Undergraduate / 'I am bewildered' - commonapp essay-My love of nature [23]

A squirrel pokes out of my pocket and whispers a word in my ear. I sit up, stunned. But before I can say something back, she disappears in a flash of stripy fur and tail. As my mind begins to comprehend the possibility of talking squirrels, its thought process is interrupted by a heavy thumping. I look down and see a battalion of marching ants. They look up and start quoting Shakespeare to accompany their footsteps. "O Romeo, Romeo" One-two One-two "wherefore art thou Romeo?" One-two One-two.

I am absolutely utterly bewildered. Why are animals speaking? Have I gone bonkers? I look around and find myself in the neighbourhood woods. How did I get here? I struggle to piece together my last memory but a little green snake shatters my concentration. He slithers around my prostate body and then settles on my belly. "How are you?" he asks me, staring unblinkingly. Not so much at my wit's end now, I manage to mouth a reply "Fine, but how the hell are you talking?" "You are unaware of a lot of mysteries of nature, foolish human" he hisses back. "Ok, let me up then" I say, confident of my lack of intellect. From the time when I was 7 and chased butterflies, I have always been amazed by the surprises nature had to offer, the camouflaged chameleons, the cocooned caterpillars, the green grasshoppers and many others. This is just another one out of her kitty, albeit quite big. My curiosity and love of nature fuelled, I get up and ask the snake "What now?" "Follow me" he replies. "Okay" I start walking behind his crawling muscular shape.

We soon reach a familiar tree. He starts climbing. So do I. Without a word, we reach the top. As I look around, my memory hits me like a splash of icy water. I last remember sitting here on my favourite branch. But before I can guess what happened afterwards, I am immersed into a cacophony of sights and sounds. The leaves start singing as the breeze ruffles through them and the animals start chattering. I catch snippets of the conversation and am impressed by the knowledge contained in them. I learn from a crow that putting the first differential of an equation equal to zero gives maxima or minima. I am retold of the fact that Aluminium Oxide is amphoteric, by a spider, a honest to god silk spinning spider.

Unbelievable. It is like an academia bursting forth up here, intent on educating me. I have climbed this tree often before, seeking solitude to think things through and have never left disappointed. It is my favourite place on the earth. Now though, I love it even more. I can learn here. Suddenly I see a flash of light. The green snake has gone. The tree has grown silent. I wake up. Was it all just a dream? I unconsciously put a hand in my pocket and take out an acorn with little squirrel bite marks on it. "No, it wasn't" I say to myself, smiling.

Undergraduate / Why Vassar-intellectual freedom [6]

My one-sided love affair with Vassar began when I first read the 'Mads Vassar' blog. Little by little, as the quirky details emerged, I started seeing myself at Vassar. When I read about the dialogue programs like 'Mixing it up' and conversational dinners, I came to realize what my life was missing. I grew up in a school where debating against the established ideas was discouraged and controversial issues were swept under the rug. Prayer was mandatory, but its interpretation, not so much. So the environment of Vassar, where all views and ideas are discussed and respected, appeals to me immensely. Physics is my favourite subject. So I am very fascinated by Dr Debra Elmegreen's research on distant galaxies which gives us a peek at the past of our universe. It would be amazing to listen to her ideas on astronomy. Since its intellectual atmosphere seems tailor made for me, I plan to enjoy studying in Vassar for the next four years.

Undergraduate / Wanna see a trick-commonapp EC essay [3]

"1 2 3 and this card" I flourish out the Ace of Spades. "Wow, how did you do that?" the girl asks me with her mouth agape in surprise. I reply with the familiar "A magician never tells" and start moving towards the next group of people. As I take in their appearances, my mind furiously begins to evaluate them. Which trick to perform on whom? What to do and what to avoid?

As you might have guessed, I am a street magician. I perform tricks for random people in the city and I love every bit of it. The thrill of approaching a stranger, the coolness of being able to one-up them and the sheer fun of the trick draws me towards this 'art'. Its hard work practicing the upper card force or the vanishing coin but the class and style of the end result is worth it. The look on the faces of the audience is worth it. And although it may be a cliché to say that magic taught me hard work, it really honestly did. Where else can you see the result of your late night shuffling pay off in the form of awe and applause? I can't. Not anyplace else.

My mind humming, my evaluation complete, I get to that group and start with the usual "Wanna see a trick?"

Undergraduate / I am a cliche [9]

I am a cliché. A walking, talking, eating, breathing, sleeping cliché. I love maths and physics and I am from India. That makes me the cookie cutter Asian. I am scrawny, bespectacled and obsessed with numbers. You see tons of people like me every day. Yet you still bother to read my application, Bravo. Like everyone else, I want to set myself apart from the gray wall of applications. But how will I do it? By writing an essay. An essay that shows you that there are new people, even nerdy Indians, worth meeting. But what shall I write to make you believe in me? I have pondered this question for long. And after a tumultuous battle in my mind, I have reached an answer. I'll let you decide. I am a misshapen blob of clay waiting to be moulded. We are going to embark on a 4 year long session of pottery, me and you. You'll shape me and my ideas and I'll question and debate your decisions at every step. For I am no ordinary clay. I have been shaped and unshaped a lot of times, over the last 16 years turning me into a new blob every day. I retain resistance somewhere yet I flow like water somewhere too. Memories and experiences ingrain themselves into every grain of the clay, into my soul. With every spin of the wheel, with your each touch, I'll change bit by bit. But not always according to you, because I am no ordinary clay. I'll respond back. The clay shall talk to the hand. The pot shall emerge. And that day, then and there I shall say," I am no ordinary pot". Though far and long, we shall wither the journey together. For we are potter and clay, the unbreakable bond.