liane
Oct 23, 2016
Undergraduate / How to add more about myself in Cornell CAS application essay? [10]
So the prompt is: Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests? 650 words maximum
I wrote my essay on my interests in biology and government, and I made it Cornell-specific but I'm not sure how to add more about myself in it? Whenever I try to add more about myself, it comes across very artificially and it doesn't look natural. I'm at 450 words right now
Also any feedback on the content/grammar of the essay itself would be VERY appreciated. Thank you!!!!!
In my academic career, I have always been interested in two things: biology and government.
My attraction for government started my freshman year of high school. In my world history class, we delved deep into the philosophies the Enlightenment. After studying the theories of Hobbes and Locke, I grew fascinated by man's fundamental need for government and the social contract theory. I read the works of Karl Marx and Frederich Engels to discover the idea of the lack of government. During my junior year, where I was taking US History and Government and Politics, I was captivated by the institution itself-how so many people with differing points of view could come together and create laws for a nation.
As a practical person, government excited me because it was one of the only subjects in school that seemed to have any real world applications that I could see. I was able to view the mechanics of it all in action every day on the news.
My interest in biology started in middle school. As an 8th grader, I fell in love with the study of life. To me, biology was the inside-look, the backstage pass, that I had been searching for. I was fascinated with its simplicity and complexity, from the bacteria in our intestines to the blue whales in the Pacific. I was astonished with how the most insignificant parts of our day-walking, sleeping, breathing-are the most significant things that happen inside our bodies. I fell in love with the diversity, with the randomness, with the spontaneity.
I've always been a curious person. I've always been the one student in class to raise her hand and ask why. Biology excites me because of its potential to grow; there is so much we still don't know, so much left to discover. It excites me because it can answer some of the questions that I've always had.
These two subjects are ones that, in my studies, seemed to never coincide. My high school never offered courses that factored in both biological and political science.
In college, I plan to study this cross-section. I want to closely examine where biology and government overlap. Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences is the ideal place for me to pursue this. I can examine biology not only scientifically, but also socially and politically by taking classes like The Politics of Science and The GMO Debate: Science & Society. Cornell CAS has the unique feature that ⅔ of the classes are taken outside of your major, which can allow me the uncommon opportunity to take government classes in concert with my science ones.
When I picture myself in college, I see myself in an institution that values individualism, diversity and curiosity as much as it values academics. Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences embodies these traits.
So the prompt is: Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests? 650 words maximum
I wrote my essay on my interests in biology and government, and I made it Cornell-specific but I'm not sure how to add more about myself in it? Whenever I try to add more about myself, it comes across very artificially and it doesn't look natural. I'm at 450 words right now
Also any feedback on the content/grammar of the essay itself would be VERY appreciated. Thank you!!!!!
In my academic career, I have always been interested in two things: biology and government.
My attraction for government started my freshman year of high school. In my world history class, we delved deep into the philosophies the Enlightenment. After studying the theories of Hobbes and Locke, I grew fascinated by man's fundamental need for government and the social contract theory. I read the works of Karl Marx and Frederich Engels to discover the idea of the lack of government. During my junior year, where I was taking US History and Government and Politics, I was captivated by the institution itself-how so many people with differing points of view could come together and create laws for a nation.
As a practical person, government excited me because it was one of the only subjects in school that seemed to have any real world applications that I could see. I was able to view the mechanics of it all in action every day on the news.
My interest in biology started in middle school. As an 8th grader, I fell in love with the study of life. To me, biology was the inside-look, the backstage pass, that I had been searching for. I was fascinated with its simplicity and complexity, from the bacteria in our intestines to the blue whales in the Pacific. I was astonished with how the most insignificant parts of our day-walking, sleeping, breathing-are the most significant things that happen inside our bodies. I fell in love with the diversity, with the randomness, with the spontaneity.
I've always been a curious person. I've always been the one student in class to raise her hand and ask why. Biology excites me because of its potential to grow; there is so much we still don't know, so much left to discover. It excites me because it can answer some of the questions that I've always had.
These two subjects are ones that, in my studies, seemed to never coincide. My high school never offered courses that factored in both biological and political science.
In college, I plan to study this cross-section. I want to closely examine where biology and government overlap. Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences is the ideal place for me to pursue this. I can examine biology not only scientifically, but also socially and politically by taking classes like The Politics of Science and The GMO Debate: Science & Society. Cornell CAS has the unique feature that ⅔ of the classes are taken outside of your major, which can allow me the uncommon opportunity to take government classes in concert with my science ones.
When I picture myself in college, I see myself in an institution that values individualism, diversity and curiosity as much as it values academics. Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences embodies these traits.