Undergraduate / "Drama, Debate, Music" - Princeton Tell us about a person who has influenced you [3]

I understand this is slightly short (only 331 words), but am flummoxed as to how to lengthen it. Any critique, no matter how scathing is much appreciated.

Thank you!

The first thing you notice about her is her smile, always ready, willing. The second thing you notice are her eyes, beautiful comforting, engaging eyes. The thing I notice first are her hands, skilled, marginally arthritic, loving, occasionally chastising, but always gentle, hands. Hands that coddled me as a baby, nurtured cuts as a child, and applauded as a teenager. Hands that have pushed me on swings, bikes, into countless bodies of water. From an early age she taught me to engage, and seek out answers to the problems that puzzle me, rather than turning to someone else to give me the answers. She read with me, every day, every hour it seemed, of my youth. Together we devoured children's books, not so children's books, dictionaries large and small. Through her work, she was able to take me to the farthest corners of the earth, from Tierra Del Fuego, to the interior of Iceland. Through her prodding touch, I was exposed to glaciers, oceans, ancient monasteries, and the Tokyo fish market (at three in the morning). Through her encouragement, I found Drama, Debate, Music, the activities I love most. Through her love, I found myself. I am utterly convinced I would not be half the "young adult" I am today without her.

Curiosity, empathy, the ability to sense an individual's sorrows, these are not innate qualities, but learned skills that must be tended with care within the soul of an individual, in the way a skilled gardener tends to a greenhouse full of orchids. If given too much encouragement, too much water, praise, promise, they wilt. If given too little, the ground cracks and heaves from want of water, and the orchids die. Through good and bad my mother has been by my side; through an alienated childhood, a rocky divorce, and a thriving late adolescence she has been there, offering guidance, love, and comfort food. She has the greenest thumb of anyone I have ever met. And I love her.

Undergraduate / "All of these opportunities" - Northwestern Supplement 2010 [2]

What are the unique qualities of Northwestern - and of the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying - that make you want to attend the University? In what ways do you hope to take advantage of the qualities you have identified?

Thank you all in advance!

To me, Northwestern is a school of contradictions. Its big, no doubt, but the community feels personal. It is located in one of the busiest cities in the world, but manages to create a true campus feeling. The professors are top tier researchers and academics, but teach 97% of courses in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. The opportunities are immense, with adjunct majors and internships abounding, but one never feels overwhelmed, due to the personal advisement that every student receives.

I plan to use these contradictions to my utmost advantage if I have the opportunity to attend Northwestern. I will throw my normally shy self into the community with verve I could never muster in high school. I will use the myriad opportunities Chicago presents to my advantage. I will immerse myself in the culture that Chicago has to offer. I will take on the adjunct major of International Relations, and together with a major in Economics, set off to conquer the link between economics and successful diplomacy.

All of these opportunities are specific to Northwestern; not only in their explicit qualities, such as the opportunity to be in the heart of the city that has defined modern economics for 30+ years, but also in their implicit ones. Many colleges claim to offer an engaging faculty, but too often these faculty members scuttle off to their offices, and leave TA's to do their dirty work. This disconnect between the learners and the learned permeates all aspects of college life at these universities. From many visits and testimony of friends that currently attend, this could not be farther from the truth at Northwestern. Faculty are engaging, brilliant people of all backgrounds and creeds, coming together to nurture the scared, nervous teenager that enters Northwestern's doors each year. Personal advisors are on hand to guide that same neurotic teen through the more than 2,000 courses offered at Weinberg, and the world just outside of campus is profoundly welcoming to the intellectually sophisticated, cultured, interesting, and downright brilliant adults that emerge from Northwestern after four years. Chicago welcomes them to their restaurants, opera halls, internships, and job positions at some of the worlds most prestigious institutions. Graduate schools welcome them with open arms. I would be proud to paint myself purple and to, one day, count myself among these scholars who emerge, blinking into the light, into a world they are able to view in ways they couldn't fathom before they walked through Northwestern's contradictory doors.

Undergraduate / Why Reed? Rhythm and High Hands [3]

Thank you all for help in advance!

When I was little my uncle remarked to my mother that "[Paul] got rhythm." When I was young, this rhythm expressed itself through dancing in my highchair or drumming on the counter. In middle school I started performing in musical theater. In high school I took up drumming, and became involved in the choral arts. Throughout my life my internal rhythm has guided me in more than musical pursuits. When I enjoy a person, place, or experience I have a certain sense that everyone is moving in perfect concert with each other, a delicate dance that only I am able to witness. To put it even more abstractly, I "gel" with the person, place or experience. My short exposure to Reed imbued in me a stronger sense of "gel" than anything I have felt since I first stepped onto the stage in the 3rd grade. Not only do the more trivial aspects of Reed, such as location and size fit perfectly with my expectation of what a college should be, but the far more important and less tangible things come together to me in a way I have not seen at any other college or university. At other colleges I have visited the students seem more intent on getting drunk than engaging in the subject matter. When I sat in on classes pupils were listless, uninvolved, and disengaged. Witnessing these bright, high scoring students toss their college experience away made my stomach turn. My experience could not have been more different at Reed. Even though I came in the summer, the few students I observed on the campus were all engaged in something. Whether it be Ultimate Frisbee, or a discussion (read: argument) upon the topic of Pavlovian ethics (seriously) the students clearly cared about whatever they were doing, even during their time off. Furthermore, judging by tales of fellow classmates that have had the opportunity to overnight at Reed, as well as current Reedies this pervasive excitement consumes all aspects of college life, including the classroom. To me, this is nothing less than revolutionary. All my life I have wanted to be surrounded by those that care about the ingesting and synthesizing of information as much as I do. I have never desired to be the one that raises a hand most often, but I also have never been willing to learn any less than I wanted to. Thus, my hand was raised far beyond the threshold of annoyance of my fellow classmates. For this, I was named names. Brownose, knowitall, etc. I'm sure you have heard many of these as well. At Reed, however, questions were treated as they should be: the gateway to knowledge. I felt like raising my hand in a classroom setting would garner me positive, rather than negative attention. I felt as though I would be surrounded by those who shared the same passion for learning that I feel. I felt as though I belonged. I am now certain that, if I have earned the opportunity to attend Reed, I will be surrounded by the most insightful, dweeby, nerdy, cool, and intellectually sophisticated young people found on any college campus in the United States. I can only hope I would have an opportunity to raise my own hand skyward, even if it would be difficult to see, surrounded by a sea of others.