2. Reflection
As akid I was not very ambitious when itcame to school. I made mediocre grades and only did what I had to
do to pass and make iton to the next grade. I grew up with one brother but we were always at our neighbor’s who had
four boys allaround our age. None of us reallythought about collegeor what we were going to do with our lives. My
parents growing up fought alot and this is one of the reasons I spent so much time over my friends house; when I was in
the third grade my father smacked my brother while my parents were divorcing and we ended up in foster care.This was
a tough timefor me and builta lot of charter I believe.We were in there for about four months before we were allowed
to go back home with our parents. One day when I was a freshman in high school I was at my friend’s house playing
video games and decided to go outside for some fresh air. When we stepped outside we heard music coming from down
the road. We walked a couple lots down and saw a crowd of people in the front yard partying, so we walked into their
neighbor’s front yard to get a betterlook. We were standing in this man’s yard when a sudden loud bang startledus, so
naturally we took off running. While I was running I felt a weird feeling in my armpit so I slowly reached over to
investigatethe strange feeling, as I raised my hand I noticed thatthere was blood covering my fingers. I told my friend
to look because I believed I had been shot, and the look in his eyes gave me my answer. We ran to wake up his mother,
who was a nurse, to tellher what happened. She said that we had to go to the hospital, so my friend his mother and I got
into her littlestandard pickup truck and headed towards the closesthospital (about 10 milesaway) in Kaufman, Texas.
We did not make iteven amile down the road when we were struck head on by a drunk driver. I awoke at the hospital
with scratches covering a good portion of my upper body, my bottom lip was split in two, three of my top front teeth
were completely knocked out, and because of the stick shift sittingbetween my legs I had ruptured my spleen and was
bleeding internally.Soon after this one of my best friends was hit by a vehicle walking home one night and itput me
into a depression. I started falling back in my previous routine and stopped applying myself in high school and did a lot
3. of partying and hanging out with friends. My senior year I started dating a girl that graduated second in our class,and
because of her I decided to go to college.
Education
I have been intentional about my learning process by picking university studies as my major so thatI can pick
the disciplinesthat I want to study. When I first startedtaking courses here atTexas Tech I was not sure what I wanted
to major in, but I did have becoming a lawyer in the back of my head. Moreover, I knew thatI wanted to take courses or
pick a major thatwould help prepare me for law school or a graduate school. I originally chose psychology as a major
thinking that I could choose to be a psychologist and go to a graduate school for thator choose to go to law school. After
taking my second course in psychology I decided thatI would not enjoy being a counselor. At this point I was positive
that I wanted to be a lawyer and became confused at what major would give me the best chance at succeeding in law
school. After taking some classesin politicalscienceand business I decided thatI didn't want to immerse myself in just
one discipline.I then activelysought out university studies so that I could be engaged in multipledisciplines.My
concentrations are politicalscience,legalstudies, business, and I've taken four courses in psychology. Legal studies has
taught me a lot about how to make logicalarguments and how to communicate persuasively. Business has taught me
about personal finance, economics, and the components of a welloperated business. Politicalsciencehas taught me
about how the government operates and a lot about the constitution of theUnited Statesand other countries' rights and
lack of civilliberties.Psychology has taught me to better understand human behavior; why people actthe way they do
and to be able to recognize thesereasons. I chose thesedisciplines because as alawyer I will need to know how the
federal, state,and localgovernments work and are run. Business will help me manage my own money for the rest of my
lifeand possibly give me the opportunity to run my own legalfirm one day. Legal studies is setup to challengestudents
with logic and communications which are directly linked to the certaintypes of skillslawyers are required to have.
Lawyers have to deal with clientsand co-workers and bosses, and having learned about the way people function
4. psychologically I think I willbe more successful dealing with these personal encounters. Having taken courses in so
many different disciplines I no longer passively follow one disciplines logic or process but instead combine multiple
disciplinesto answer questions, which is what integrative studies isbased on and what I willbe forced to do as a lawyer.
This degree has already been useful to me because I have already been accepted to Texas Tech law school; moreover, it
has helped me learn how to writeresearch papers which willhelp me in graduate school and English 1302 thatI am
currently enrolled in.
Application
Growing up with such a big group of friends has given me a strong sinceof approval and self respect thathas
really helped me through college even though I was young when theserelationships were created.Going through foster
care was really tough, but because itwas so tough I became reallyclose with Christ praying nonstop. It also made me
able to deal with stress and adversity which those two things are common in lifeand in college, so itstrengthened me
enough to deal with this adversity and stress. This faiththat was created whileI was in foster care has helped me more
than anything elsein my lifeand has given me the courage needed to succeed in college and not shoot for an easy path
but to try and become a lawyer knowing that getting into a good law school requires an impressive resume, grade point
average, and law school admissions test score. Another part of discontinuity that has actuallybenefited mewas getting
shot and in thatcar wreck, which completelychanged everything about me and made me realizethatevery action has
consequences. I found out laterthatright before I was shot the blinds hit the glass in the window (which caused me to
turn and staredirectly atthem), the man actuallypulled the trigger of his pistol with it aimed right on my chest. Luckily
fate intervened and the gun misfired, giving me the timeto turn before I was struck. This inconceivable coincidence,
fate, or God intervening has led me to believethat I survived for a reason and I am not going to waste my lifesettlingfor
mediocrity. The impactof thatnight has stayed with me, giving me the incentiveto attendcollege and reminding me to
never be satisfiedwith yesterday’s best. My friend passing away in high school was another tragic event that propelled
5. me to not take lifefor granted and to do well in college. Plus through the process of dealing with his death me and his
brother and step brothers becamereally closeand these relationships have given me the opportunity to callthem when
things get tough. Their adviceand their friendships have relaxed me to the point where the stress createdby school
bounces right off me. I am also thankful for the girl that I dated thathelped me through the applicationprocess that
ended with me getting acceptedto Texas Tech University. All of these things were not connected and most of them were
awful to experience, but each and every one of these things altered my path in lifeand allof them combined created the
path that I am so proudly on today. It’s like putting some good fruits in ablender with some fruits that you may not like
individually, but when thesmoothie is createdit becomes betterthan anything you could have imagined. This metaphor
is very similarto my lifeand I am lucky that itis turning out to be something thatI couldn’t have imagined.
Connection
Throughout collegeI was determined to make good grades and focus on my studies. The first semesterof my
freshman year I did reallywell and I made a good grade point average and joined a fraternity (I wanted to get into
organizations so that I could start to build up my resume). The second semesterof my freshman year I becametoo
involved in the fraternity, playing every sport I could and becameengaged in some moderate drinking, which cause me
to have a terriblegrade point average of a 1.7 at the end of the semester. I almost gave up hope on the dream of
becoming a lawyer, but because of my family, friends, and everything that I mentioned about my past allowed me to
keep my head up and have the confidence and the faith thatI could come back the following semester and starta pattern
of awesome grade point averages. Since this terriblesemester I have made two grade point averages around 3.5 and four
4.0’s. I was ableto persevere when most would have given up because of all the discontinuity in my lifethat made me
the person thatI am today. I applied to afew law schools lastsemesterand I have already been acceptedto Texas Tech
University School of Law and A&M University School of Law. My grade point average is high enough to get me into
these schools and gave me the opportunity to continue going to collegeand further my education. I plan on becoming a
6. heath care attorney working in a hospital or alitigationattorney working in a firm. My careergoals are to reach a high
position in a hospital or to own my own legalfirm one day. Either option is fine with me, but I stillhave three years of
law school thatI am going to have to make it through. I believethat because of my past and my faith I will be able to
handle lawschool and willgraduate high in my class.I believethat because of my undergraduate degree in University
Studies I am wellprepared for the research thatI willhave to do in law school. Also, the experience I have with
integrating materialsfrom different disciplines willhelp me be ableto tackletough problems when I am an attorney one
day. If I am working in a hospital this willbecome a pivotal quality because in house council (attorneys) have to take
care of every legal issue faced by the hospital and not just one area of law. Law has so many areas to learn about and to
be able to research areas you are not completely familiarwith and beatlawyers who are familiarwithin that specific
area. I feel as if I have picked the perfect major and have taken the right steps to reach my career goals.
7. Criteria
Points
Possible
Points
Earned
General
Paper adheres to APA formatting (title page, citations, references
page, etc.). This rubric pasted at the end of the assignment.
10
Writing is clear with appropriate grammar, spelling, and
punctuation. Headings are appropriately labeled
10
Reflection (500 words)
Summarizes and discusses a few key decisions/choices/experiences
in life.
10
Relates personal stories, in first person. 10
Education (500 words)
Discusses education journey, including degree program, 3 areas of
concentration and connections.
20
Application (500 words)
Identifies thread(s) that run through life experiences, 10
Utilizes metaphor to discuss “continuity within discontinuity” 10
Connection (500 words)
Discusses future plans/next steps. 10
Provides a convincing connection between previous sections and
future plans.
10
Total 100
