Undergraduate / CMU: How my childhood experiences lead to my major of BME [5]

Please submit a one-page, single-spaced essay that explains why you have chosen Carnegie Mellon your particular major(s), department(s) or program(s). This essay should include the reasons why you've chosen the major(s), any goals or relevant work plans and any other information you would like us to know. If you are applying to more than one college or program, please mention each college or program you are applying to. Because our admission committees review applicants by college and programs, your essay can impact our final decision. Please do not exceed one page for this essay.

I dug my tiny hands deep into the sea of color that filled the clear bin containing the one final piece of my masterpiece. As my hand emerged from the mass, I continued to find the wrong width, the wrong height, until finally the perfect piece sat in my hand that would finalize the miniature city that I had been working on for over two hours. The perfect two-by-one grey LEGO was placed on the top of the last skyscraper and I smiled with accomplishment. I would have never imagined as a child that those tiny multicolored blocks of different dimensions would have lead to the passion I crave today.

My best friend and I did not have the latest Sega or Super Nintendo game system, because if we did we probably would have torn it apart to see how it worked. We always had a curiosity for how things work and we examined the inner workings of anything we wanted to further understand. Instead we were given LEGO pieces, crayons, white paper, and a quiet room with time to spare. We would spend countless hours drawing blueprints and directions for crazy contraptions that we would attempt to put into action.

For a while though, the feeling of being "too cool" masked my passion for creation. I had no idea what I wanted to do, what I was truly passionate about. My passion was reignited when my physics teacher assigned a project over spring break, to build a mousetrap car. For the whole week I was obsessed with making the car the best possible. I brought out the dust covered LEGO pieces and dug my hand into the childhood memories. Snap! The loaded spring finally was released; I felt for the first time I had a direction for my future endeavors.

My passion for creation emerged along with the needed pieces from the sea of building blocks. Not only was it the project but the class as a whole that brought the inner child out in me. I once again became curious about everything and physics began to consume my life. It was the first time that I was beginning to see the application of mathematics, a subject that I enjoyed all of my life. I couldn't play baseball without thinking about the parabolic motion of the ball in flight and trying to estimate the speed. With the combination of these two passions, engineering was a major that I began to consider.

A second passion of mine developed during the same time in my junior year in human anatomy, a passion for biology, especially for the human body. From a young age I have also had a strong interest in this area. For one of my birthdays, I was given a disassembled model skeleton and a book that described each bone. I learned everything that I could from the twelve-inch tall model. Then AP Biology placed the human body into a new light for me. I came to the realization that the body is system of intricate intermingling networks that functions just like any other man made mechanism. It is no different than the machines that stimulated my curiosity as a child.

I had slowly taken apart the system that was my future and discovered the major that I currently would like to pursue. Biomedical engineering is the ideal combination that satisfies both my passion for biology and engineering. Specifically, I would like to design and create prosthetics limbs. The mechanical aspect, along with the biological application, interests me most out of all of the possibilities that are offered.

Carnegie Mellon offers...

in the final section i want to write about why CMU is the best choice. I was thinking about writing how they offer BME as a double major with any other engineering program allowing for more opportunity in long run. What else could i talk about and how does the essay as a whole sound so far?

Undergraduate / BU Supplement Base; Leadership, Service, and Congeniality [3]

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.

The essay isnt done yet. I tore apart other essays and did a little patch work. No real intros to the separate paragraphs but her it it so far.

A chipper gentleman walks briskly down the street humming a tune when he stumbles upon a man in need. He offers the man his jacket with a smile. The next day the gentleman returns, this time with two others along side of him, once again offering help to the man. Each day the gentleman returned, continually gaining more followers with his warm heart and his bright smile. This gentleman is that man that hums a tune in my heart, who I aim to be each day. His leadership, service, and congeniality are the virtues make up my persona.

When I ask my peers, "What is the first word you think of when you think of me," and each time the word is "leader." As a Peer Leader, President of National Honor Society, Key Club, Class of 2010, and captain of the varsity soccer team, my skills as a leader have developed throughout my high school career. Pragmatism, communication, decisiveness, and dedication have been engraved into my psyche. I believe that there is still more to be learned. To fully know how to lead, I believe you must know how to follow. Peer Leadership has begun to teach me this valuable lesson by surrounding me with leaders of outstanding caliber in my own school. The leaders that make up Boston University will continue to refine and embellish my skills and I will strive to impact those who share the same goals as myself.

Volunteering has been an imperative part of my high school experience. Whether it has been participating in "Trick or Treat for UNICEF" or organizing my school's blood drive, giving back has been very important to me over the past four years and will continue to be a priority in my life. Through organizations such as Key Club, National Honor Society, and Peer Leadership, I have found a passion and an enjoyment in serving others. Recently, as a part of the Peer Leadership program, we seniors traveled to Katzenbach School for the Deaf and volunteered our time to do numerous activities with the children. To see the joy on each and every one of their faces showed me that what I was doing was truly making a difference. I hope to continue to make a difference in the BU community by donating my time so that I may benefit others and participating in organizations such as Engineers Without Borders.

Each day I walk down the hallway greeting each person, friend or stranger, with a smile on my face. Congeniality is a substantial part of who I am. Through my various presidencies and involvement in athletics, I have learned to interact with diverse groups of people and communicate effectively. I have learned a respect for my elders and peers from my experiences with officials, Board members, and classmates. I will use my smile and friendly nature at Boston University, to make others experience more enjoyable, even it is something as small as making one person smile each day.