Undergraduate / JHU Supplement Essay - Why Writing Seminars? [6]

Prompt: Johns Hopkins offers 50 majors across the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering. On this supplement, we ask you to identify one or two that you might like to pursue here. Why did you choose the way you did? If you are undecided, why didn't you choose?

Major Choice: Writing Seminars
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Johns Hopkins University is one of the nation's leading colleges for Pre-medical studies as well as medical doctorate degrees. However, while this is certainly a notable achievement among colleges, it often causes people to overlook another beneficial program at JHU - the English department. The college has been rated as one of the greater schools to receive a degree in writing from and has one of the top university publishing presses in the country. These were the two major reasons behind my application to Johns Hopkins for my undergraduate studies. Yet it was not until I began my supplement that I discovered a specific discipline which immediately caught my attention. While most universities offer only a vague English program, JHU has a major which appeals specifically to my interests in name, description, and curriculum - the Writing Seminars major.

When I was an elementary student, English was my worst subject. I was a daydreamer, so it was not an issue of coming up with ideas - it was one of knowing how to turn those ideas into words. My parents, realizing this scholastic handicap, sent me to the Renaissance Academy, an extra-educational group. There they designed my extra curriculum, designed to help me with my most crippling field. They showed me exercises to understand the rules of grammar and had me read complete novels in order to learn how others express themselves. They gave me the tools I needed to use this language which had so paralyzed me before.

From there, I entered my secondary education at Hanalani Schools. In my freshman year of high school, we were required to write short stories for our composition class. While most of my peers only wrote one or two pages - the required amount - I wrote five. I could not help but unleash all of the ideas that I had into this assignment. Not only did I receive the highest grade on that assignment out of my class, but my friends asked me to write more. I was thrilled! They actually enjoyed my writing! It was at this point that I realized that this was what I wanted to do with my life. I loved the exhilaration that came over me as I made life come forth from a blank page by merely adding words to it! To me, writing was no longer just an assignment or an art - it was my instrument of creation.

I would like to say that I feel as though the very course of my life has led me to the decision of becoming an author as a profession. I have always had a desire to find something more out there, and writing my own stories has helped me to do that. During my international travels, I am constantly inspired by the works of human civilization as well as the natural wonders of creation. Through my experience as an actor, I have seen what it is like to live the life of someone other than yourself and I have learned how to express myself through the arts. It is because of all of this that I wish to "create my own worlds," if you will - to craft a piece of fiction that truly allows the reader to escape the mundane and find adventure while still being able to enjoy the things of this world. Though I am young, I have already seen much that this world has to offer - I have already had my adventure. Now I wish to share that feeling with the world. Yet in order to do this, I must first master my craft.

I tend to liken my mind to a field - freshly cultivated and sown by my high school education. While this preparation stage was much work in itself, the job is far from complete. Before I may harvest the crops of my success, my field must be nurtured further in the natural elements of the world. In order for a crop to ripen fully, it needs provisions of the highest grade: sunlight, water, and soil. In this way, the pasture that is my intellect must be allowed to grow in an environment which will truly stimulate it. It is for this purpose I wish to attend a school such as Johns Hopkins - a prestigious university which I believe provides the sufficient challenge which is necessary to turn people into truly worthwhile members of society. I am confident that I will be able to face this test which will allow me to reap the quality grains of my harvest at its end.

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Word count: 758

Please tell me what you think about my essay. If you think it is too long, tell me what areas you think it could do without. Also, if you would like, a rating of it would be greatly appreciated.

Undergraduate / Lucid Dreaming, Stanford Supplement - Intellectually Engaging Idea [6]

Hey guys! I would really appreciate it if you would all take a look at one of my short essays for the Stanford supplement. Tell me if there are any parts that don't seem to flow or aren't written as well as they should. Thanks!

Prompt: Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.

Subject: Lucid Dreaming
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In 1980, Stephen LaBerge of Stanford proved the existence of a rare sleep phenomenon and changed the study of oneirology forever. Lucid dreaming, a situation in which an individual consciously realizes that they are experiencing a dream, is one of the most fascinating happenings that can occur as one rests. This state of mind has inspired me, both in my thought life and my writing, as it is an order in which anything is possible.

While taking part in a lucid dream, participants may be faced with many positive aspects of this condition. For instance, in a normal dream, we are convinced that our visions are reality. Thus, should you encounter a ravenous monster in your sleep, you would be overcome with anxiety as you attempt to escape the creature for fear of your life. Yet in a lucid dream, you could just as easily befriend or enslave this beast. Lucid dreaming allows a sense of security in that the dreamer knows that there is no actual danger in such an occurrence. Given a chance, at transcendence we gain the ability to alter that which we normally could not. It is this freedom which makes the idea so inspiring to me.

It is as Francis Church said in his famous editorial, "There is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man could tear apart." Yet what happens if we do not attempt to shed this curtain? What if we merely accept it, close our eyes, and allow ourselves to fall through it? Where then shall we find ourselves? In lucid dreaming, by accepting this invisible world and seeing it through the mind's eye, we allow thoughts to collide and visions to appear. We allow new worlds to form within our heads which we may freely manipulate. No longer bound by the laws of reason and logic, we are allowed to take part in the ultimate form of escapism.