chuchugaga
Oct 4, 2010
Undergraduate / "brilliant minds" - Yale essay, something we haven't already gathered from CommonApp [3]
I've always taken my academics with a pinch of salt.
Great. That's set the alarm bells ringing in your head. I can see the metaphorical red flag being hoisted up already. But I haven't pulled any punches in my application yet, so why start now?
I'm not devaluing education. Make no mistake; I think education is one of the best things that can ever happen to you. The country I come from is a testament to the stark realities of illiteracy. But I've always been a bit skeptical about what I've been taught at school. I'm a great advocator of independent thought, and that is something, I feel, schools have stifled.
Why believe Messrs Freud and Marx, when you can form your own ideologies? Why subscribe to the views of Johnson and Lewis, when you can have your own? I find arguing a case for Mrs. Jones' lawsuit in Thinking Skills class more mentally stimulating than recalling the equations of motion in Physics or the structure of dinitrophenyl hydrazine in Chemistry. Recalling is what Google is for. We are not Google. We're human beings; we can think for ourselves.
At school, I see people my age: every day, they clock in, they clock out; they come to class ten minutes early; they spend recess in the library; they use free classes to solve intricate math problems from the day before. They get nothing less than an A in all their tests. Ask them a simple logic question requiring a bit of creativity and imagination - boom. They're stumped.
Study hard, they say. Get the grades. Get into college. Graduate. Get a job. Earn money. Be happy.
Who ever came up with that ludicrous system? And why should we believe them? There are millions, if not billions, of people who are all too happy to patronize that vicious cycle their entire lives, without ever reaching the Promised Land. Has no one ever stopped once, and wondered, "Wait a minute, something's wrong. This doesn't seem to be working"?
You may be inclined to think, "Who does this kid think he is? How dare he challenge the norms and conventions of our times, the natural order of things?" And I ask you: if not me, then who? And if not now, when?
Then why college, I hear you ask. Because I need a map. But just the map, please. I'll do the trekking myself. Sure, I may take a few wrong turns; but the path least travelled by is also the most rewarding. Put me in a class that teaches how to make a cookie, and I'll wind up making a cake, simply because, well, everyone else is doing the cookies. Sure, the cake may not be the best in the world, but there's nothing sweeter than the work of a nonconformist. Well, expect Jolly Ranchers, that is. I've never been much of a leader; but my word, I've never been much of a follower either.
So why Yale? I think it's fair to say that Yale houses some of the most brilliant minds in the world. I want to prove to my friends, my peers, my parents, my teachers - and to you - that great minds don't always translate to great grades, and vice versa. I want to prove how superficial the entire concept is. Intellectual ability simply cannot be quantified (are you listening, Mensa?).
By now, this essay may have ruffled a few feathers, or struck a chord. It may even be half-way to the shredder. But you know how Fleming discovered penicillin? He found potential in what most people would've dismissed as trash.
I've always taken my academics with a pinch of salt.
Great. That's set the alarm bells ringing in your head. I can see the metaphorical red flag being hoisted up already. But I haven't pulled any punches in my application yet, so why start now?
I'm not devaluing education. Make no mistake; I think education is one of the best things that can ever happen to you. The country I come from is a testament to the stark realities of illiteracy. But I've always been a bit skeptical about what I've been taught at school. I'm a great advocator of independent thought, and that is something, I feel, schools have stifled.
Why believe Messrs Freud and Marx, when you can form your own ideologies? Why subscribe to the views of Johnson and Lewis, when you can have your own? I find arguing a case for Mrs. Jones' lawsuit in Thinking Skills class more mentally stimulating than recalling the equations of motion in Physics or the structure of dinitrophenyl hydrazine in Chemistry. Recalling is what Google is for. We are not Google. We're human beings; we can think for ourselves.
At school, I see people my age: every day, they clock in, they clock out; they come to class ten minutes early; they spend recess in the library; they use free classes to solve intricate math problems from the day before. They get nothing less than an A in all their tests. Ask them a simple logic question requiring a bit of creativity and imagination - boom. They're stumped.
Study hard, they say. Get the grades. Get into college. Graduate. Get a job. Earn money. Be happy.
Who ever came up with that ludicrous system? And why should we believe them? There are millions, if not billions, of people who are all too happy to patronize that vicious cycle their entire lives, without ever reaching the Promised Land. Has no one ever stopped once, and wondered, "Wait a minute, something's wrong. This doesn't seem to be working"?
You may be inclined to think, "Who does this kid think he is? How dare he challenge the norms and conventions of our times, the natural order of things?" And I ask you: if not me, then who? And if not now, when?
Then why college, I hear you ask. Because I need a map. But just the map, please. I'll do the trekking myself. Sure, I may take a few wrong turns; but the path least travelled by is also the most rewarding. Put me in a class that teaches how to make a cookie, and I'll wind up making a cake, simply because, well, everyone else is doing the cookies. Sure, the cake may not be the best in the world, but there's nothing sweeter than the work of a nonconformist. Well, expect Jolly Ranchers, that is. I've never been much of a leader; but my word, I've never been much of a follower either.
So why Yale? I think it's fair to say that Yale houses some of the most brilliant minds in the world. I want to prove to my friends, my peers, my parents, my teachers - and to you - that great minds don't always translate to great grades, and vice versa. I want to prove how superficial the entire concept is. Intellectual ability simply cannot be quantified (are you listening, Mensa?).
By now, this essay may have ruffled a few feathers, or struck a chord. It may even be half-way to the shredder. But you know how Fleming discovered penicillin? He found potential in what most people would've dismissed as trash.
