Grad school...

I've slowly started working on my personal statement for grad school. While I know what I want to do and which programs I want to apply to, writing the personal statement always gets to me. What should I write? I have two pages of space - what information should I reveal about myself? What kind of information would help boost my chances of getting in? Talk about your experiences with children and why you want to go into teaching.

Wow. Just thinking about all the stories I've had... I don't know which one to choose! I feel like I need more space or something. It's all there, in my head, but I don't know how to get it out coherently, and that is quite frustrating.

I was explaining to my mom last night about which schools I was going to apply to, and she's like, "Mel, those are all pretty top-notch schools... but give it a try, you never know." Thanks, Mom. My mom is the kind of person who knows something is hard, but encourages you to try, anyway. Like when Mr. Eckerling, my high school guidance counselor, told me not to get my hopes up for Michigan, my mom told me not to listen to him and to try anyway. And here I am. :) I think I have to credit a lot of that to my mom, for never thinking I was "worse" than my peers, despite my less-than-stellar GPA, and for always believing that I could do it.

It was just the encouragement I needed last night. :)