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Grace Hwang

Professor Babcock

English 138T

2 February 2024

I Believe in Listening to My Mom

https://psu.voicethread.com/share/26411795/

“Why did you apply for Schreyer?”

I have been asked this many times before, and while it may seem like a simple answer....

for the opportunities, the prestige, the shiny medal.... my reason was a bit different.

It’s because I believe in listening to my mom.

The leaves had just started to turn red in 2022 when I got a surprise in the mail: an early

acceptance letter from Penn State, complete with a shiny banner. But I wasn’t exactly the

happiest because it wasn’t my first choice; Ohio State was.

But that didn’t stop my mom from researching everything and anything about Penn State,

as if I had already decided. That’s when she came across the Schreyer Honors College and boy

did she hammer the idea into my head.

For the next week and a half, she kept mentioning the looming application deadline

whenever possible. During Dinner, driving home from work, before bed, no time was sacred,

until I caved in. And I did. Hard.

Fueled with spite, I planned to write the sloppiest, most rushed essay responses that the

world had ever seen. After all, she only wanted me to apply, she didn’t say it had to be good.
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But as I began to type, her words echoed in my head, and I began to consider the benefits

that could come from being in an honors college. Priority registration, the internal support to do

research, a hefty scholarship that would’ve made college affordable, something almost unheard

of.

With this new motivation, I began to write for the next two days, only stopping to eat and

sleep. And it ended up paying off when March 1st rolled around: the day I received my

acceptance and new future at Penn State.

Looking back at this experience and other similar instances, I’ve realized how important

my mom is in my life. Whether I like to admit it or not, being lazy is one of my biggest vices

because of how easy it is to fall into. School projects, scholarship deadlines, applications.

Everything is so easy to put off when there is no one there to hover over my shoulder, especially

as I grow up more independent and more stressed. I suppose that’s one of the follies of growing

up. Sometimes, I think that I’m too old to listen to my mom.

However, having constant encouragement coming from someone who genuinely cares for

me helps fend off that apathy. In my case, trusting my mom’s intuition opened me to thinking

about a different path than the one I had originally wanted. And it’s one decision that’s led me to

so many great things at Penn State, including a Food Science program where I’ve met the closest

friends I’ve ever had.

To this day, my mom sends me information about things I could do. And while not

everything is my cup of tea, some of it (especially getting physics tutoring) has been life

changing.

That’s why I believe in listening to my mom.

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