Snowhite76
Jul 6, 2013
Undergraduate / I have always been a competitive person; Stanford intellectual vitality essay! [6]
This is a very rough draft. I just wanted other opinions on it. Be as critical as you want. Thanks!
Prompt: Stanford students possess intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
I have always been a competitive person, especially with myself. I want to do the best I possibly can. Because of this, in the beginning of high school, AP class intimidated me and I didn't think I would be able to excel in them, so I didn't take any during my first two years. I regret this now because I should have pushed myself.
Junior year, however, I signed up for AP calculus and AP physics. The first day of physics, the class was completely silent and uncomfortable and I realized that that was not a good learning environment for me. I quickly switched to AP biology and everyone was friendly and there were group discussions. I liked this class a lot more because it seemed like the students wanted to be there and contribute to the class and I enjoyed hearing what others had to say.
This class helped me learn many study skills because a lot of the sections we just had to learn on our own and we would do labs in class. It also gave me confidence because I started doing really well in the class and set the curve for almost every test, which I had never done before. Even though I was setting the curves, I still wanted my classmates to succeed and a couple of us had study sessions to review for tests.
Another way this class influenced me was by helping me choose what I want to major in. I found a real love for biology and realized that I want to focus on science.
This is a very rough draft. I just wanted other opinions on it. Be as critical as you want. Thanks!
Prompt: Stanford students possess intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
I have always been a competitive person, especially with myself. I want to do the best I possibly can. Because of this, in the beginning of high school, AP class intimidated me and I didn't think I would be able to excel in them, so I didn't take any during my first two years. I regret this now because I should have pushed myself.
Junior year, however, I signed up for AP calculus and AP physics. The first day of physics, the class was completely silent and uncomfortable and I realized that that was not a good learning environment for me. I quickly switched to AP biology and everyone was friendly and there were group discussions. I liked this class a lot more because it seemed like the students wanted to be there and contribute to the class and I enjoyed hearing what others had to say.
This class helped me learn many study skills because a lot of the sections we just had to learn on our own and we would do labs in class. It also gave me confidence because I started doing really well in the class and set the curve for almost every test, which I had never done before. Even though I was setting the curves, I still wanted my classmates to succeed and a couple of us had study sessions to review for tests.
Another way this class influenced me was by helping me choose what I want to major in. I found a real love for biology and realized that I want to focus on science.
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