Undergraduate / death is only way to happiness? U of M essay 500 words [8]

please help this is the last essay for U of M and its supposed to 500 words mine is 540...does that matter? Also, i really need help editing it. Tell me what you think please be honest, all suggestions are appreciated!

heres the prompt: Tell us about a book you have read that you found especially challenging, stimulating, or provocative. Explain why it made an impact on you.

The first day of junior year my American literature teacher handed us the sheet with all the books that we would be reading that year. At the very top of the list was Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton. At first I was a bit apprehensive about the book; I mean in all honesty the books that I read in school are not exactly an exciting pass time. They are written years ago in times that are completely different to ours and yet the teacher still expects me to relate to the characters and their peculiar life styles. However when reading Ethan Frome I found my life was in a way parallel to Ethan's.

Ethan Frome is a man torn between what he wants to do, and what he should do. Though too intelligent for rural life, Ethan finds himself stuck in an average man's shoes. His love for learning and keenness for engineering could have led Ethan to a much better life. Unfortunately, the town's people make Ethan feel obligated to marry his cousin Zeena in return for all the care she brought to his ill mother. Depressed by his now ill wife and failing farm, Ethan begins to fantasize a better life with Zeena's cousin Maddie in the west and wonders what life would be like if he had finished his engineering studies. In the end he believes his only way to happiness is escaping his miserable life through death.

I, like Ethan feel obligated to stay at home with my family for college. Traditionally a Middle Eastern girl stays in her parents' home till she marries, and with all that they have done for me how can I leave them? After finishing the book I came to realize that I had two options; I could follow Ethan's example as he did what people expected him to do by marrying Zeena and staying on the farm; or I could be assertive and challenge myself at great institution such the University of Michigan Ann Arbor? The answer if one could not realize by reading this essay, is to challenge myself and pop out of the traditional Middle Eastern bubble also known as my house. If there is one thing that reading Ethan Frome taught me is to not conform to other people, but rather take my own lead on life and do what it is that I believe will make me happy. My intelligence and love for learning can take me too many different successful places as Ethan's could have, and although I value the opinions of my family I do not want to be like Ethan wondering 'what if" everyday searching for a way out of a life I did not choose. I learned from Ethan that if I want to be happy in my future then I should start making the decisions fir it myself and not let other influence it. I need to be challenged not only with intelligence but also with how well I can stick to tradition when I am surrounded by many other differing ones. I feel that University of Michigan Ann Arbor is where I need to be in order to not follow Ethan's mistake and lead a life of success and happiness.

Undergraduate / "knowledge of my own culture" - U OF M UNDERGRAD [3]

Im the first in my family to graduate highschool let alone go to college so i really need help editing my essay. All suggestions are welcome. Thanks

HERES THE PROMPT:Share an experience through which you have gained respect for intellectual, social, or cultural differences. Comment on how your personal experiences and achievements would contribute to the diversity of the University of Michigan.

Week after week I would sit in Sunday youth group and just rant to Samia, the pastors wife, about how unfair it was that I was forced to be in this little Middle Eastern bubble of what the rest called tradition. Well one day my pastor came up to me and asked to speak to me alone. At first I thought Oh no, Samia has ratted me out and now I'm going to get in trouble for my big mouth, but to my surprise my pastor proposed that I represent middle eastern females in this organization called MAC. He went on to explain what MAC was but to be honest all I heard was "You might miss a couple days of school," "You'll have to travel," and "It's all paid for." I earnestly agreed and went home to do some research on what exactly this MAC group was, and what I found is that MAC stood for Multi-cultural Advisory Committee. They were a branch off of the National Lutheran Youth Organization that was responsible for representing the minorities within the Lutheran church. Better yet I learned that every four years MAC holds an event called MYLE which is where youth groups of different ethnicities come to one city and celebrate the beauty of their culture alongside their religion. For the first time I didn't feel like my culture was holding me back but rather giving me an advantage to planning a great event. I met all the other representatives and as we all began to get to know each other I learned so much about each person's culture and the language they spoke. The diversity within this group opened my eyes to a whole new world. A world where we as students didn't just learn from a textbook but from each other and all the experiences we have had. I took these stories back to my church and told the rest of my youth group and it inspired them because a couple of weeks later we met with the youth group from the local mosque and we discussed the similarities and differences between our religions.

This experience showed how much I can learn from others and how important it is to educate yourself about different cultures and religions because one day when I'm out in the work force I'm going to be dealing with people of all types and I'm going to need to know how to handle that. I believe that with my knowledge of my own culture and my desire to learn about others I will make a good addition the diverse student population at the University of Michigan