Undergraduate / Architecture Essay on "how a building affected my mindset" [3]

I am applying to University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture

I really appreciate and would LOVE suggestions and EDITS on my paper.

Thanks again for all of your help

PROMPT:
Personal interaction with objects, images and spaces can be so powerful as to change the way one thinks about particular issues or topics. For your intended area of study (architecture, art history, design, studio art, visual art studies/art education), describe an experience where instruction in that area or your personal interaction with an object, image or space effected this type of change in your thinking. What did you do to act upon your new thinking and what have you done to prepare yourself for further study in this area?

For years, buildings I entered, or interacted with had little or no impact on me. At most they would get a simple remark from me about how they looked. This would soon change faster than I could have imagined and opened up a world of design, art, and imagination known as architecture.

In my junior year of high school, while exploring career options, I contemplated on what attributes I like most in myself, and that I am most talented at. The main talents I concluded with were mathematics and art. Once I figured this out and researched careers involving these two things, I stumbled upon architecture. From the summaries I read it sounded intriguing, so I researched it and I began to grow quite fond of it. I talked to my family and ended up finding a friend who works at an architecture firm in Dallas called HKS. After my visit, I was exhilarated about all I had seen and was certain that architecture was what I wanted to do. I ended up researching and finding the University of Texas Summer Academy of Architecture and decided it would be a perfect opportunity to decide once and for all if architecture was the career I wanted to pursue. It was a couple weeks into the academy, when we visited a building that would affect me more than any other building ever had.

While at the Kimbell Art Museum on a trip from the academy to Dallas, I had a revelation that solidified in my mind that I truly loved architecture. I had previously visited the Kimbell since I lived in DFW which made this experience so remarkable. As I reentered the museum, I was blown away by the beautiful light being diffused by the half arches of concrete on the ceiling and how light was distributed throughout the museum. In my architectural naivety, I had never noticed that the museum itself was a piece of art. It was nearly halfway through the tour that I realized I had not once looked at a piece of art on display but was mesmerized with the architectural genius of Louis Kahn. I was able to compare my previous visit to this one and realize how my mind had been molded into a mind that could notice and appreciate the fine details of a building. I was able to see that a building can nearly control people and how they feel emotionally and physically. The Kimbell made me feel warm and relaxed as its light poured smoothly over the paintings and illuminated the court yard. It was a transformation clearly visible to me in which I realized how my mind had so much changed. Over a few weeks, the way I viewed building would be changed for the rest of my life, and for the better.

After this epiphany, I began to understand much more about what my instructors had been talking about with light and negative space and all these terms I had once found so nonsensical. I began to excel in my group at the academy and came up with many different designs that, for once, made me proud. My instructor introduced me too the idea of studying precedents and I really caught on. I loved to just look at buildings and study how and why they were designed. It was like reading picture books for big kids. Since, I have researches many architects and talked to other architects that I met through friends and family. Architecture is one of the most influential types of art, especially in every day life, and to have the opportunity to create and design art that can reflect on other people and how they go about their life is something I indubitably want to pursue as a career.

I have always wanted to make a difference in the world but have always struggled to find out how I could do it. I think that architecture is my answer. I see architecture as an opportunity to leave a positive imprint on the world and to help people better live their lives. I think that through all of my development and learning over the past year that I have prepared myself to further my learning and to achieve my goals.

Undergraduate / Unfair Bias Essay for University of Texas at Austin [2]

I am applying to University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture and this is my first essay. The prompt is below. the next couple of paragraphs.

I really appreciate and would LOVE suggestions and EDITS on my paper. I can not decide if my issue is too weak but I did not want to choose and issue that was overdone i.e. abortion, death penalty, etc.

Thanks again for all of your help

Topic B: REQUIRED
Choose an issue of importance to you-the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope-and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation.

Bias. It affects anything and everything having to do with decision making, and effects each and every one of us daily. Unfair bias is something that really pushes me to the edge and has transformed me into a person who I see as more adapt to engage the challenges ahead of them.

Bias without a doubt has played a big role in the development of my character and personality. One of the mot profound instances in which unfair bias affected me was in 8th grade while trying out for the basketball team. At a school, whose primary focus was football, it was difficult to be noticed. After, having a pretty decent tryout, I found out that I was out done by several people of definite lower skill than me but had started on the football team. Since I had had high hopes to play basketball in high school, this was a crushing blow to both my self confidence and my belief in "fairness". Not only did these insufficiently talented people make the team, they did not even care that they made the team. From then on, I was forced to gaze upon undeserving, and unthankful football jocks take my spot on the basketball team only because the coaches were biased towards them. I was able to turn this rotten and corrupt situation into one I could learn from. It was a crutch in helping me learn to deal with things that were not fair and to accept things I could not change. That woeful parental saying of "life isn't fair" would begin to become clearer as I moved through adverse circumstances such as these.

Accepting bias has been one of the most difficult things for me to learn but also one of the most beneficial in the advancement of my mindset and personality. The idea of accepting unfair bias is a painful thought on its own and is something that no one wants to do. Although, once I was able to come to terms with accepting unfair bias, I began developing the skills to not only accept it, but to build positively off of it. The ability to accept bias has come in handy numerous times throughout my high school career. It has taught me that even with a setback; you can fight back and beat unfair bias with hard work and determination. Just recently, I was given a zero on a test since I was seen talking while a test was still out. Even though I had no intentions of cheating, rules were rules and the teacher would not have it. The worst part about it is the girl I was conversing with was given no such punishment even though she was clearly talking. Our teacher obviously liked her as a student and most likely for that reason, did not punish her. I ended working my hind off to achieve a good grade in the class and ended up making one of the best grades I have ever made in that class even surpassing the girl that was not punished. If not for my gained ability to accept unfair bias, I would not have found the fire to work hard and achieve something that I my never have achieved in the first place. These are qualities that I think can help me greatly in a college atmosphere in which hard work and determination are a necessity in order to achieve your goals.

I have gained many attributes from unfair bias throughout my life to where I now feel that I am fully equipped to take on the bigger challenges of college, life, and whatever else may come my way. I hope and look forward to attending a college in which there are no prior inclinations toward the students and where everyone has equal and unbiased opportunities to succeed at their goals. These attributes have taught me not to accept that the world is unfair but to fight for what I believe in and achieve it with hard work and to never give up. I believe that the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture can provide this situation exactly as I have described it and is the best choice to aid me in achieving my most desired life goals.