Graduate School Admissions Essay

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‘Slow and steady wins the race’, they say. Nothing best describes my passage through life as does this adage: mine has been flanked by academic challenges and high family standards. Yet, I have not only always pulled through but have done so most gallantly, even finishing best at some levels.

Primary and Secondary Schools education were for me, not quite fulfilling, that is at first. I was quite poor in Mathematics. Having older siblings who excelled in all subjects did not make it any easier. Everyone compared me with them. As a result, I had a low self esteem and continued to perform poorly until my final secondary examinations. It was then that I told myself I could do it. I burnt the midnight oil for days on end and prayed frantically. The result was an all-round success which resorted to self-dignity and respect from my critics. I came to see that my family standards were indeed attainable; I only needed to work hard.

Another means by which I gained confidence in myself was my involvement with the Nigeria Red Cross Society in Katsina, northern Nigeria. I was able to secure First Aid Training as well as visit prisons, hospitals and schools in villages. These were places in which the Red Cross gave lectures and seminars on Basic Health Education. In the same vein, I participated in fund raising projects and welfare ventures for the less privileged. I interacted with the poor and people who were less fortunate than I was which made me especially grateful for the benefits that I had. I became a more loving person and began to realize how much I could do to alleviate suffering in my own little way.

The opportunity to study the French language in 2002 was an unexpected turn of events. I had failed to score the req...

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...able university can more than accommodate my rather modest knowledge of International Relations because it is research-driven. Even significant is the fact that the University of Aberdeen is one of the few schools which afford a Language student the privilege of a master’s degree in International Relations. Furthermore, Scotland’s beautiful green valleys, rugged mountains and deep blue lakes are yet another reason to choose to study in the United Kingdom, if for nothing else but for its beauty.

Speaking of beauty, my life has been full of it. Precisely because I have had a taste of contrasting moments, this has made life truly what it should be: I have cried and I have laughed; I have succeeded and I have failed; I have experienced sunshine and shadow; hope and despair. But through it all, I have lived and long for more: The University of Aberdeen here I come!

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