Essay Category:
Essay Question:
Personal Statement: "What inspires you?"
As a child, I considered the ability to read in a moving vehicle my most precious gift. During frequent trips to my grandmother's house, 150 miles of farmland from my own, in the days when families traveled in rusting station wagons rather than television-equipped SUVs, my vertigo-stricken siblings often succumbed to boredom-induced mania. As they argued irately over vital issues, such as whether legroom should be distributed by age or thigh diameter, I sat silently, taking up as little space as possible in order to avoid their wrath and remain within the worlds that Michael Crichton and Louisa May Alcott had created expressly for my personal enjoyment. I became so childishly engrossed in my own private world that I scarcely noticed my surroundings. At home, if I wasn't curled up in our backyard tree house with a thick blanket and an even thicker volume, I was seated happily before the piano, striking the air above the keys and creating a tune only I could hear so as not to arouse the attentions of anyone else in the house. While driving to my grandmother's house, I was unaware of the fiercely sweet smell of fertilizer that my brother complained of and ignorant to the gradual conversion of every radio wavelength to the twangy country that made my sister moan in grief. Luckily, those days of self-induced solitude are long gong, but they have left their mark in the form of an uncommon appreciation for my own creative powers. With my hands and my mind, I compose, I befriend, I understand, I rejoice. Most importantly, I teach and I learn and the world's great mysteries, like why brilliant artists kill themselves and how societies form fatal prejudices, become a little less mysterious. My trusty journal is ever at my side, my camera ever bouncing against my rib cage, each waiting patiently to capture rays of inspiration as they flit through my mind. Recently, I find myself revisiting the farmland that I formerly ignored. I traipse through cornfields, hungry for enlightenment. Post-harvest, the crisp air snarls at my toes as it rustles morbidly through the browning, fruitless plants. There's something pure in the mud that splashes off my heels and sets on my calves, something organic in the sun that breaks through the husks above my head, tracing delicate rose petals of light on the dark earth. And, suddenly, the insight that I had sought is in sight all around me, piercing the autumn air, reflecting brilliantly off of dead leaves, bouncing into my eyes and granting me the incredible power that is vision. Only light can catalyze life itself, energizing a hard, miniscule seed and drawing it upwards, multiplying its contents by the trillions. The strong beams of light, visible only when contrasted with their absence, lead each tiny germ to produce food that drives the world's economy, that could feed every living soul if it weren't destined to be dumped on the Mexican market. But these living souls, are they not also light? If light is energy, nearly weightless, restless and creative, then surely I have my own store of light, tucked deep within myself, inspiring my growth, directing me as if I were a yellow flower that twists about its stem to follow the sun's course. My life's goal is to make the light that resides within me bear fruit that may positively influence the future. I have already begun this lifelong journey by using every opportunity available, from the lunch table to religion class to a conversation with a customer whose beautiful photographs of a newborn child I have just developed, to gather inspiration and to share my own inspirations. I've converted several people into vegetarians, been converted into a pacifist, and laboriously convinced any young girl who will grant me her time that she can do everything just as well as her brothers. Mental and spiritual illumination can be found wherever it is sought. As Thoreau had a wooded lake, Jeffers had an ocean and I- I, in the middle of the agricultural mecca that is the Midwest, have a cornfield.
Essay Category:
Essay Question:
Take a look at your list of activities and work experiences above. Please tell us about the one you value most and why.
Last summer, I put my life on hold. Unsure about my identity and clueless about my future, I cancelled plans to attend a summer program in Europe, told my boss that I needed time off, said good-bye to my friends and gave my mother a hug. Alone, I boarded a plane. I had no idea that I would come back as a completely different person. While in the program, I spent 45 days working with my partner, whom I had never met before, in Tamazulapan, a town of 1500 in the rainy mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico where most change their clothes once a week and many speak only Mixe, the indigenous language. I spent my days teaching children to respect themselves, their culture and their environment. I spent my nights learning from conversation with adults. While our supervisors were deciding upon our partnerships, we joked that it was like the old clichi about being stranded on a desert island. The similarity turned out to be stronger than anyone had guessed, because in our pueblos we were completely isolated from the outside world. Cut off from everything I knew, I had the unique and invaluable opportunity to discover who I truly am. I found my confidence, my humor, my work ethic and my passion. Amigos de las Amiricas gave me a true rite of passage. Though other things that I do are important to me, especially volunteering locally with my school's Outreach program, helping to raise three children that I love as though they were my own, and brightening hundreds of people's days by developing their pictures, nothing has meant more to me than my experience in Mexico last summer. I plan to do the same thing in the Dominican Republic next summer, and I can't wait.
Essay Category:
Essay Question:
Most notable awards, honors, achievements in academics or extracurriculars.
I used to be an athlete. Through grade school I played soccer and hockey, often as the lone girl on a boy's team, and when I entered junior high I started running. For five years, I ran every single day. I loved the sound of my breath falling into rhythm with my feet and the road and the earth, the heavy beating of my heart, the nausea at the end of a race that told me I could not possibly have tried any harder. Then, during the fall of my freshman year, my legs started to lash out against me. My hips clicked, popped and stalled; my knees refused to transmit the power of my thighs to my feet. The diagnosis was simple: one of my legs is slightly longer than the other, and years of running have worn down the cartilage that should protect my joints. I played soccer that spring, but, barely able to chase the ball, let alone kick it, I spent most of my time sitting on the bench. During the summer, I made the painful decision to give up sports. Running made me the person that I was. It gave me energy and focus, and it seemed to somehow expand each hour of the day to allow me to get more done. Running made me productive and happy. Without cross-country practice every day, I needed to find new ways to connect with people, to keep myself mentally and physically healthy, and to be involved in my sports- and drama-centered school. Never mind the Physics Bowl, the piano recitals, the Foreign Language Honor Society, the hellish classes I've survived or the National Merit competition. My real achievement was trying new things- getting a part in a short play, facing death with the elderly as a nursing home volunteer, joining Student Government- and finding ways to be myself and stay involved instead of giving up.
Essay Category:
Essay Question:
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.
Essay Category:
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.
Essay Category:
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.
Essay Category:
Essay Question:
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.
Essay Category:
Essay Question:
What personal characteristics do you most value in yourself? What characteristics do others most value in you?
To myself, I'm a strong-willed person who thinks she can achieve anything with discipline and hard work. Otherwise, I'm pretty zany. I'm the girl who replaced lemons in water with cucumber slices, patiently arranged sand making a mandala, and created parrots from Styrofoam. My creativity can be artistic, but also handy for problem solving. Creativity gives me direction. When I asked friends what they most value in me, they replied: 'compassion towards friends, your morals, your humor and occasional bouts of silliness!' though they sometimes wonder how I can enjoy science even as I surrender my sanity to classes. Maybe my humor and silliness are why I can survive sometimes energy-sapping Physics and Chemistry.
Essay Category:
Essay Question:
Tell us about a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, music, paintings, artists, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed or add a category of your own.
I have always been a voracious reader. During middle school I was given an exercise in making pie charts. I had to chart how much time I spent on each activity in a day. Reading took up almost one-fifth of my day as a result of a competition called 'Battle of the Books' in which a team of four students read from a list of 45 books and competed, identifying each book by a contextual clue. I liked books whose characters' lives I would like to live. Since I began to read so much during 'Battle of the Books' I have retained my zeal and habit of reading. Books whose main characters I've wanted to become include Sophie's World, because she's a young girl like me: confused about everything. Interestingly, a mysterious letter appears in her mailbox one day bearing daunting questions, such as 'Who are you?' and 'Where does the world come from?' She begins to contemplate these ideas, and as her head spins with new revelations, she finds herself in a correspondence course on philosophy with a sagely teacher. Her life takes interesting twists, and as a result of this book, I've read numerous books on different kinds of philosophy attempting to explore our most fundamental queries: The Tao of Pooh (Benjamin Hoff), Living Religions, The Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir), No Exit (Jean-Paul Sartre), and Siddhartha (Herman Hesse). Another interesting aspect of my relationship with books is how I ve tried to solve my problems through them. Growing up Indian-American and a second generation immigrant, I feel torn between the two cultures. That has posed significant problems of identity, being a source of confusion throughout my life. However, the book Interpreter of Maladies, a beautifully written book of short stories, is about Indian-Americans, or Indian immigrants - people who share my cultural dichotomy. Since reading this book, I have been able to make peace, in a sense, with my conflicts of identity. The final story in the book is about an immigrants relationship with an old woman, but the background of the story is the difficult immigration and struggle for economic progress. I thought that the story captured the archetypal Indian-American immigrant experience beautifully, and, to me, represented what it meant to be an Indian-American.
Essay Category:
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.
Essay Category:
Essay Question:
If you were a professor, what would you hope your students could teach you?
My students would teach me to be open-minded and not to limit myself to any one thing in particular. They will have the zeal and passion to take classes in literature and also dab into sociology, realizing that college is not a time to define themselves, but a time for unyielding evolution. Most students will be changed when leaving college. They will also know that there is nothing wrong with constructive criticism. All students should be prepared to accept feedback and advice. My students will teach me to be attentive and to always absorb knowledge whenever possible, not just in the classroom, but outside when reading a newspaper or observing the amount of time it takes a train to go from point A to point B. I believe wholeheartedly in preserving one's integrity. My students will show me that striving for excellence and honor and respecting one's own character is important. In order to request trust from others, one must first establish his or her credibility. Trust is the foundation of a community. My students will teach me to engage in intellectually stimulating conversation with my peers and to always challenge the established truth. They will always look beyond a given answer and work towards a new belief. Also, they will be able to show me how to work effectively with people, organize, and successfully get a task done at an appropriate time. Finally, my students will teach me how to deal with disappointment. If one does not do well the first time, you must not give up; dust yourself off, get up, and try again.
