Small Fish

I partied hard in college. I showed up to class hammered and would fall asleep during exams. The University of Washington did not like my academic performance and rejected me when I applied for my major. Uh oh. I fumbled this one. There was an ultimatum: get into my major or transfer colleges, and Lord knows I was not transferring colleges. I had a close relationship with the admissions officer, and this was my last hand to play. I was informed that there was one spot remaining, so along with two other idiots, I asked them to reconsider my application. After reconsideration, I ended up claiming the final spot. Lucky for me, I hate to lose. This is the story I told them:

I aim to be the small fish in a big pond. While the small fish never gets the glory and must work significantly harder to compete, he gets to swim in the same waters as the big fish. I strive to always surround myself with ambitious people, people that push me to put forth my best effort in everything I do. While grades are a very important part of school, mine have not always been an accurate reflection of the effort I put in. Due to outside commitments and challenges, I often find myself needing to make sacrifices that ultimately will allow me to be more successful in the long run. I came to the University of Washington to graduate as an Industrial Engineer, but more importantly, I came to grow as a person and to master my ability to succeed. While on paper I did not appear to be a top candidate for the Industrial Engineering department, I have the potential and passion to be both a competitive and successful Industrial Engineer.

The amount I have grown and changed since coming to the University of Washington has been surreal. Through Greek life, I learned how to be a leader and have empathy for those around me. Through my classes, I learned the importance of hard work and persistence. Most importantly, the University of Washington has shown me how to face and overcome adversity. While these lessons have been crucial to my development and future success, they did not come without cost.

An idea that has been cultivated through my experiences at the University of Washington improve yourself you must push yourself as far as you can, and it is in this state of tension that you grow the most. Having narcolepsy has made living in and holding leadership roles in my fraternity detrimental for my academics. While almost all my spare time goes into being the house manager, the rest is lost when I am trying to sleep. Due to living in a sleeping porch this year, being able to go to bed before 3 am has been a consistent struggle. While I have persevered, this quarter I finally secured a quieter room which has improved my sleep habits, vastly improving my life and academics already. As the most turbulent part of my college experience is finally winding down, I see the leaps and bounds I have made in my personal growth that will allow me to pursue my academic goals.

While my grades may initially reflect little improvement, I have been progressively taking heavier course loads almost every quarter, along with becoming more involved with responsibilities around my fraternity as the year goes on. Freshman fall quarter I was taking MATH 124 and a VLPA, averaging with a 3.0 grade point average. This fall quarter, while adding house manager to my workload, I took PHYS 121, AMATH 301 and MATH 308, three rigorous stem classes, and I received a 2.97 grade point average. What has allowed me to make it this far has been the passion I have for Industrial Engineering and my future success. An ongoing joke in my fraternity is that I should get a discount on rent because Odegaard library is going to start charging me rent for how often I’m there. I often get discouraged putting in so much work into my classes just to get back mediocre grades, but I never let that diminish the effort I put forth. This is not the first time I have started out as an underdog and surpassed everyone’s expectations. I dropped out of football in 8th grade because I was unathletic, to go on to being one of the biggest weightlifters and athletes in my school by the end of my senior year. Similarly, freshman year of high school I got a 3.33 grade point average while taking no AP classes, to during senior year I got a 4.0 grade point average while taking 8 AP tests. While many people can reach success through natural talent, I utilize work ethic and persistence to find my way to success. Even now I already have been looking ahead to the next steps in my academic career as an Industrial Engineer. This summer I am taking ME 123 to learn CAD and solid works so I can get an internship at Malarkey Roofing Products in Portland under one of their Industrial Engineers.

To be the small fish in a big pond I must always keep my end goal in mind. Over the past year and a half of college I have learned how to be a leader, a student and how to set myself up on a path for success. I plan of finishing up this quarter with grades to start my upward trend in GPA, and to only improve from here out as my living and sleeping conditions mellow out. Through my frequent communication with Jennifer Tsai and studying daily with a student currently in the department, I am confident that I have the resources and passion to not only succeed in the Industrial Engineering department but as the small fish, I will thrive.