Hernandez 1

Jamileth Hernandez

Clare Miller

ENG-101

12-15-2023

Prompt: Describe how racial and family background has shaped your perspective and influenced

your goals for pursuing higher education?

College Personal Statement

Being born in the United States has given me major academic and personal issues. I be-

lieve I have had many academic and personal issues because I am of Mexican descent, and I am

often described as either too “American” or “not American enough.” This makes me believe I do

not belong neither in the United States or Mexico. Both of my parents were born in Mexico and

immigrated to the U.S so they could temporarily have a better financial status to go back to Mex -

ico with their families. Their American Dream was to start a family so my siblings and I could

have a richer life and education in the land of opportunity.

My parents always tell me, “Attend school, move towards your goals, and become

something successful in life.” This phrase always motivates me to try my best and improve

academically because it has shown me that my parents believe I am capable of doing more than

they were able to accomplish. Learning English has been a major obstacle course for me to

overcome because my home language is Spanish. I only spoke and wrote in Spanish until the

3rdgrade. For the most part, I was independent when it came to learning English. I learned

English through school which only accumulated for the speaking- once it came to writing I was

on my own. Now I have overcome this obstacle and am now able to better speak English more
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fluently outside of my home. I have realized that it might be a bumpy road to accomplish these

goals due to the language barrier, but if anything, it has dramatically motivated me to advance

my English while maintaining my mother tongue.

Throughout life, I have experienced countless people say, “You are Mexican. You will not be

able to accomplish anything successful in life.” There are times I’m at my house sitting in my

bed watching TV, I have times of self-doubt where I think that they're right. That I should just

give up and follow what every other Mexican does and work in the field year-round.” In those

times, there’s always a loved one that sits me down and looks at me in the eye and tells me to ig -

nore them; to ignore them and do what’s best for me and my family

These simple and powerful words have inspired me to move forward, regardless of what others

say. And believe that I am more than capable to reach further heights. My strong resilience is the

reason for that.

Being Mexican in the United States, I’ve come to realize that I will not be accepted by

everyone, but I must continue forward to do what’s best for me. While success is not guaranteed

in life, I have learned to understand that failure also does not guarantee that I won’t succeed. I

will continue to persist and use my failures as a map that will direct me to success, allowing me

to pursue my dream of earning a higher education.