College Essays About Values that Influenced Your Life

What values influenced your life? Read these college essays about values that influenced your life.

Kindness Is a Choice

Example College Essay About Values that Influenced Your Life

Reed College

College essay by Hallie from South Carolina

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Henry David Thoreau - This simple thought guides me each day: why be mean, when you can choose kindness? The virtue of kindness is often overlooked by my generation. Kindness might be as simple as giving your time to help others, being there when they need a shoulder to cry on, being patient and understanding or most difficult of all, forgiving someone who has wronged you.

When meeting others for the first time I choose to be kind and welcoming and to see their inner worth. I have no time or patience for destructive critical opinions and I can’t understand deliberately hurting another person’s feelings. I don’t judge someone I’ve just met by the clothes they wear, the color of their skin, how much their parents earn, or the car they drive. I prefer to get to know the person inside by being courteous, genuine and open to friendship. I am respectful of differences and will always give someone the benefit of the doubt. I fiercely reject the “hater mentality” and the practice, so popular among cliques, of excluding those perceived as different. When I’m out shopping or dining, even if I’m having a bad day, I make it a point to be kind to sales clerks and servers, rudeness is just not in my nature.

As I work toward achieving my goals in life, I hope to leave others with a smile on their face and in their heart when they think of me. I may not be the prettiest, the smartest, the most popular, or the richest girl at my school, but I know that it is the stuff inside me and the choices I make that makes me who I am and ultimately shapes my life. I know that my positive energy and the kindness in my heart will take me on the right path in life and hopefully allow me to be a bright spot in someone’s day.

The Virtue of Hard Work

College Essays About Values that Influenced Your Life

College essay written by Benjamin from Oregon

When I was only thirteen years old, I was nominated to be a student ambassador to France, Italy, and Malta. The tuition for said trip would put me back $6,000; an amount of money that scarcely any thirteen year old has seen, much less could produce.

Upon my nomination, my parents informed me that they were unable to procure the finances, which left me to fend for myself. I researched various fund-raising ideas that were available to me at my young age, and behind all of the creative schemes in which to mask a fundraiser, I found that most of the options presented came down to me standing at another's doorstep, begging for money. This did not sit well with my personal values.

Armed with the equipment in my grandfather's garage, and the scraps and ends donated from a local carpenter, I began my own project named "Ben's Custom Clocks." I manufactured over 200 framed pictures with clocks set into them, and sold them to family members, business owners, and members of the community. Through this project and a garage sale, I managed to fund the trip in its entirety, including spending money while I was there.

Through this experience, I learned that the only way to improve my quality of life, I must work and make my own way; not rely on another source to improve my condition. Rather than approaching life with a "What can I get?" attitude, I must first ask myself, "What valuable thing can I produce to fulfill this need?"

Healthy Living

College Essays About Values that Influenced Your Life

College essay sample written by Laura from California

Hello everyone reading the wonderful scholarships for college students sent by previous and former college students from all over the U.S. I thank you for your time in reading my short essay.

My name is Laura and I am 27 years old. I first would like to give you a little history about myself. All my life I have been interested in sports, fitness, nutrition and living a healthy life style. I try my best in everything I do, especially when it comes to encourage other people to be pro active in living a healthy life style.

I have a strong desire to have a career that allows me to teach people about the importance of eating healthy foods and maintaining a well balanced diet. So naturally my major was nutrition but then I realized my passion for healthy living was much more then pursuing a career in the medical field as a nutritionist. I have realized that I could do something bigger and perhaps be able to motivate even more by becoming a farmer who grows organic foods.

I would love to do my part in the community by providing organic fresh foods to farmers markets, schools, hospitals, or local grocery stores. I could teach others how to have their own victory gardens in their yards. I’ve changed my major to horticulture and starting to get involved with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

I’m so excited about getting into farming but I do struggle with financing my education. Any form of help would be appreciated. I have two more years of school to complete and I have a wonderful vision that I’d love to share with the community. I hope to promote health and wellness to the city of Sacramento.

Time

Sample college essay written by Segovia of South Carolina

If you want to know the value of a hundredth of a second, ask an Olympic Silver Medalist. If you want to know the value of a second, ask a person who just avoided an automobile accident. If you want to know the value of a minute, ask someone at the airport who just missed their flight. If you want to know the value of an hour, ask a person trying to do some personal errands during his/her lunch. The most valuable lesson I learned at my first job, First Legal Support Services, is the importance of time.

As a high school student, I know there are not many of us who consider the importance of time. We procrastinate with everything and leave things to do for the last minute. We do not realize that a simple second can save our entire lives. I learned this lesson the first day I worked in Central Court with two of my co-workers. My first assignment was to run up to the sixth floor of Central Court and file some legal documents in a courtroom by a certain time. Because it was my first day, I did not know exactly what to expect, so I tried to do just as I was told. I had a hard time finding which floor the courtroom was on and by the time I had gotten there was a trial in session. I rushed out in fear and went back to the first floor with my co-workers, explaining to them what had happened.

The time the documents had to be filed had passed, so my co-worker went up and made an attempt to file them. He talked to the bailiff and at first she did not allow him, but after telling her I was new, luckily, she understood and allowed him to file the documents. It was then when I realized how important one minute could be.

I took that day as a life lesson and began applying it to my everyday life. Everything I have done since then has been completed before the time it has been needed to be finished. I now know I cannot leave the most basic tasks for the very last minute. However, because of the many lessons I learned on my first job, I have stopped thinking about the things I know I should do and I have started actually doing them. I’ve learned how to schedule my time wisely.

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