Undergraduate / A Personal Dream: Yale Supplemental [2]

Prompt: Tell us something about you that you don't think we can learn elsewhere.

A Personal Dream:

I am often asked by my peers, teachers and strangers what I think is the key to peace. The answer is quite simple; we must recreate the Tower of Babel. The key to building the Tower of Babel was that all of the people spoke the same language, and shared a common interest in worshipping a God. My dream is similar in that I want to build a tower, perhaps not tangible, but a tower that will hopefully unite the world in some form. Yet, the difference between my dream and the Tower of Babel is that this tower is based not only in the world's similar heart, but in the different extremities that comprise our world.

In addition to studying Arabic, I have also studied Portuguese, at a Brazilian Peace Seminar Camp, and Spanish, through service work abroad. Even before traveling to these countries, I knew of the linguistic and cultural differences between the bossa nova Brazil and the tangoing Argentina. However, after traveling to the two nations, the similarities between the two cultures are apparent. Both languages are derived from Latin which lends itself to a similarity culture as shown in the similar sound of bossas and tangos. Thus, is the rationale to study language - it is the fabric of the world that binds us together.

Assuming the Tower of Babel was real, we all spoke one language, and we all shared similar passions that united us to build the massive tower in human history. Therefore, studying Latin, Germanic, and Semitic roots are essential in understanding the nature of the world. Studying these languages lends itself to discovering historical and cultural similarities that often overlooked. It is my dream that through studying language, identifying historical and cultural similarities, can we finally appreciate the beautiful differences that define the world today. Then, and only then, can we cooperate and create a new Tower of Babel, whatever it may be. That is a dream worth dying for.

Feel free to flame. I need the help. Thank You! If you comment on this, and provide legit advice, I will read and critique your essay as well.

Undergraduate / Stanford Supplement Suggestions: Describe something intellecutally stimulating [6]

Prompt: Describe Something that you find to be intellecutally stimulating.

Electronic and synthesized music has always struck me as intellectually fascinating. Since I was young, I have always loved the industrial sounds of Nine Inch Nails or the danceable melodies of Daft Punk. Although I have always loved this new age music, I always find it disheartening how many people dislike electronic music. Most people claim that such music requires no intellect to create. On the contrary! Electronic, synthesized music is astoundingly mathematical and intellectual. When playing a piano, a hammer strikes a chord, which oscillates, and produces a fixed and brief sound. On a synthesizer, however, the oscillation, or vibration is variable in pitch and length.

Sound waves are then propelled through the air, taking the form of sinusoidal waves with peaks at both high and low pitches. On a piano, the pitch of a note is definite. Whereas, playing a synthesizer, the pitch of a note is controllable as the frequency and peaks of the wave can be manipulated. In other words, with each note, there are an infinite number of pitches to be expressed. Electronic artists, therefore, can explore a universe of sounds within each unique synthesizer. These artists are then able to find pitches along sine graphs and then build chords, modulate to a new movement, or simply create beauty or chaos. Synthesizers and electronic music are so fascinating, because musicians can use math to divine sounds and to create new music that no one has before dreamed.

My father says the essay is "opaque." And therefore bad. Hoping to get some idea if this is what Stanford is looking for. I also am hoping to inject more powerful language. Nonetheless, all comments are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks.