Undergraduate / CU - Boulder Essay about diversity and winter survival (500 words) [4]

It had been drizzling all day, but the sky finally opened up and started to pour. The past six hours were spent hiking through knee-deep snow, navigating Maine's Mahoosic Mountain Range with a map and compass, trying to find a place to set up camp. We finally found a suitable location as the sun dipped behind the mountains and by now, everyone was cold, wet, and exhausted. We still had to set up shelters, unpack all the food and supplies, gather firewood, and eventually build a fire pit, complete with a circular bench to fit all ten students plus the two teachers who were guiding us. Welcome to day five of Gould Academy's eight-day winter survival trip.

Despite the miserable conditions, it took less than an hour to get all the shelters set up and a pot on the fire for dinner. Tonight we were having the highly anticipated, macaroni and cheese with bacon. A much-needed change from the boring meals of lentils and rice, or dried fruits and trail mix we had been eating before. "Anyone here a vegetarian?" asked Mr. Siekman as he raised the frying pan of bacon to add it into to pot. "Wait!" shouted Areeb, but it was too late, he had already dumped the pan into the pot. "Oh sorry Areeb, you should have spoken sooner, you can just pick around the bacon, right?" "No you don't understand!" exclaimed Areeb, "I am not a vegetarian, I can't eat pork because of my religion." He further went on to explain how the Koran considers pigs to be unclean animals and says that they should not be eaten under any circumstance. "What if it's Kosher?" I asked, which sparked a conversation religion that lasted throughout dinner.

We sat out in the rain for two hours after dinner, discussing everything from the existence of God to the moneymaking schemes of the Catholic Church. In our group of ten people, we had students representing China, Korea, Taiwan, Germany, Pakistan, and The United States. The multiple perspectives really opened my eyes to the vast complexities of each religion and inspired me to take a course on eastern philosophy this fall. This one conversation turned what was looking to be an awful day, into the highlight of my trip.

This experience showed me that you do not have to have some amazing unique quality to enrich a diverse community. In fact, everyone is unique in some way; no two people are the same. To me, one of the most appealing aspects of the whole college experience is getting a chance to meet thousands of new people who all have their own ideas and perspectives, and being able to share all of my ideas with them. I strive to enter every conversation with a positive attitude and an open mind andhope to deepen my understanding of the world around me through both my academic studies and in my everyday interactions with other people.

Undergraduate / BU Supplement Three Words Essay "Questioning. Everything. Always." [8]

Hey guys, this is my first draft of the BU supplement. I answered it a bit differently than I imagine most people did. It is about 520 words so it will need to be shortened a bit. Let me know what you think. Thanks a lot!

In an essay of no more than 500 words, please select three words that describe you best and tell us how you will use these qualities/characteristics to contribute fully to the BU community.

Questioning. Everything. Always.

Saying I ask a lot of questions would be quite an understatement. I have a restless mind and do not believe I will ever stop asking them. The best way for me to illustrate this characteristic is to walk you through the thought process I used when preparing this essay. After initially reading the prompt, I immediately thought that the task would be a piece of cake. I broke out my thesaurus and started pouring through adjectives to best describe me. I came across several fancy and flattering words but after thinking them over, none of them seemed to be adequate. I further pondered the subject and started to think of past experiences I could draw from to help complete the task at hand. I had ideas running circles in my mind to a point where I needed to stop to clear my head to return to it later.

The next day, I read the prompt again with a fresh set of eyes and rejuvenated optimism. The question never stated anything about adjectives or examples for that matter so I stepped back to zero in on what the question was truly asking, the big picture. I came to the conclusion that the purpose of this task was to find words that allow me to stand out among a host of applicants. I thought of words that make me unique like snowboarding, guitar or fashion. While these words are accurate, they only describe activities that I enjoy and fail to describe me as a person. I asked myself, "why limit it to three separate words?" I chose to connect the three words and use them to describe one specific interest rather than vaguely touch on three.

There are several interests that come to mind which describe me well. The fact that I am a self taught guitarist and that I build computers are things that work well but I still had more ideas. I thought that the root of the essay should not be centered around how I view myself but how others view me. At the very moment I came to this conclusion, my blackberry began to vibrate with that ever so familiar buzz on my desk. A new message awaited me in my Facebook inbox, which quickly struck me with an idea. I figured it would suit me well to use this engine to assist in my plight so I asked my friends the question. After on entire day, the three words that rose to the top were funny, smart and laid-back. I felt these were nice but they were not exactly essay material, which led me to scrap the idea. It was a cool concept but the end result was not satisfactory.

I wondered if anyone else used Facebook to help complete this task. This is when it hit me. The most unique quality about me is not what I do or how others describe me, it is the way my mind works. I look at problems from many perspectives, research possibilities and choose the best solution. This is a skill that will allow me to excel as an engineer in a field of infinite solutions.