Personal Statement

My name is Chi Chen Hsieh from Taiwan. In my whole life i never be a super-student who is academically ingenious. I’m more proud about what I’ve achieved, and I take pride in my success. When you take a look at the world I come from, maybe you’d be impressed by me, the student who has came from very far away from the United state, the boy who spends his whole high school years learn how to speak English and completes an honest number of volunteer hours. The world I come from is much different than what the numbers and letters may portray because those numbers are relative to everyone around me. But my world is unique and my success is genuine. Since the beginning of high school, I’ve had to shape most of my path on my own while breaking down academic barriers. I graduated from a middle school at Taiwan and I did not do well on the high school entrance exam over there so i decided to study in America. Obviously I was underprepared for high school compared to other international students. Nonetheless, when given the option to challenge myself as a freshman, I did. I struggled through every courses and even had to repeat a half of semester of Old Testament ( an religious course) because I could not speak any English. I had been home sick for a lot of time in a year and my parents and teachers were very upset about my performance at school. So by the time I changed my high school in my sophomore year, I was really happy that I did change to another boarding school, because it is a smaller school and have a lot of people from all over the world. I start working hard and social with a lot of people from different countries. At the end of my junior year, I become the "International students prefect" by the head of the school. Receiving this honor was meaningful because it showed that I had taught myself how to succeed. My situation at home was different as well. All of my family went to the top colleges in Taiwan, and though they have always encouraged me to attend to the top colleges in USA. The process has been very challenging as I’ve needed to find the resources and information about colleges mostly on my own because the application system is different from Taiwan . At my high school, being the first generation in your family to go to college in USA immediately makes you the minority, regardless of ethnicity. But i found a lot of support from my school, I asked a lot of teachers about colleges. They all gave me a lot of suggestion so I finally decide what colleges I am interesting and study business as a measure. I am really happy that I can graduate from this high school because, I understand that my high school teaches more than just English, they teaches me how to challenge myself and be successful. The academic struggles I’ve faced in my world have geared me toward attending college and pursuing a career thereafter. Good things are given to those who work hard, like the International prefect spot I received. I know that difficulties and challenges arise, but I also know that there’s always a way to break the barrier. Wherever I go, I’ll take advantage of every opportunity I’m given because I’ve already proven to myself that I can be successful, even if the odds are against me.