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Major Essay - Personal Statement
Throughout my secondary school career, I have really dedicated much of my time to furthering my knowledge of science and conducting research. I have been involved in several different research endeavors over the last few years and have won numerous distinctions. Over the last three years, through my extensive involvement in environmental preservation, I came to realize that there are many severe problems that urban lakes are facing in our modern era. I chose to examine the effects of eutrophication (the process by which a body of water becomes rich in phosphate compounds and becomes shallow with marked deficiencies in dissolved oxygen) in local bodies of water in the Los Angeles Area, namely Madrona Marsh (City of Torrance) and Harbor Lake Machado (Harbor City), and found that phosphate pollution was extremely severe in these areas. After extensive research, I found that phosphate binders, common substances used to treat medical patients with phosphate retention, could be used in this situation, and I devised a filtration system to remove phosphate and ammonia through ion-exchange and accelerated denitrification. I was extremely excited to find that these filters were extremely successful, and currently, the City of Torrance is in the process of funding construction of these filters at Madrona Marsh. For this research, I was awarded best of category and first place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Environmental Science in May 2002. In addition, I have won third place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2001, as well as first place at the California State Science Fair and Los Angeles County Science Fair. I am in the process of patenting this filtration system and am submitting my paper for publication to several national journals. I am also participating in the Intel Science Talent Search and the Siemens Westinghouse Science Competition, in which I currently hold semi-finalist status, with this work. I hope that this research will eventually lead to the betterment of lake ecosystems throughout the world. In addition to this research, I have also worked under Dr. Vito M. Campese, M.D., chief of the Division of Nephrology, University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, for the past three years conducting research on neurogenic hypertension. I have worked extensively in this lab utilizing several techniques, including nephrectomy, femoral artery catheterization, DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction, reverse transcription, and western blotting. This research has produced two papers for publication, entitled 'Renal Injury Caused by Intrarenal Injection of Phenol Increases Afferent and Efferent Renal Sympathetic Nerve Activity' (American Journal of Hypertension 2002; 15(8):717-724) and 'Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Stimulate Central and Peripheral Sympathetic Nervous System Activity' (In Approval Stages), in both of which I am a co-author. I have spent over 1000 hours during the past three years conducting research at the University of Southern California, and this type of research particularly interests me. My ultimate dream is to pursue an academic research career. Research has truly been a rewarding experience in my life. I have worked more than 2000 hours during my years as a secondary school student, and I know that my future will be in scientific research and investigation. Through my counselors, previous university alumni from my school, and my own research, I have found that this would be a perfect fit for me in every way. The extensive research conducted there, specifically in natural sciences, and the caliber of the professors with whom I would be working would truly allow me to grow and mature as a scientist, which is my ultimate lifetime goal. I think that my intellectual curiosity, dedication towards research, and extensive experience will contribute greatly to the university community.
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Major Essay - Describe the most important activity in high school?
My Efforts in Preserving the Environment Of all the activities in which I have been involved, I have been most passionate and committed to environmental preservation and restoration. I have dedicated much of my time outside my rigorous academic schedule to environmental service and have served and continue to serve on the executive boards of several organizations that are committed to this very goal. Since seventh grade, I have spent many hours doing conservation work and I realized the only way to further this goal is to be active politically and by drawing commitment from other people. With this in mind, in ninth grade, I founded the Environmental Sciences Club at my school and became its president. In my three years at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, I have encouraged more than 200 students to commit more than 3000 hours in conservation efforts to make my school one of the most active groups in the area. That year, I was invited by the president of our local chapter of the National Audubon Society to speak at the national conference in Asilomar, California, about the significance of youth in environmental service and I was conferred the Audubon Youth Environmental Service (YES!) Award for my work. I subsequently received an invitation to join the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy Board of Directors as a student representative. In tenth grade, I spearheaded an effort to create the Audubon YES! Council to help coordinate youth environmental activities throughout the South Bay. This council, of which I am currently vice president, now comprises representatives from over twenty high schools acting diligently to increase awareness and promote student involvement. In recognition of my efforts, I was awarded the first Audubon YES! Council award by the Palos Verdes South Bay Audubon Society in 2002, and I was made a student YES! Council representative of their board of directors. In 2000, I created a school-wide recycling program for cans, bottles, and aluminum. After many frustrated attempts, I was finally able to get approval for the program and locate private sources willing to donate all necessary equipment to the school. Since its inception, the Environmental Sciences Club has very successfully headed this program. Concurrently, I conducted in-depth research to reduce water pollution, and served as a consultant to the Friends of Madrona Marsh Board of Directors and the Harbor Park Advisory Council on water quality issues. In recognition of these various efforts, I was conferred the 2002 Palos Verdes South Bay Audubon Society Youth Conservation Award, given annually to the student who best exemplifies conservation efforts in the local and regional communities. I also received the 2002 Palos Verdes Peninsula Coordinating Council and County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors Teen Service Awards. During secondary school, I have dedicated over 1400 hours to these efforts, and this impacted my life in many positive ways. I have learned the value of community work where results can only be achieved with the collaboration of many people, organizations, and elected representatives working together in conjunction towards a cleaner, healthier, and balanced world. The protection of our environment is an unending task. It is hard, unpredictable work but vital to our survival and to the quality of our lives on this planet. I am very proud to be a part of it, but at the same time humbled by the immensity of the task ahead of us.
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Essay Question:
Major Essay - describe a unique experience in high school.
It is a sad fact that many species on this planet are endangered or have become extinct due to human activities, especially in recent decades. I have always had a strong desire to be part of efforts to stem or reverse this trend. Due to my many environmental efforts and research that I conducted to reduce water pollution, I was afforded the unique opportunity to visit the Amazon Rainforest in August 2002 to study two species of endangered turtles in the Araguaia National Park (Ilha do Bananal), Brazil. Because of my first place finish in the environmental sciences division at the Los Angeles County Science Fair in 2002, I was also awarded a Helen and Peter Bing Earthwatch Fellowship for the expedition, which included a full share of cost payment and a travel stipend. This project was co-sponsored by the Earthwatch Institute, the Tocantins State University, and Instituto Ecolsgica of Brazil. I had the pleasure of working with a diverse international team of volunteers and researchers for two weeks in a remote region of the Amazon. Our goal was to locate and preserve hundreds of turtle nests from predation by transferring the eggs to safer locations. We also used granulometrics and thermographs to show the correlation between temperature, humidity, and grain sizes to incubation period and sex determination. The two species of turtles involved were the Tracaja (Podocnemis unifilis) and the Amazonian (Podocnemis expansa); these are endangered for many reasons: illegal poaching, deforestation, water pollution, and climate change. The work that was done in the two weeks of the project will hopefully save thousands of turtles and help in the long run to increase the turtle populations back to self-sustaining levels. Overall, the project was extremely successful, and hopefully will make a difference in the protection of these extremely important and beautiful animals. The epitome of the trip was by far the day sighting of a female Tracaja laying eggs. Such a sight is so rare in these early night-laying turtles that the principal investigator, Dr. Adriana Malvasio, had only seen it twice in the many years that she has worked with the animals. Even more amazing, the second group had also found a turtle on another beach. It was almost as though fate had determined for us to find these turtles that morning commemorating our two weeks of work in helping these turtles. A coincidence or an act of fate - something we will never know; but it certainly brought to a grand finale the trip of a lifetime. This was truly an exciting experience, and I hope that I will someday get the opportunity to visit the Amazon once again. I would have to say that the Amazon Turtles expedition was definitely one of the best experiences of my life thus far, if not the best -- it is certainly something that will stay with me for rest of my life. The friendly people, the unique surroundings, and the invaluable environmental work really came together to make this a truly memorable trip.
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Major Essay: What drives you? What are you passionate about?
Early in the summer, my Naniji (meaning 'maternal grandmother') was teaching me about Indian culture, particularly cooking and reading Hindi. Today, in her feisty style, she was showing me how to make paneer, an Indian delicacy. Not letting me touch the pot she was stirring, she impatiently explained the process: 'the milk has to be heated to exactly the right temperature or else the paneer will be loose. After it has heated, add lime juice to the milk.' Paneer is a soft, cheese-like white substance so laborious to make that it is only served on certain Indian holidays or for special company. When Naniji at last consented, I excitedly added a drop of juice to the nascent paneer, carefully observing the tiny havoc it caused. A small, yellowish drop of lime juice tumbled into the milk, causing the milk to part around the juice and become strangely stringy. The word for this process -- coagulation - popped into my mind. I liked the funny-sounding word in chemistry class, and felt a linguistic familiarity with it because I could discern its etymology: 'cogo', from Latin, meaning 'to do or to drive'. 'That makes sense,' I thought, 'because coagulation could be the process of driving solute together.' As I added more juice, I looked carefully at the developing paneer and began to wonder what was driving the milk together. Thinking back to biology and chemistry, I quickly figured it out: protein from the milk emulsion was clumping together because it had been denatured! The lime juice had a low pH, which denatured, or reshaped, the proteins by altering charges on the polypeptide chain, causing the proteins to stick together! That's why I can make paneer! In a flash, I had figured it all out. Why the process worked, where its name came from, and how things would look at the molecular level. I also realized something else entirely: how much I love science, especially when applied. I felt such an inner satisfaction that moment I figured out why my drops of lime juice could so dramatically transform the milk into paneer. I wanted to feel the same thrill again and test whether I really was passionate about science. I enrolled in multiple higher-level classes, and since then, I have felt the same enthusiasm discovering why only half of medicine synthesized is useful, identifying unknown mixtures in lab, and proving Newton's laws of motion. Much of my zeal for science stems from its human aspect, whether that is coagulation from pH change in the context of Indian cooking and culture, or global-level problem solving, like dealing with an epidemic. Science not only excites and satisfies the inquisitive child in me, but it also connects me to environmental problems, people, and even my heritage. Feeling all of my yearnings - curiosity leading to understanding, cultures and people, and the possibility for a positive contribution - is why I see my future in search of the truth that only science provides me.
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Essay Question:
What interests you about Brown?
I want my college experience to be about self-discovery, both inside and outside the classroom. I am starting to know myself; I have learned what open-mindedness is, what it is not, and how much I value it. I've searched for a compromise in many situations: how tolerant is one to be of intolerance? I confronted this question when helping a student understand his Asian identity and cope with parental disapproval of his sexuality. I was confused about how much parental intolerance to challenge because of the respect he held for his parents. Would I be challenging that respect as well? As a Multicultural Peer Counselor I have not only had to think abstractly about these questions, but give answers and see consequences. Though in the process I have gained some wisdom, it seems insignificant compared to all of the progress that I must make. The placement of an MPC and WPC on each freshman hall demonstrates the communal respect for issues of personal and group identity and difficulties people face because of them. As all of us uncover who we are, this acceptance is crucial. My determination, curiosity, and intensity would cause me to fit well with the 'similarly passionate, motivated, and accepting' student body as described to me by one Brown student. Brown is my ideal environment because it demands learning with wonder, confronting questions, exploring fundamentals, challenging beliefs, and true tolerance.
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Essay Question:
We recognize that all good writers seek feedback, advice, or editing before sending off an essay. When you have completed your essay, please tell us whose advice you sought for help, the advice he/she provided, and whether you incorporated his/her suggestions.
The final authority for my writing is an experienced teacher whom students fondly refer to as 'our resident essay expert'. Before, however, using the time of such a sought-after and presumably busy man, I asked my college-going peers to edit my work. Some of my peers gave me purely grammar and syntactical corrections, which I executed before delving further. Others gave me suggestions for voice and sentence structure. Teachers were final judges of my essays, because they focused on them from a holistic point of view. I sat across from Dr. Miller, an almost elderly gentleman, as he perused my essay. I nervously awaited feedback. Older friends had told me, 'he tore apart my essays, but in the end they turned out well. So it was worth it.' Although my essays had been reviewed by parents, peers, and another teacher, I still waited for my essay to be torn apart. When he finished, he looked up and began to speak: 'Reading this essay, I get the impression that you are a meticulous, observant, formal, driven and philosophical person. Is this true?' Other feedback that I remember included 'in the 7,428 college essays I have read during my career, this is perhaps the most impersonal one I have ever read. Tell me, do you have a sense of humor? Perhaps you should insert a humorous comment here. It is awfully nerdy that you explain a chemical process in your college essay.' Allowing this advice to percolate for some time, I edited the essay. And edited. And edited. I edited it so much that the essay was left pathetically shorn of its former passion and enthusiasm! I showed the over-edited version to peers and it turned out that my fear had come true: I edited the essay to the point of blandness. My once vivacious essay was now, many hours later, a boring, textbook description of protein behavior. In despair, I went for a walk, contemplating other ideas - I waited a week, reread a preliminary draft of the essay, put it away, and then quickly rewrote the essay, trying to sincerely feel the essence of the experience, not grammar. I made minor revisions to this draft, and then e-mailed the essay back to parents and Dr. Miller. After incorporating their suggestions a second time, that is the essay I present.
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Essay Question:
Topic of your choice
Breakfast Lucky Charms has been my favorite cereal for as long as I can remember. One day when I was four years old, my Mom noticed I was staring intently at the back of a Lucky Charms box. She asked what fascinated me so much, and I replied that I was reading the activity instructions on the back of the carton. As she watched and listened in disbelief, I accurately read every word to her out loud while munching away on the sweet marshmallow shapes and crunchy oats. I recall the reason I gave for my newly acquired skill: I simply wanted to figure out what it said. I later realized that this experience, during which I obtained a new level of learning, was one of the most significant moments of my life. My fascination with puzzles and words on cereal boxes shifted its focus when I began video gaming. Like many children born in the 1980's, I was immersed in video games. As I grew older, however, I wished to know how merely pressing a button could control a character on a television screen. My desire to learn how electronic games functioned grew and before long I was spending countless hours on the computer, furiously typing out test programs. Computers had replaced the cereal boxes of my prekindergarten years. Soon I had training with a multitude of programming languages, both ancient, like Assembly, and still under development, like Java and PHP. The next step was to learn about hardware, networking, and of course, resolving all my family's computer woes. During my employment last summer, I had another intriguing "cereal box" challenge. Initially, I was expected to "bug test" by repeatedly pressing keys and entering malformed input into our computer laboratorys software until it crashed. On the first day of work, I was interested in the inner workings of the software, so I asked to view the visualization tool's source. The project leader obliged yet seemed to doubt whether I could actually offer any programming assistance. Two weeks later, I was developing an original addition to the project: a visualization plug-in that was mathematically and graphically challenging to create. There were difficulties along the way, but by September I had synthesized a useful product that was a great asset to the lab. My pride at the conclusion of this endeavor wasnt in the parallel coordinates themselves; it was in conquering the task and making my own discoveries. The cereal box mazes and word searches of my youth have today become sorting algorithms and computer graphics libraries. I apply the same process of discovery now as I did when I first taught myself to read. For the last fourteen years, I have been nourished daily by the pure joy of independent learning.
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Essay Question:
With the understanding that the choice of academic school you indicated in #4 is not binding, explain why you are applying to that particular school of study.
The natural sciences have always intrigued me more than any other disciplines. The simple experiments in grade school involving baking soda and vinegar caught my imagination, and in my high school's AP Chemistry course I was finally able to study in depth the properties of matter that I had yearned to understand for so long. My interest in physics, which developed more recently, was encouraged by history--physics has long inspired the development of mathematics--and the charisma of my high school physics teacher. Many abstract mathematical processes can have real-world applications that make sense, and open windows through which we can better observe the natural world. The close relationships and overlaps between related sciences, like chemical physics or biochemistry, provide additional ways I can explain and understand the natural world.
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Minor: If you are applying to Trinity College, please discuss why you consider Duke a good match for you. Is there something in particular at Duke that attracts you? If you are applying to the Pratt School of Engineering, please discuss why you want to study engineering.
As a college student, I want to take challenging classes from interesting professors, and work hard, learning as much as I possibly can. But, there are many things I anticipate doing in addition to classes. I want to attend lectures on interesting topics by notable speakers, participate in scientific research as an undergraduate, and be involved in orchestrating large student-run events. In college, I am searching for self-discovery, learning, and balance among academic, social and extracurricular spheres of interest. Attending Duke would make all of these things possible. As a student at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, I have attended several lectures at Duke. One of my favorites was listening to Dr. Craig Venter, founder of the Institute for Genomic Research, speak on the recent advances in the Human Genome project. Currently, I am involved in a program through the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics which pairs chosen students with a mentor in their chosen field of interest. At Duke's Gross Chemistry Laboratory, I work with Dr. Stephen Craig each Tuesday afternoon, conducting research on protein dimerization involving a chemical ligand. Until this point, I have created mathematical models of the proteins predicted behavior and am beginning a simulation involving DNA fragments. Attending Duke would allow me to continue working with Dr. Craig, as well as gaining towards a major in biochemistry. My experiences with Duke University have been positive thus far, and I believe that as a student, I would enjoy attending Duke University while taking advantage of all it has to offer.
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We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about an activity you pursued for the pleasure of it.
Before me were five wise men. They were leaders and professors representing the five major world religions: an energetic pastor who loved to tell stories, a Jewish professor who used humor to convey ideas; a patient 'I am a layman' practitioner of Buddhism; a wildly gesticulating Hindu professor; and finally, a calm Muslim Imam who raised his hand when the pastor asked 'who of you were raised in Christian households?' These men comprised a panel of speakers for the 'World Religions Conference,' an event organized by the Multicultural Peer Counselors, (ten students, of which I am one) as an opportunity for students and staff to learn and inquire. As an organizer, I nervously awaited a dispute or insensitive comment, but instead I saw careful listening, respect and acceptance. Before me was something much greater than five men: open-mindedness with living hope for religious harmony. To share this feeling of oneness with the rest of my community is the reason I pursued becoming a Multicultural Peer Counselor.
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Essay Question:
Tell us about an activity you pursued seriously.
I sat on a frayed brown chair in the dilapidated but cozy old room at school called the assembly hall. Before me was a semicircle of five sage men; I listened to them, fully engrossed and enraptured by the wisdom their wisdom. They were professors and religious leaders from the community who represented the five major world religions. This was a yearly event known as the 'World Religions Conference', in which a representative from each of the five major world religions comes to speak, answer questions and engage in discussion. The Christian pastor on the far right of the crescent loved to stand up and tell stories to illustrate points. It was as though he were in church, speaking from a pulpit. His opposite, a calm Buddhist practitioner, sat to the left. The practitioner explained the concepts of Buddhism patiently, and gently, having kindly introduced himself with a delicate humility characteristic of Buddhism: 'I am a layman.' In the center of the semicircle sat the Judaism representative. He was a professor, so he taught. He stood up, paced, gave anecdotes, and even-role played. Similarly, the Hindu representative was also a professor. Trying to relate Hinduism to the audience, he used examples from current events and even showed newspapers with recent headlines to explain concepts and draw comparisons. Gesticulating wildly, he deftly quoted from many different religious texts and drew upon what the other speakers had said, especially the Muslim Imam. He perhaps possessed the most holy aura of them all. When the pastor asked the audience 'who of you were raised in Christian households?', the Imam raised his hand! An audience consisted of students, staff members and even teachers surrounded me as the World Religions Conference took place. The Multicultural Peer Counselors organize this event annually, and, in 2002, I was an organizer. I nervously clutched the edge of my chair waiting for tension to arise. Much to my relief, and slight surprise, this didn't happen. Instead, I sensed a powerful, pervasive feeling of acceptance. Manifested was the true spirit of inquiry, far beyond that of mere tolerance, but actual consideration, evaluation, and imbibing of new ideasreal open-mindedness. That realization struck me with such impact: an open dialogue without conflict! Furthermore, this audience proved to be curious about human thought, belief and religion! What was so powerful and amazing about the conference is that not only does one learn about individual religions, but comes away with more than simply facts: a bigger, perhaps a broader search for truth. From comparing, contrasting and seeing each religion in context and relation to the others, understanding and continuity emerge. The overwhelming quality permeating the room stemmed from the almost perfect atmosphere of understanding, reviving my hope in a true universal harmony. I shall always hold an image of the bright crescent and strive to carry that mindset with me. I felt so uplifted by the conference that I wanted to share this spirit of acceptance and true open-mindedness with the rest of society. Perhaps it could be a starting place to mend some of the rifts between groups today. Presently, as a Multicultural Peer Counselor, I hope to continue sharing this spirit. As I grapple with different issues in the future, I hope to find this true spirit of inquiry in my future college community.
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Essay Question:
Tell us something about yourself...
From across the biology room, a small but confident voice asked Mr. Jordan whether certain genes were hereditary. The inquisitive student was a junior named Shayma and I noticed that she had a trace of a strange accent in her voice. After chatting with her, she told me that she moved to Boise from Egypt last year. She didn't seem to know many other students, so I introduced her to some of my friends. Although initially intimidated with hanging around a bunch of seniors, pretty soon she was packed in the Pontiac with us on the way to lunch. I asked her about the many differences she had observed while living in the United States. We connected because I, too, am originally from a different country: Panama. Because I have more international experience than other American teenagers from my class, I felt like I could appreciate her unique situation. I laughed with her about certain situations that we both could understand. For example, we giggled at the similar memories of our moms getting frustrated trying to order a Happy Meal. It was an almost impossible task at a drive-through intercom because their strong accents prevented any communication. There was one point, especially, on which my new friend and I strongly related. That common principle was that we knew our families are always number one. If my four-year-old sister is sad because another girl in her preschool class has the same t-shirt, my dad will be at Kmart the next day. When my ten-year-old sister wants to learn to dance, my mom and I blast Ricky Martin. My dad suffers countless hours trying to produce a single assignment, such as a 'Difference in Learning Styles' paper, for his MBA classes. My mom and I chuckle to ourselves as we edit one of his masterpieces. Even though my older sister, Lourdes, is living in Phoenix now, she does not escape from the warm grasp of the family. Lourdes haplessly bought an ill-fated piece of junk for her first car and my dad was the one to come to the rescue. After a few costly repairs, he now drives the wretched car and she drives his. From their actions, my family has demonstrated to me the value of supporting each other. Encouraged by our shared experiences, Shayma and I became closer friends. We discussed the many benefits of sharing two cultures, including the option of celebrating numerous holidays. During the early years of my family's life in the United States, we celebrated all the Panamanian holidays. We celebrated Children's Day on November 1st, the Day of the Dead on November 2nd, Panama Independence Day on November 3rd, Mother's Day on December 8th, and the customary Christmas and Easter. When Lourdes and I entered grade school, however, we started bringing home gooey painted pasta for Mother's Day gifts in May and dressed up like goblins for trick-or-treating in October. So, eventually, as a family we decided which holidays were most meaningful to us. I won't forget, however, the gratifying transitional period when every couple of weeks was a fiesta in the Arjona household. Shayma let me enjoy the similar memories of her family, though they were more recent since she had only been in the states only a few years. Shayma misses her previous home in Egypt, but we agree that there are numerous opportunities in the United States that are not found elsewhere. Being a foreign-born American has helped me to appreciate those distinct opportunities. My family never talks about it, but we moved to this country to establish a more secure life. At the same time, we strive to keep our culture. I discuss with my family my future career plans to become a bioengineer. The enthusiasm of our conversation is proof enough of the contentment and balance we have created in our life in Boise, Idaho. In college next year, I will meet amazing people from a variety of different backgrounds. Because of my own Panamanian and American background, I feel easily connect with persons of many cultures and want to appreciate them. I hope to continue to share that spirit of amiability and provide leadership through example towards my roommates, class peers, and swim team members in college next year.
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Essay Question:
With the understanding that the choice of academic school you indicated in #4 is not binding, explain why you are applying to that particular school of study.
I did not realize until my first sleepover that it was not common for young girls to sleep in well-worn hospital scrubs. Both my parents worked in hospitals when I was a child, and the hospital environment and attire have always been natural for me. Used to wearing scrubs as nightclothes at home, the people who wore scrubs during the day in the hospitals - the doctors, in other words- fascinated me. As I began to study science, and more specifically biology, I discovered that the human body is more complicated than I could ever imagine. This discovery only excited me; every organelle, organ, and system of the body was a new piece of the puzzle that enabled me to understand increasingly complicated processes. There is always more to learn and more to understand in greater and greater detail. It is an amazing feeling to cough, have a stomach cramp, or to have a fever and understand exactly why you are doing so. As I studied more advanced science and began reading about doctors and surgeons in books such as The Making of a Surgeon by William A. Nolen, I became interested in seeing what the hospital environment was really like. Through volunteering in hospitals during three consecutive summers, I have seen what a career in medicine entails: long hours with demanding patients and the possibility that sometimes, you can't save someone. However, for every patient that you are unable to help, there are countless others that are success stories. Success, in medicine, means life. I could hope to achieve no greater accomplishment.
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Essay Question:
Describe your most interesting work or educational experience.
'Bye, bye Ms. American Pie&' I looked up, distracted by the song. I still had not gotten used to the fact that the anesthesiologist in the Operating Room listened to the classic rock radio station during operations. After a long summer volunteering in Mt. Sinai Hospital for the second consecutive year, I had finally attained my goal: I was spending a day in the Operating Room observing surgery. Observing surgery in Mt. Sinai Hospital as an underage high school student is not easy and I had spoken to everyone from the doctor I followed daily on rounds to the student coordinator for the Mt. Sinai Medical School, until I had finally found a surgeon willing to let me observe him in the Operating Room. It was all definitely worth it though, for here I was: wearing sterile scrubs and standing in the Operating Room as I observed five different surgeries that ranged from vein stripping to foot amputation. I observed unsure residents get guidance from experienced surgeons, saw an anesthesiologist calm a screaming patient, and personally received instruction from the scrub nurses about operating procedure. It was the most fascinating day of my life; no diagram in any book can compare to examining the structure of an amputated foot on a tray, and no class can prepare you for seeing a patient cry out from fear and pain during a procedure. Nothing could prepare me for the immense exhaustion I felt when the day was over, but nothing could make me forget either the feeling I got from the patients who could only say 'Thank you' over and over again while recovering from the anesthesia as I helped transport them to their destinations.
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Major essay: topic of my choice
"Ouch, my feet hurt. Ouch, my feet hurt. Ouch, my feet hurt." It had been repeating over and over in my head for the last two miles and would continue to do so with every step I took until we arrived at our campsite. When my brain is filled with thoughts like these, I have trouble remembering why I enjoy putting myself through this type of pain, but it is not always like this. Most thoughts I have while hiking are not thoughts of pain and suffering, but are happy, entertaining, interesting, or at least useful. I went on my first hike soon after I learned how to walk, and I have enjoyed hiking ever since. The types of hikes I have been on have ranged from a quarter of a mile toddling on a paved road to a twenty-two day Outward Bound backpacking trip in the High Sierras. One of the things that I love most about hiking is that it gives me the chance to escape from the constant stimulation of my hectic daily life and to be alone with my thoughts. Sometimes when I hike, the lack of artificial clutter around me somehow stimulates my brain to reorganize itself. It sorts through everything that has happened recently and files it in some way that makes more sense to it. Although I do not understand how or why, I find that, much like how my computer runs much more smoothly because I defragmented its hard drive a few weeks ago, I am much better able to cope with the quick pace of daily life when all of my thoughts are properly organized. Other times, I let my mind wander and think about things that I would never bother to think about otherwise. I remember once when I spent over an hour debating with myself over the merits of paper and plastic bags. I also often find myself thinking about issues that I feel strongly about and determining what I believe. Because I have thought about them at great lengths, I can feel certain of my beliefs, or at least I can be confident that I want my groceries put in plastic bags. On longer hikes when I have more time to think, I will sometimes imagine things. I can become an explorer hacking his way through the thick underbrush of the Amazon Rain Forest or an eagle soaring high above the mountains. As a part of my Outward Bound course, I spent seventy-two hours alone ten miles from the nearest trail. To keep myself entertained, I decided to make up stories about two anthills near the river where I got my water. They became warring kingdoms, space colonies, and giant cities. I would follow individual ants around for hours, imagining what they were doing and what they were saying to each other. Rather than being bored, I entertained myself so well with my knights, spacemen, and businessmen that I was surprised when, on the morning of the fourth day, my time alone was over. I hike because I appreciate the beauty of nature and because I enjoy the conversations that I have while hiking, but most of all, because I love how the unadulterated physical magnificence around me stimulates in me thoughts that I would otherwise never have. After all, while the blisters on my aching feet will heal and fade away with time, I will always be able to carry these thoughts with me.
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Essay Question:
The quality of Rice's academic life and the residential college system is heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will be able to share with others as a result of your own life experiences and background? Cite a personal experience to illustrate this. Most applicants are able to respond successfully in two to three double-spaced pages.
If I told you only one part of my background, only one culture that I have experienced, you would probably think that I am rather boring. But I am so much more than just one culture. In order to fully explain who I am, I need to tell you about the many different parts of my life and the many experiences that have contributed to my background. I was born in Japan and, although we moved back to America before I can remember, I have been influenced by its culture. In the two years that my parents lived there they learned much about Japanese culture, and they brought some of its elements into our life back in America. For example, we sometimes eat dinner on the floor at a table that they brought back from Japan, and, as I sit here writing this essay, a samurai warrior painted on a banner is staring at me across my bedroom. The fact that I was born in Japan has also caused me to be curious about it and to want to learn more about its culture. When my family moved back to the US, we first lived in rural Vermont. Our house was next door to a dairy farm and across the street from a forest. I remember walking through the woods with my mom, stopping every few feet to examine a leaf, a rock, or a bug. It was from these walks that I gained my love for nature and my curiosity. I also like to think that I picked up some of the easygoing attitude and enthusiasm for life that pervades rural Vermont from the people we would meet on our walks. After living in a town with a population of 1,000, we moved to the heart of Brooklyn. My three-year-old eyes stared in awe at all of the cars, the subways, and the buildings. Life in New York City taught me how different people can be, and how well we can get along despite our differences. Every time I rode the subway or went to the park, I would see people from many different countries, different cultures, and different religions. The fact that the most important formative years of my life were spent in two very different places has made me very tolerant of change and of differences. I considered the subway trip through Manhattan to visit my dad at work exactly as normal and comfortable as a walk down the dirt road to the only store in our town in Vermont. Later in life, I was surprised to learn that most people would consider both of these trips to be unusual. To this day I find that I am comfortable in many different situations, which I attribute to my time spent in New York and Vermont. While we were living in New York, when I was five years old, my dad was offered a job in Sao Paulo, Brazil. My family accompanied him for the three months that it took him to finish the job. While my dad worked during the day my sister, my mom, and I would explore the part of the city surrounding our hotel, and on the weekends our family would go on excursions throughout the country. These excursions heightened my appreciation for other cultures and gave me my sense of adventure. Finally, my family moved to Los Angeles. Here I have been able to learn firsthand about many diverse cultures. I have made friends of almost every race, religion, and cultural background on the planet, and I have been able to experience these cultures naturally through my friends and their families. I have celebrated bar mitzvahs and ramadan, I have tried Hungarian food and Indian food, and I have been to Native American powwows and household Buddhist shrines. My culture is not a single set of traditions, customs, or values, but instead is a mixture of every culture I have experienced throughout my life. I highly value this unique blend of cultures, and I believe that I am better able to understand other cultures and to share the cultures that I have experienced with others because of it.
