There is information that reveals that there are 87% of women and 65% of men who compare their bodies to images that they see on social media (King University, 2019) which can lead to thoughts of body dissatisfaction. A 2016 study found that young adults who spend most of their time on social media would experience poorer sleep quality, lower self-esteem and higher levels of anxiety and depression (Doria, 2020).  Body dissatisfaction is having negative feeling or thoughts about your own body image, not feeling “good enough.” There are plenty of ways that can lead individuals to think this way, one factor that is a possible leading factor is social media. Social media is made up of many platforms that have made it accessible for people to be able to interact with others across the globe. Throughout the years there have been discussions about how it will affect the younger generation as it would be easier for it to be used once they have a way to use it.  I had my first phone in 5^th grade and have been using social media since then, I seen the many different trends rise and fall and seen how the beauty standards affected many who couldn’t look like the preferred standards. I went through those same trends wishing I looked different, had my parents make more income and even be of a different nationality. What really had a big impact on me though, was the effect on how popular people set a certain standard of what is considered beautiful and accepted as attractive. Coming from a short Mexican who had the body of a door, my confidence shrunk as my desire to have the accepted body sky- rocketed.

There is a process in which researchers conducted a study that deals with the possible correlation that social media in any way, shape or form might lead to body dissatisfaction. There have been many studies that test whether or not there is a correlation between social media and body dissatisfaction; what they fail to also include is how it may possibly affect the male gender as well. Social media meaning (in own words) is made up of many different internet platforms that made it accessible for practically anyone in the world to interact with one another and share their day to day lives in the internet. There are many platforms that make up what we know of as social media for example, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook to name a few. With these types of media, you are able to virtually make friends with practically anyone in the world.

            Body dissatisfaction can come in many different forms and can have many factors that cause them. Many things that influence body dissatisfaction ranges from pictures of models that either bought their body, worked out day and night for the body they have, or even got lucky when it came down to genetics. There are claims that the use of social media has negative effects when it comes to adolescents, there can be many things that influence and make them believe that their appearance is not good enough for the social standards of beauty (Rodgers, Slater, Gordon, McLean, Al, 2019). These characteristics increase the opportunities for unfavorable appearance comparisons, that is, upward comparisons with individuals judged to be more attractive than oneself (O’Brien et al.2009) and have been suggested to be most detrimental compared to down-ward and horizontal appearance comparisons (Schaefer and Thompson2018), as well as exposing adolescents to con-tent that promotes unattainable appearance ideals (Boeppleand Thompson 2016; Ho et al.2016). (Rodgers, Slater, Gordon, McLean, Al, 2019) In other words, the use of social media for very impressionable adolescents can be very concerning based on the content that they are now exposed to. From social media models to many influencers got famous and a huge following based on just their looks. What many of these influencers fail to realize is that from promoting a simple product or use a photo editing app can lead to many of the impressionable adolescents that the body they either bought or highly photoshopped can be achievable and would end up resulting to many unhealthy and dangerous practices that will cause negative long-term effects if untreated.  

            As the topic was introduced with the growth of popularity that social media had, the concerns of the effects on body dissatisfaction grew as well. A researcher has introduced the inspiration to many of the articles included in this paper. The author had mentioned something that is very interesting and reminds us that not only the media has changed over the course of the years but, there is a specific media we talk about affecting adolescents. Perloff was emphasizing the focus of the study on the specific media that is being talked about which is social networking sites like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. There is a statistic included to reveal that many adolescents have a major use of these sites and claim that one gender is more active in the sites than the other gender is.

            Male body dissatisfaction is something that is not discussed as much or just glazed through in researching how social media affect body dissatisfaction. Studies have shown that men usually worry about their body weight and compare it to their ideal image when they are exposed to such images, advertisements and media (Flynn, Cotchett, Lin, 2020).  This is important to note since there aren’t many studies being done with the male gender and almost every discussion about body dissatisfaction is mostly about women and their worries about being thin, or fitting into the beauty standard. Research has also proved that males use social media as much as females do (Flynn, Cotchett, Lin, 2020) (Perrin, 2015). So doing research and including both genders and focusing on each equally would make future studies better in terms of including as much information as possible.

            Although most research has been done to prove that social media can cause a negative effect such as body dissatisfaction, points we’re made that even with unrealistic posts and images being put out in the internet, having more of this content may create a more supportive and normalize the type of content being posted without being affected by it (Williams, Ricciardelli, 2014). This may be true to some extent but, it is not always the case since photo editing apps exist and have become normalized over the years and it still affects many young adolescents on social media. Studies proved that as social media is used more in terms of photo-sharing, the rate of photo manipulation was just as high as well. Meaning the more involved you are with sharing your content of your own image, the higher of a chance you are of using any photo manipulations such as photo shop or face tune (McLean, Paxton, Wertheim, Masters, 2015).

            There is no right solution to trying to combat the usage of social media and having thoughts of body dissatisfaction. One major factor is excluded from almost every research is how involved the parents are with their kids and allowing the usage of social media and their lives in general. A research study conducted to see how the involvement of parents and the usage of social media effects the rate of body dissatisfaction proved that the more the positive parent relationships were specifically to their mother, the less social media usage there was and it also included a lesser rate of body dissatisfaction. Not enough research has been done to prove this with a positive father relationship (Vries, Vossen, Kolk, 2019).

            There will be never ending discussions on whether the more usage of social media will affect someone’s body satisfaction and what factors can play into leading to the feeling of body dissatisfaction. Not enough research has been done on the male gender to be able to discuss how social media can affect them at a young age or any other aspects that include the usage of photoshop or any other photo manipulation applications. There also needs to be more research done on what different type of body dissatisfaction can look like to many different people: what more can be done in order to suppress the feeling of any type of dissatisfaction and negative thoughts beyond the discussion of satisfaction? Research on how social media affects everything and everyone is still pretty brand new to most, as social media has gained popularity over the past 20 years. However, more studies will be done and more information will come out to further prove to us how the usage can affect us in many different ways.

Refrences

Amanda Doria, The Effects of Social Media on Body Image and Mental Health (2020)

http://lifesciencesjournal.org/2020/02/the-effects-of-social-media-on-body-image-and-mental-health/

Dian A. de Vries, Helen G. M. Vossen, Paulien van der Kolk–van der Boom, Social Media and Body Dissatisfaction: Investigating the AttenuatingRole of Positive Parent–Adolescent Relationships (2019)

King University, The link between social media and body image, (2019)

https://online.king.edu/news/social-media-and-body-image/

Mark Allen Flynn,Emily Cotchett, Linda Lin The relationship betweenmen’s peer and socialmedia muscularity idealdiscrepancies andbody satisfaction(2020, Vol. 37(5) 1534–1553)

Perrin, A. (2015, October 08).Social media usage: 2005-2015. http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/08/social-networking-usage-2005-2015/

Rachel F. Rodgers1,2,3●Amy Slater4●Chloe S. Gordon3●Siân A. McLean3●Hannah K.Jarman3●Susan J. Paxton3  (2019-2020)  A Biopsychosocial Model of Social Media Use and Body Image Concerns, Disordered Eating, and Muscle-Building Behaviors among Adolescent Girls and Boys Journal of Youth and Adolescence (2020) 49:399–409   

Richard M. Perloff (2014) Social Media Effects on Young Women’s Body Image Concerns:Theoretical Perspectives and an Agenda for Research Sex Roles  71:363–377

Robert J. Williams&Lina A Ricciardelli (2014) Social Media and Body Image Concerns: Further Considerationsand Broader Perspectives Sex Roles  71:389–392.

Si^an A. McLean, BSc(Hons)1*Susan J. Paxton, PhD1Eleanor H. Wertheim, PhD1Jennifer Masters, PhD2  (2015) Photoshopping the Selfie: Self Photo Editing and Photo Investment are Associated with Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescent Girls (Int J Eat Disord 2015; 48:1132–1140).

Throughout this semester I have been stressing on writing proper essays that would be college level and proper. Trying to please the reader, slowly but surely while reading these books that we’re assigned to this class I have started to realize that instead of me trying to sound very academic and struggling to find my own voice, I should write for myself, (while keeping it academically appropriate) and actually take the time to enjoy the assignment and the writing process before submitting on blackboard or any assignment site. If it wasn’t for the book They say/ I say I would still believe I have no type of structure in my writing because that is the one main issue I struggle with the most. Reading the chapters helped me and even guided me to writing and developing a proper argument and having the evidence in the correct format. There is obviously a lot more to work on and improve on but seeing how less stressed I am compared to the first essay which was about writing about myself, I am just grateful for some foundation of the start of my college career. I want to look back and see how much I have improved and grew over the years with my writing and my style of writing.

Dian A. de Vries1●Helen G. M. Vossen2●Paulien van der Kolk–van der Boom3,(2019) Social Media and Body Dissatisfaction: Investigating the Attenuating Role of Positive Parent–Adolescent Relationships, the article discusses the research done to discover whether or not there is a correlation/ relationship with positive parent relationships with the adolescents and the use of social media with body dissatisfaction.

Intro

The authors introduce the topic by giving a description of what body dissatisfaction which is “a negative attitude towards the own physical appearance” the authors continue to discuss how they have a theory on body dissatisfaction correlating to mental well being and how important the correlation really is. They put the theory into perspective that with the use of social media there will be positive relationship with body dissatisfaction within adolescents. Although there might be an association that might be only because of the positive relationship the parent has with their adolescents.

Methods

The authors had conducted a research that involved 440 adolescents between the ages of 12-19. They were asked a series of multiple questions to be able to determine if their theory was correct or not. One of the multiple series of questions were simple rating how much the participants agreed with the questions in the questionnaire with the answers ranging from 1- completely disagree to 5- completely agree. The researches also asked with how often they use social media and try to stay connected with it as much as possible. The rating going from 1- never on social media to 8- to using social media all day long.

Results

After viewing the results it was concluded that social media did  indeed have a positive correlation to body dissatisfaction depending on how often it was used by the individual. They also discovered that the more of a positive parent- adolescent relationship is the lower level of dissatisfaction will be. The questionnaires also helped reveal that this wasn’t a gender specific issue going around, both genders had very similar to basically equal results meaning that both genders had felt more body dissatisfaction if they often used social media like all day long.

Discussion

What was concluded in general by the authors was that the results and use of social media can place a bigger threat on how it can disturb the well being depending on the usage. In order to understand the issue the factors that will play into the results will also be needed. The first hypothesis was proved correct and made it clear that no matter the gender, the results we’re equal and generalized that male or female, if you use social media all day, there will be a higher chance that there will be body dissatisfaction.

Social Media has made a huge impact into everyone’s lives that it influences what we eat, watch, wear and even want to look like. It is a staple into society where we depend on it to receive the news, pop culture, share a family photo, rekindle past friendships and get inspired or even spend hours learning a new technique on how to make your life easier with “life- hacks”. With many positive outcomes that social media has brought to society, there has also been many concerns on how social media affects the perception that people have on the “standard” and acceptable body figure. This issue is more concerning when it involves the young impressionable adolescents that might be on social media for the most part of their day. 2 articles in which speak about the topic of social media affecting or being related to body dissatisfaction which can have a negative effect on many people especially those who are easily impressionable from other’s opinions. The articles conduct a study to find whether or not social media and body dissatisfaction have some sort of correlation. Although there is still so much to learn from on how social media use can affect the way we perceive ourselves, there is no question that it still affects almost everyone because of the set “standard” body type, social media can heavily affect how many individuals think of their own appearance.

            In the article of “Photoshopping the Selfie: Self Photo Editing and Photo Investment are Associated with Body Dissatisfaction in Adolescent Girls” the authors discuss the topic of social media use and any correlation/ relation to body concerns of ones self. As the authors discussed how their theory that there is a strong association to body image concerns with social media rather than any other internet site. The article it states that social media has a bigger impact to body image than any other internet services. Social media use may have stronger associations with body dissatisfaction than other Internet-related activities because it is highly interactive and self-exposing, with others commenting on postings in a public manner.” (quote 1) In other words, social media plays a huge role in everyone’s life because of how interactive and easy it is to gain access on many people’s lives and since you are able to follow anyone and come in contact with anyone, you can follow practically anyone and see their day to day lives. With that much of people’s lives (or what people choose to put out in the internet) out made publicly, there will always be the people with a large amount of followings in which their platform is huge and can reach millions. Those millions include teens, many adolescents and many easily impressionable people.((summary) Usually this may be harmless but, when we involve the issue of how it can affect on people’s body image concerns and their body dissatisfaction. Social media can be dangerous when it has to do with people’s body dissatisfaction and the use of social media. I agree with the point the article was making because there definitely seems to be a link to social media use and the dissatisfaction. (argument)

            Not only has the article spoke about the use of social media being a factor to body concerns, the article also mentions the lengths that people will go to in order to fit the “ideal” body type that social media has set for the industry and for today’s day and age. The body image that almost everyone knows as the ‘ideal” body image for women is a thin and lean girl who is fit and has muscle in all the right places and is about 5’5 or shorter. Many of which are usually unachievable or achieved though plastic  surgery. What many chose to do is use photo editing apps to be able to fit the social standard and make themselves look the part they want to play. In the article it claims, “The second aim was to understand how photo investment and photo manipulation aspects of sharing self-photos are associated with body-related and eating concerns. To date these aspects of self-photo sharing have not been examined. It may not be sharing self-photos that is problematic for body-related and eating concerns, but the approach to doing so. An attitudinal construct we are proposing is photo investment, which reflects a person’s concerns about photo quality, how photos portray the individual, and effort expended in choosing self-photos before associated sharing. An associated construct, photo- manipulation (commonly available using editing programs) involves altering the appearance of photo elements, such as people’s features, prior to sharing.”  (quote 2) This means that there may not be as much information between the use of photo manipulation in order to satisfy the want to look slim and fit for social media and to appease the person’s body image concerns and make them look like how they wish they did compared to one of their favorite celebrities who basically bought their body and promote products that they themselves never took and only mention it to be able to attract consumers like their fans who may be suffering from body image concerns and get them to get the product because those celebrities know that their following have an interest to be able to have the same fitness “success”. (summary) The targeted audience can even be 12 and 13 year- olds who don’t even know better than what they see on Instagram and snapchat.

            There is also other authors that have discussed the issue of social media and the body concerns that lead to compare ones-self to others. The article “A Biopsychosocial Model of Social Media Use and Body Image Concerns, Disordered Eating, and Muscle-Building Behaviors among Adolescent Girls and Boys discusses how it’s possible to have a relationship between comparing yourself because of what you see in social media. a smaller body of research has supported the relationship between social media use and the internalization of appearance ideals (Mingoia et al.2019), as well as engagement in appearance comparisons among adolescent girls” (quote 2) it basically means that the little research that has been done to understand that there’s a relation to worrying about your appearance and how it can lead to comparing yourself to others. The theory that social media leads to being self- conscious is nothing new especially to pre- teens and adolescents. Before social media it used to be trying to compare yourself to the most popular girl in the school, now imagine that to the most popular girls in your area and them being in your feed posting pictures. This is noting compared to the 1,000 plus people that you are following and half of them are influencers and good looking people who post stuff that would make you feel insecure because that is what some guy you are interested in prefers. There are preference that many people have and it is all influenced by social media. In a way I agree with the authors of the article because I feel that the relationship is strong where girls end up comparing themselves to other girls and their body type, where once they feel like they are not good enough they result into extreme ways to look thin and lean, eating disorders.

                         Feeling insecure should not only concerning, it should be something that they might need to be aware that since their children have been exposed to all these platforms at a young age. Once their children feel insecure there are many ways that this can go to, eating disorders, self- harm and even the need to result to plastic surgery to look and have the body shape that everyone likes and is “accepted” on social media. For example looking a kylie Jenner’s Instagram, a very attractive woman and basically every man’s dream. Now to teens who just got into social media and want to look the most attractive, they figure that they can easily get that body by doing exercise and using the producuts they promote. The only issue is that she bought that body and maintains it by going back to the doctors that did her plastic surgery and keeps saying that she is all natural. Every adult knows at this point that she had work done on her body but, for those who fell for her lies? That can be very dangerous because then they think it’s achievable by not eating and starving yourself and eating the bare minimum to get that flat stomach. As teens develop an eating disorder there are many issues with that alone but, as they are developing and are very sensitive at this time in their development, the mal- practices can easily put them in danger. (nay-sayer)

            As much as I agree with both articles I feel as if there has not been much information with social media and body dissatisfaction concerning boys. The articles mostly focus on girls’ practices and concerns but, there are also many males who feel just as insecure as females do. I feel like there should be a broader research to be done in order to see how specifically it affects males. Not only should there be cautious within females there should be as much concern and attention for males as well. The focus on comparing themselves in certain parts of their body will vary of course and the general focus will be on muscle and fitness rather than slimness and thickness in the thighs like the girls

            This topic should definitely be discussed as it might not have all the relation to the self comparisons or dissatisfaction but, it can really branch out and have a bigger issue if not brought up to the attention of parents. (who cares?)  I thankfully didn’t result into any mal- practices or eating disorders when I felt insecure about my appearance when comparing myself to influencers or any girl who looked attractive around my school or even in the same borough as me. If I felt like there has been some sort of correlation to my insecurities because of social media there is plenty of girls who have felt the same way or even worse. Social media can be a very wonderful platform when there is good intentions and there is nothing to feel self conscious about, when there’s still girls who are feeling down about how they look can be a topic to discuss about. (so what?)

(https://web-a-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=ea3bbded-b6f9-4fe6-bb9a-d5b94090d6d1%40sdc-v-sessmgr02)

(file:///C:/Users/madel/AppData/Local/Temp/Rodgers2020_Article_ABiopsychosocialModelOfSocialM.pdf)

As my ribs puncture my organs, heart races to jump out of my body, sweat runs down from my forehead to my chin and legs feel as weak as the twigs I was jumping on 3 blocks ago, I look back to my mom telling me to walk a tad bit faster to catch up with my dad’s speed as we head to his newly found destination for us to explore and experience. Although it took 2 times for me to rest and catch my breath, I finally manage to cling onto my dad’s hand as he keeps on walking through the stampede of people rushing opposite our way. Crossing the street to the shade provided by the big purple flag waving outside the building which spells out “NYU” I ask my dad to stop walking because I need water. As we stop he tells me to look back at my mom and 2 sisters who are playing catch up themselves, that they probably got lost in the crowd of people we just walked by. As he  finished saying that, my mom interrupts and asks how much longer till we get to the stores. “ dos bloques mas.” He said in Spanish. I take a peak of our destination and from my height, all I see is a big building with blue iron casts coming out as if someone were to tear down a billboard and leave the street empty without a flashy advertisement that could’ve easily caught the attention of any driver and pedestrian.  Enjoying the views as much as I can even with the harsh tasks to even get to the Hollister. I took in every moment in as going to Manhattan was a once in a blue moon family day trip with my dad being off on Sunday’s.

Walking past Broadway today and looking at the vacant Hollister that once filled me with so much energy as it had a different vibe to the shopping experience. With low dimmed lights and certain bright flashy blinding areas where you look up and see a fake layout of a beach house and hear the waves from the ocean with that distinct strong soothing iconic Hollister smell, really gave me the will to keep on with trying to play catch up with my dad on the rest of the trips with him.

Sadly, those days being spent with my dad and family exploring the city and almost catching an asthma attack from walking with him are long gone as his favorite hobby of exploring the city became more of my thing now that both my parents work and use their days off to recover from the lengthy hours of labor in bed.

With the same ironic knowledge of New York as tourist, exploring the city started with just exploring the city with a well knowledgeable family member, besides my dad, my cousin. With her always going to Manhattan with her soccer team, she always took me to experience the places she loved and helped with introducing me with the key coffee and drink chain, Starbucks. Thankfully, her ways of getting me out the house even after my mom said no multiple times to me hours ago paid off now that since 10^th grade, I would have a newly found friendship, partnership, love- hate relationship I should say, with google maps originated from. Being more than a tool for me to get to school, google maps paved the love I have for exploring the city and always wanting to experience everything the city has to offer. Although some may be corny, outdated and plain out “not a new yorker, if you do this,” I want to experience ALL that the island alone has to offer.

Navigating my way from different places and recognizing the streets and blocks from the day trips my family used to take, I had already been familiar to most of Manhattan and some parts of the other boroughs, especially the Bronx, being that I live here and spent my whole life here. With naturally knowing the streets and the ways to get from 14^th street to Hollister or even the World trade center easily, without getting lost, my boyfriend and our friends always come to me to make plans to hang out in the city. With wanting to experience everything from the city, I grew to realize that I barely even know the city, I haven’t even experienced the city as much because there is way of more restaurants in Little Italy than I could even try out in a single month.

That saying “if you’ve been to the Empire state, statue of liberty, or times square, you’re not from new York.” Is a saying only people who are always stuck at home with no plans or knowledge of New York say. Like who wouldn’t want to see the view of the city from that high of the empire state? It’s a whole new perspective and is definitely a breathtaking view when you see the streets, buildings and even sunset if you’re lucky in a new, special, and probably a romantic way. Let’s not even get started with the Statue of Liberty, a cute ferry ride away, where you stand in front of iconic history, literal iconic history and people dare to say it’s not a New York thing? Maybe it’s the people who are used to the rats, mice, racoons, roaches, beggars targeting for their next cigarette that don’t see the beauty within their urban jungle and chose to change the way they themselves see their city. I don’t know about them but, being open to see and live through every part of New York, getting familiar and becoming an expert in different stores, restaurants, take- out places, cute trendy coffee shops is what New York can be. Zadie Smith’s work beautifully introduced me to a new motto and saying when it comes to describing New York and how we’re all bonded as a city and not know each other at all. How there are different aspects of the city that not everyone is familiar with and probably won’t ever experience it which is perfectly fine because that’s not their New York. “We are a multiplicity of Humans in an elastic social arrangement that can be stretched in many directions”[1] in other words, we are a group of people put into a category in which means nothing because of how many definitions, connotations and feelings it might bring up to every individual because not everything that occurs to us is the exact same thing. The Empire State might just be some ugly old building that someone walks by everyday or even works in. To somebody else it might be the world’s most beautiful skyscraper and they just wish to be able to see it everyday.

My first time even being on the same street as the Empire was definitely a time I won’t forget. Finally being close enough to see the building that has gorgeous light shows at night, I didn’t want to stop breaking my neck and almost getting trampled down by strangers. To this day I haven’t even been to the top of the empire and unlike the negative and uncultured natives, I am dying to be able to see the city from a whole new altitude. After my social studies classes and many different subjects I slowly started to learn more about different attractions, and with having more knowledge that the attraction is at least 45 minutes away, you want to get to see it in person and know how it feels to be there. Thankfully by the time my will and determination of being able to experience every part of New York, popular, boring or not, the curfews and the asking stopped. With the independence, came the bravery of trusting google maps to take me literally anywhere, (even though it some times fails me) memorizing what Starbucks is at the end of 86^th and Lexington and how near is the next one became something that naturally followed through.

“in retrospect it seems to me that those days before I knew the names of all the bridges were happier than the ones that came later.”[2] Joan Didion’s comment really stuck with for all the right reasons. Before I even learned that there are 21 bridges in Manhattan alone, my memory failed to remember or even feel like I was conscious at all. With going to new places or the same places every month, you tend to memorize what street can take you to the entrance of the Lincoln or what subway takes you near it. Just a few months ago I became aware that there are at least 2 bridges that take you to NJ and how a ferry can take you from 34^th street to long island city in just 6 minutes. I thank every social media platform that exposes me to the places to explore and constantly feeds to the drive I have to always want to go out and see what the city has to offer. Even if its the little simple things, like walking from 225^th to battery park. I want to be able to tell people I walked the whole Manhattan Island from the Bronx. Just  a few weeks ago I had my boyfriend’s ribs hurting and him struggling  to keep up with me as I took him to SoHo with no intentions of experiencing something new being that I have walked these blocks almost every 3 months 5 years ago. I never even knew how close Little Italy was to SoHo. From that day, I knew that my idea of wanting to leave the city to feel and live in a new environment would have to wait until I walked every block on Manhattan at least.

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 My name is Madelyn Flores and I am the daughter of immigrant parents who came to the United States for a better way of life. I’m a first- generation college student that is paving the way for my 3 younger siblings to want to strive for success like I do. I am majoring in Biology and planning to minor in Political Science because it will be a stepping stone to my 8 year journey to becoming a dentist. I have to get my pre- requisites to even be qualified as an applicant for Dental School. Biology is one of the many subjects that will be required in that list. I developed a love for history and knowing why the government and many policies are set in place and what led to the development of these policies, laws and relationships with other countries. Internally debating with myself, I was stuck between which career path would suit me better, either a person in the medical field or a person in the social justice field. Both very empowering career options, I chose what felt right at the moment. Focusing on becoming a dentist and having a concentration in political science, I will somewhat be able to satisfy my wants in my time in college. Who knows if I will end up changing my mind and even career midway and choose a different path but, that’s what college if for, to explore for opportunities.  My plans are to do my undergrad and apply to dental school in NYU which has the program of my dreams. If I qualify, I would be able to continue my journey without having to worry how I will be able to financially continue my education. The program would let me go to dental school at little to no cost. After both college and dental school, my plans are to be able to open my own dental office. With the minor in political science I would be able to understand the legal aspect of opening my own office and being able to support my future business. The goal for my future dental office is to be able to provide a service that is very affordable. Especially those who really need it and have them at ease without them worrying about if their insurance covers it or not.