Undergraduate / 'I had been overwhelmed' - LAB EXPERIENCES AND TRANQUILITY [4]

I feel like this essay is pretty diff than the common app thread from before, and since i might be using a diff common app essay, i decided to create a new thread for this(Hope the moderators arent upset by this). Anyway, three things to watch. 1 Does this make sense 2. Does it create an impact 3. Anyway to shorten it*779 words too much?). Any comments greatly appreciated. Thanks alot, good luck everyone.

I had been overwhelmed. The awe from seeing the gashing veins, the yellowish pale and soft tissue complexes of the kidney I was researching were surreal. Those ripples of focus and composure from my mind had disappeared as I froze from the sheer magnitude of the situation.

But I grew so much in two and a half years. Now, as I did lab work attempting to inhibit the growth of BK Virus through various drugs, the lens through which I saw things was clearer. Firstly, I grasped the workings of ATP-ase domain and the nature of the drugs attempting to destroy them. I was no longer oblivious to the subtleties of DNA. I was engrossed in my subject. The initial ripples were replaced by waves propagating from my mind. Finally, I was no longer overpowered by results. I had a voice. Everything didn't hinge on a t-value, slope or correlation from the centrifuge. I felt a sense of power come from the empirical nature of my work: I could seek answers and had the capability to find them. I was capable of governing science's tools, those pipettes and centrifuges, to find answers to my questions. Even when my results weren't what I wanted, I was building off each one of them. I was finding relationships between different results. This is what professors talked about with achieving science at its true "zenith". Of course I was not tweaking with quantum physics type material, but I was becoming something far greater than I ever had. I was curious. I was a scientist.

Abject disappointment soon set in. When I truly analyzed the results, seeking the subtleties in relationships, I became consumed by this BK virus. What relationships? The more I looked, the more I realized I had created them. All those variables in the experiment, how much was too much dilution factor or how many cycles on the centrifuge was too many, dominated me. I had ignored the power of the tools of science, the pipettes, and even the variables. Those tools had manipulated me; my arrogance had let me think otherwise. The more I thought and looked for answers, the more the blank glare of nothing stared at me. I had been paralyzed.

The aftermath was stark. The next month lacked a fire. My work lacked cohesiveness. It wasn't apathy, rather a total shock that reverberated throughout me. I felt hopelessness.

However, I stuck to form; I was too engrossed to just leave my subject. I still stayed in the lab for hours analyzing through every set of data, those t-values and residuals didn't go anywhere. I was fazed, but I adapted enough to keep on going. Those curious eyes still stared intensely at those symmetric arches and imperfect linear regressions. I was like a shy four year old staring at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I couldn't stop, I realized the peculiarity, but kept coming back for more.

As the weeks piled on, a latent force started to guide me: tranquility. It was gradual, but the calm that came from my empirical work soon took over. It can't be fully translated. However, in this state, I wasn't seeking relationships between different forms of science; I was just at ease. For the first time I accepted the power of science's tools when I restarted the PCR experiments. I had allowed myself to be paralyzed by the unknown in the results. I knew nothing; I feared nothing. For the first time, I felt something pure, an appeasement from knowing that being oblivious to the subtleties of the experiment was acceptable. Even though I now acknowledged myself in a position of knowing much less, I was much more aggressive. There was no pressure; I no longer had to protect myself from failure by obsessively seeking specific results that would support my hypothesis. I was free of my own responsibilities, I could be unleashed.

Finally, my experiments started to change and making sense. All those variables, such as how much is too much, were no longer a problem. I was getting somewhere. My results were becoming tangible and could lead to publication. I was making sense of those results; they were each functioning at their own independent level. They weren't cohesive, but that was the source of their power. I didn't need any relationships or subtleties; I only needed sciences tools to do what they do, control. There had been nothing wrong with that control. Keeping the unknown and its ability to paralyze my thought process alive, accepting it, has been my proudest accomplishment. The unknown revealed more than anything from the known ever had: the calming voice was all I ever needed.

Undergraduate / How can you answer the what you can contribute to upenn supplement [16]

the upenn supplement asks for what can you contribute to the school. What's a good answer? Lots of people say i can contribute my diversity, my passion towards something, what i've learned from a certain experience like the need for everybody to have an equal opportunity or something like that, it all seems so cliche esque. I'm trying to avoid that, but right now my ideas are just like those same ones above. Any thoughts, anybody come up w/ any kind of interesting ideas for as to how they can contribute to the school. Thanks alot. good luck

Undergraduate / Northwestern Supplement Seeking the Relationships Between the Outerworld Help [17]

Hey. so here is my northwestern supplement. I am a little worried it doesnt make sense. The ending is a little similar to my J-Hop one, but only one or two lines. You may have to at least just skim my common app essay to understand the beginning of this one, but i doubt it. Anyway, three main concerns. 1. Length, 769 words, how can i shorten it. 2. Is it too abstract and flowery, does it make sense. 3. Does it show a passion towards northwestern

I was stunned. The natural beauty, the awe, the vividness of the surroundings, the spontaneous magnification in the focus in my eyes from what I had seen looking out of a dorm window in Northwestern was surreal. Never could I ever imagine such a view from a college dorm, especially in a region known for its dreary, blusterous winters. Even October could be unforgiving. But that gaze into elegance allowed me the rare chance to dwell on what I am so often oblivious to. For the first time in my life, I didn't see external beauty as superficial. I had spent my whole life disparaging natural beauty; even my trips to the Canadian Rockies had been lackluster. I had begun to slowly accept nature, but never did I think it would create an inner revolution within me. Something, maybe the idea of having that beauty always a window blind away, changed me. However, appreciating these external appearances is still new to me. Establishing a deeper, profound understanding of them is one of my own personal challenges, one of my ways of indulging my own curiosity which Northwestern provides a rare outlet for. Maybe there is nothing more to find, maybe nature's beauty is a simple purity. Maybe even the awe of that beauty ceases as quickly as it formed. But to stop now? Not after opening that window, that window of possibilities.

However, beauty itself was not enough; I needed a known, and something I could relate to. The networks on the individual level were precisely what I sought. This is the known I could come back to. This is the force that will always guide me. The University Career Services immediately struck as a powerful resource. This is hardly one of those common strange, out of touch places which the student can't relate to, rather the tremendous faculty assistance along with the diverse opportunities in class courses available at Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences make Northwestern the rare institution where I can create my own education.

However, the student supported organizations are most exciting. The Biology Students Association provides all kinds of opportunities to relay my passions toward the subject with fellow students and together create opportunities that can extend far beyond our time at Northwestern and for future classes. But it's the Premedical Society that really will help me focus my interests toward medicine, as broad as they are, by allowing me to start my understanding of medical school at the age of 19 as oppose to 23. This opportunity to get a feel for the nature of medicine is further enhanced in the chemistry council, where a unique perspective of organic chemistry and rare chances to do chemical research to complement my biological research lie. The enamoring opportunities to attend prestigious lectures will only add an extra dimension to my studies. The chemistry aspect in medicine is so overlooked when discussing the nuances of biology, but Northwestern is a place where the chemical aspect of medicine will not overwhelm me. The great opportunities to do research, even if I decide to pursue other biological sciences, ensures that I can further enhance my understanding of empirical science from freshmen year, allowing for a much greater comprehensive understanding with far more opportunities. Regardless of what I choose, I won't be in the majority looking at chemistry as the "dirty work" en route to more glamorous work in biology. Chemistry will be the outlet to a greater biology. Once again, I can create my own education.

That window provides me a sense of hope with the unknown of beauty lurking in the shadows of the campus. The chance to see how this enhances all aspects of my life gives Northwestern such unique and unfathomable potential. But it's the stability provided by Northwestern that makes me so secure. This is what satisfies me: I can look out that window knowing I can create my own voice in education at Northwestern.