Application Essay

Most people can go a lifetime without truly knowing what it means to live.   Throughout my life I"ve done a million and one things without really thinking about the consequences.   Sometimes my actions led to positive, happy endings; most led to disappointment.   Now that I look back, I know without a shred of doubt that I have lived a life that most can only dream of.
Growing up I was always a shy, quiet child.   I preferred to read a book alone, rather than go out on the playground and play tag with my peers.   I would rather get lost in the world of literary masterpieces than learn a new way to jump rope.   In the end, I think I did the right thing by choosing to educate my mind and culture myself with books.
In a larger family it"s very easy to be overlooked.   Most parents would be too tired or too busy to deal with a five year old girl"s threats to run away.   My mother and father sat me down and explained to me that running away is never the answer to anything, not even your big brother"s teasing and taunting.   I"ve come to value every minute spent with my family since then.
When I was seven years old we came across the biggest hurdle in each of our lives.   It was a trial, figuratively and literally.   Getting into the specifics draws tears to my eyes every time I have to go back to those dark times so I try my hardest to just say: my brother was sentenced to a maximum security state prison.   That entire span of time is blacked out from my memory.   Brains are very empathetic in that way, blocking out the bad and keeping the good.  
We overcame that struggle.   Today we are strong because of the hard times we were put through ten years ago.   My parents never let petty arguments spoil their day because, after all, we"re not promised tomorrow.   I guess what I am trying to get across is that I value my family above everything else.   Friends come and go but a family is people who are going to be there even when you are old.  
For example when I was a sophomore in...