEO is an amazing program in Minnesota which allows high school students to attend college for free during their junior and senior years while earning dual credit. I attended one information session, talked to my counselor, and was convinced PSEO at the University of Minnesota was the option for me. My counselor warned me that only 500 students would be accepted into the U of M’s program, and that the candidate pool was extremely competitive. I applied to the program for my junior year and was denied. I was absolutely devastated. I had this perfect picture painted in my mind, and it didn’t work out. However, I could not give up on my PSEO dreams and I decided to attend PSEO at Normandale Community College for my junior year. Attending Normandale was definitely different from high school, and I had much more freedom and independence than before. I earned a 4.0 at Normandale and although I felt challenged, I could not wait to apply to the University of Minnesota’s PSEO program for my senior year.
I was accepted into the U of M’s PSEO program for senior year and I started this September.
My experience so far has been extremely challenging yet very rewarding. I am taking Calculus 3, which has proven to be the most challenging class I have ever taken. I love math, and I am planning to major in Aerospace Engineering, so I am excited to finally be in these high-level math classes. I absolutely love being challenged in this way, and I have already developed new and more effective studying techniques. I also joined the Rocket Team, where I work on the Propulsion subteam. We are currently working on many projects, including hybrid motor
research.
It is opportunities like these that make me so grateful for the opportunity to be a PSEO student. I have learned so much about myself and my learning styles through this program. Instead of participating in high school clubs, I am contributing to hybrid rocket motor research with graduate students at a world-renowned university. I am not a typical high school student, and I don’t intend to be any more conventional in college and in my later career.