Rojas 1

Alejandro Rojas

Santa Monica College

Personal essay

What major do you want to study? Do you wish to earn an Associate degree and/or

transfer to a university? If you wish to transfer, which institution(s) do you intend to apply

to for transfer?

The major that I want to get in to, is the Business Administration program. And it is

my certainty that Santa Monica College is my first step, not only because it is the most

prestigious institution in superior education but since it is internationally recognized I will be

able to reach my goal into transferring to a four-year university. Furthermore, it is my desire

to enrol in SMC to elevate my chances to get into UC Riverside or Cal State LA. I know that

this is so inasmuch I have verified through a diversity of sources that SMC is recognized for

being number one transfer college. My goal in SMC is to obtain as many skills as possible in

order to make good strategies to help me be a successful student and future professional.

You might ask yourselves,” why does this youngling want to study Business

Administration?” Well, my dad has his own business in Chile and so I already have a broad

idea of how this business area works, and so I would like to come with some new

entrepreneurial ideas and help with the family business development or even start my

business in the future. As mentioned before, SMC is a great step for accomplishing my

dreams and future projects in my professional life. My dad always enjoyed stating a quote

that he used to say when my family got distracted and weren’t doing what we were supposed

to do: “work time is work time, and all the rest won’t help you for your future life”;

moreover, he also told us that he worked within his mom’s business since he was 13 years

old. Truly young. A hardworking person, and spent his youth in working since his early

teens, something I am not quite certain if it is normal in the States, but it is in my country
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(Bolivia) because there are a lot of poor people in my country and it is well known that it’s a

third world country.

At first, when I was still in elementary school, I lived in Chile. We moved there for

my dad’s business and it was well understood, but not accepted since it wasn’t a very nice

experience for me. Because history plays its role, The Pacific War. Although it occurred

about two centuries ago, there is still friction between Bolivian and Chilean people. Hence,

my statement, not a very nice experience for me; sadly, I was a victim of bullying for a long

time; Due to this, I used to be a little depressed and sad while at home. Shortly after, my dad

noticed that something was wrong and he decided to bring us back to Bolivia and my life just

got better.

School time started in Bolivia, and when I had some free time at the end of my school

day I used to help my dad moving some of his work gear. Although hard physical work was

demanded, it did not bother me at all because I saw it as exercise and resistance which

indirectly helped me in my basketball practices. Today, I am an ex-student from the

American International School of Bolivia–AISB, but when I was a student, I was part of the

basketball team since the first year that I got enrolled in the institution. Modesty aside, they

considered me one of the tallest and best members in the team because I am focused and

disciplined in all aspects. The results of my efforts were seen during the tournaments called

the “Friendship Games” that were played among the American schools in Bolivia, which

were at that moment Calvert of Cochabamba, Calvert of Santa Cruz, Calvert of La Paz, and

my school. In my last year of school, I was named the team captain, and I consider it as one

of my most memorable days because all my friends, teammates and family showed that they

were profoundly proud of me. My team had an outstanding performance.

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Despite being young, and having “no real life experience”, my certainty of enrolling

at Santa Monica College would be an enormous step for me because of the great variety of

international students and also to open myself for new ideas. SMC, besides having a wide

variety of students, will help me grow infinitely in my professional life and in the same way

achieve my goal of transferring to a four-year university. That is why I am completely

convinced that SMC is my step for improvement of working and studying skills for the

incoming future.