Undergraduate / Engineering Essay for Columbia University - "Envirothon" [2]

Please tell us why you are attracted to the field of engineering:

Req: 1500 Characters or fewer. Mine is over 1470

Ever since I can remember going to school, my strengths have always been in math and science. As school progressed, the subjects became more difficult, and math became calculus and science became chemistry and physics. My strengths were not in the memorization skills required for medicine or the creative spirit required for art or writing, they were in the conceptual understanding of math and science that is required for engineering.

In my sophomore year of high school, my friends convinced me to join a environmentalist club at my school titled "Envirothon." After three years of working with this club, and seeing tragic natural disasters in our world such as Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistani floods, and the BP Oil Spill, I realized that this aspect of our society, environmentalism, is something that needs our dire help. By mixing my strengths with my interests and a purpose, I was able to decide on and commit to studying Environmental Engineering at college.

I believe that when it comes down to it, all of my, and our, actions should be determined by one concept - how much contribution one is making to society and to the lives of others? By harnessing my ability at math and science, and combining them with my interest in environmentalism and passion for change, I believe that environmental engineering is unequivocally the one field of learning that I can most effectively use to contribute something back to the world, and that is reason enough for me to study it.

Much thanks

Undergraduate / Achieving Life Goals - Columbia Engineering Programs Transfer Supplement [2]

The prompt for the Columbia University Transfer Supplement is
"Please tell us what you find most appealing about Columbia and why in 1500 characters or less":

Any feedback/proofreading would be greatly appreciated but especially loved on on sentence structure, wording, and tone

Every student feels attracted to the university of their choice by how that university, even in the slightest way, can aid them in their life goals. One of my life goals is for me to able to do something good for the world some day and, for me, Columbia University is the catalyst to realizing that life goal through its extremely focused and specialized Environmental Engineering program.

A majority of schools that have engineering programs in this country offer environmental engineering programs in some shape or form. However, while most schools offer either a Civil track or Chemical track to becoming an Environmental Engineer, Columbia offers a specialized Earth and Environmental Engineering program of it's own. Aside from the great benefits that arise from having an independent program, the EEE program also teaches the "new school thought" which combines the technical side of the of the Civil track with the theoretical side of the Chemical track, and applies them to issues facing our society today, such as resource depletion and sustainability.

When I initially decided to become an environmental engineer, I thought I would eventually be doing work that would aid in fixing some of our society's worst problems. Through my first year of college, I learned that this is not the case for a majority of people who come through most programs. However, unlike most colleges, Columbia University is a great university that can aid me in my endeavor to achieve at least this one life goal.

--Thanks in advance