Undergraduate / Old Man and The Sea / Columbia University supp/ Meaningful book [8]

Please tell us what you found meaningful about one of the above mentioned books, publications or cultural events.
As a boy who likes adventurous novels, I fall into a minority group. But there is a reason for this weird affinity. That origin is The book the Old Man and The Sea which added more meaning to the quote 'The patient dog gets the fattest bone'.The book is about an an old, experienced Cuban fisherman named Manolin and a large marlin.He goes out to the sea and stays for 84 days without a fish.He is despised by the other fishermen and the villagers, due to his ill luck. Notwithstanding this he remains strong and hopeful that a fish will come his way some day.His courage in leaving his setting to pursue something that seemed hard to achieve resonates with me.On a fateful day his hook catches a marlin,a very large fish, which he could not pull towards the shore rather the fish drew him out to the ocean.In this case this serves as a great challenge and most especially I love the way he takes control of the situation by holding steadfast to the hook for close to three day Like Manolin, I seek to achieve success through patience and experience. I am interested in engineering, and wish to be accepted into Columbia university so I will strive the way Manolin did and hope that I finally get achieve my goal which is to get accepted . At Columbia I will tackle every challenge I face the way Manolin did, I will embrace opportunities to grow academically and personally, and interact with many wonderfully unique people so that I may eventually, like Manolin, achieve my dream someday.

Please tell us what you find most appealing about Columbia and why.

Whenever I think of excellence in education Columbia comes to my mind.Also whenever I think about the best among the best Columbia comes to my mind.My education would not be complete without me having a chance to go to the great Columbia University.Being a professional engineer would only be possible if i can be given a chance to go to Columbia University.Being a qualified Chemical Engineer is my goal and I find Columbia University as the only university that would provide the best resources and teaching standard that would equip me with adequate skills for future practice . The research and cutting edge science involved in this department is in accordance with current technological developments. Chemical engineering would provide a keystone for further studies into Petroleum Engineering which is an area that interests me.

For applicants to Columbia College, please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the field or fields of study that you noted in the Application Data section. If you are currently undecided, please write about any field or fields in which you may have an interest at this time.

With the increase in the rate of oil spillages,oil well fires, and other life threatening events in the oil field being at the constant rise in Nigeria, my passion is to put things in place in this industries developed.Living in a community where I see numerous university graduates with mere certificates proofing there education but they lack the skills to practice. It has always been a thing that baffles me and aches my heart.I am happy that I have the opportunity to attend school in the United States not only to graduate as a qualified Chemical/Petroleum Engineer but to go back to Nigeria and make things right.Nigeria being one of the world's largest oil producers end up wasting most of its but if only I could get a chance to study Chemical Engineering here in America,I could go back and make sure that the resources in Nigeria is harnessed maximally.

Undergraduate / I became third in my state/ Poor roads; Colombia; Achievement/Past experiences [3]

Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

From my seat at the rear end of the hall I could hear from the examiner .He shouted 'five minutes more'. We were at the end of my first competition I had in mathematics. I looked at my paper with great joy because I knew that I did justice to the questions. I was sure that I was going to emerge with a significant position among thousands of students that took the examination along with me.

My journey towards being great in mathematics started from my fourth grade. Using all my spare time, including after school hours and , to have extra math studies was something that seemed pointless to others but I saw the hope in it and stuck to it. Though I had the lessons free most of the time, but I did have to pay to be taught on few occasions. Subsequently I was a staunch member of the Mathematics club of my school, Dority International Secondary School.

Several competitions came by and passed but still I wasn't selected to represent my school. After about six years in the mathematics club I finally got a chance to represent the school. It was on a fateful Friday morning when the Mathematics Olympiad competition was to be taken. At first two representatives from the school were chosen and I was not one of them.

On the day of the competition, I came to school with a heavy heart because I felt s that no one had faith in me even after sacrificing several hours of my time to study mathematics. At a point, the thought of quitting the mathematics club came to my mind. After some time I decided to stop sulking and went about my daily activities like nothing had happened and decided to wait till another competition comes by. A few minutes into the first period of the day, my co-coordinator came into the class directly towards me, and asked me if I would like to partake in the examination. I was so overwhelmed with joy that for a moment I couldn't speak. I just kept staring at him till he repeated the question. I accepted the offer without hesitation and took my writing materials with me to the school hall where the exam was being administered. The examination was a three hour intensive college level mathematics exam that at first seemed challenging but with time I relaxed and answered the question with ease.

Three weeks later, the examination results came out and I placed third in my state. This taught me a great lesson never to be discouraged. By experience I learnt that no knowledge is a waste .I remained in the mathematics club until I left the school. Now whenever I am with my peers during a mathematics class I have an edge over them because I gave my time to mathematics and now I am rewarded with a high success.

Even in the midst of my success, I recognize that my mathematical excellence wouldn't have been possible without the support and help of my teachers who volunteered to help me and make me who I am today. As an act of gratitude, I volunteer tutoring at my new school.

For applicants to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, please tell us from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) what attracts you specifically to the study of engineering

After experiencing the poor conditions with the roads and the increase in the rate of oil spillages, oil well fires, and other life threatening events in the oil industry being at the constant rise in Nigeria, I hope to improve the condition of the oil industry. I am privileged to have the opportunity to further my education in United States .I hope to become a professional Chemical Engineer. Nigeria as one of the world's producer of oil doesn't make use of all its resources especially natural gas, I aspire to use my education to bring change and advancement that would impact the global community.If I could get the chance to go to the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science,not only could I fulfill my dream I could bring innovative ideas to the oil production field of Nigeria that will make it better than it is today.At the same time, I could contribute to the growth of technology in the United States. My steadfast zeal to be successful in bringing change to Nigeria could be seen in my academics.Sticking to the mathematics club for several years has increased my understanding for college level mathematics and will make things easier for me when I get the chance to attend the Fu Foundation School of Engineering.Chemical engineers work to improve the quality of people's lives. As an aspiring Chemical engineer I hope to put and end starvation, disease and poverty which is increasing in a high rate in Nigeria.

please i need a sincere modification and thanks for the help

Undergraduate / "For every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size but opposite in direction" [2]

Discuss the subjects in which you excel or have excelled. To what factors do you attribute your success.
Is 5+6 really 11 or does "for every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size but opposite in direction". These kind of questions always aroused my curiosity, making me try to learn more. This was my drive to getting better at things especially subjects like Mathematics and Physics that involves a lot of thinking. Not only did my curiosity act as one of the factors that impacted my drive to excel in this subjects but certain circumstances came into play like; friends, family and teachers.

In secondary school your classmates are not just your friends but also your rivals in everything concerning school work. They make learning fun but at the same time interesting by posing challenging questions in class. Sometimes they take the role of the teacher when they are presenting a certain topic or explain a question to me. Whenever a classmates gets a higher score at a test/exam or as an average I always get mixed feelings one is of joy because the passed or did well while the other is anger that the beat me to that position first. This classmate acts as my inspiration to push myself a little further next time.

Another factor is that contributed immensely to my excellence is teachers. on a scale of 1 to 10 teachers contribute 9 in the life of a student. My teachers not only act like my second parents but also take the role of a mentor by showing me the benefits of hard work. They've went out of their way to put an extra effort into my education by going an extra mile to answer my questions in class or explain in depth certain confusing concepts. Due to the fact that students always have several questions to ask at the end of every lesson they try to prepare a detailed lesson plan ahead of time so I wouldn't catch them by surprise with these questions

Over the years people the mistake school as the first place of learning but the fact is learning begins at home. My family is prove of this because the thought me respect humility, patience, diligence, hard work and other behavioral attributes. Without this behavioral attribute i cannot survive in the outside world because i wouldn't be able to deal with amount of homework given to me on a daily basis or have the patience to sit in a chair for 8-10 hours a day learning new concepts.

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