Undergraduate / "witty, impulsive, principled, and curious" -Stanford Short- bad form to use a joke? [7]

The vast majority of my essays are pretty philosophical. I kind of wanted to mix it up and show a lighter side of me. One of Stanford's questions is, "what are five words that describe you?" My answer is as follows:

"I am witty, impulsive, principled, and curious. Its also worth nothing that I am extremely handsome (chiseled to use a more specific word) and I would be willing, if pressed, to serve as the face of Stanford. (A face that's chiseled of GRANITE.)"

Its not a great joke but I kind of like it, however, this may be totally inappropriate to submit. Any feedback would be great. Thanks in advance.

Undergraduate / "Columbia is somewhere I'd be proud to go to school" - Short Answer [2]

The Prompt is: Please tell us what you find most appealing about Columbia and why

I need help trimming my response by about 150 characters, I also need general feedback to this short answers general worth.
Thank you in advance.

Let's start off and talk about the big picture, specifically location. Columbia University is located in New York, which is hugely appealing to me. Despite increasing globalization and change New York is still the center of the world. It's a center of commerce, creativity, and progress. It's the center of the world and I can't think of a better place to start out my life on my own.

As for the school itself, Columbia's writing program is a huge draw for me. I'm not sure what I want to do professionally, but I love to write. I don't know if I want to write professionally, but I intend to continue to pursue it as a hobby and cathartic exercise. Columbia's renowned creative writing and journalism programs can help turn me into the writer I want to be.

And beyond those two specific programs Columbia offers such a strong background in every other discipline. As stated previously I'm not sure what I want to study, but that's not a problem at Columbia. It's such an all around balanced and versatile school that I can be comfortable in the knowledge that whatever I fall in love with or decide to study will be offered in force at Columbia. It's a school that will give me a real chance to experiment and grow without the risk of backing the wrong academic horse.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Columbia is somewhere I'd be proud to go to school. To be picked as one of the select few who get to interact with Columbia's celebrated staff and elite students would be a privilege. I'd be a reminder of my own potential and reason to continue to do my best at everything I do, and become the person I want to be.

Undergraduate / "the tools I need to make myself better" - What draws you to Northwestern? [3]

The thread is as follows:

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?

I need help making my essay more specific and just general feedback. I hate these sorts of essays and any help that can be lent to me is very much appreciated.

The first thing that drew me to Northwestern was location. Now this is something unique on my list for college, as I've generally tried to forget about weather and climate during my application process. These have always seemed like tertiary and petty reasons to attend a school to me, and so I've chosen to throw them aside in order to make the best choices for receiving the education I think I deserve.

But Evanston appeals to me for deeper reasons, it's where my father is from. I haven't traveled very widely during my life, but I've always heard tales of my fathers Evanston child-hood, his forays and journeys into Chicago, his attendance of Northwestern football games; but until I started applying to college they always seemed distant, not just a place across the country but a place from another time. But when I started to look into the schools that I wanted to apply too I realized that it was within my reach to go to Evanston, to experience it. And while I'm sure it's not the same town that my father grew up in, and I'm sure I won't have the same experience, the romantic ideals of sort of going back further into my familial roots appeals to me. I want to see where my father grew up, I want to grow close to place like he did, I want him to be able to show me around the town and tell me what's different and what's the same. Evanston is a romanticized link to the past for me, and this is the first reason I want to attend Northwestern.

Northwestern also quite ably fills my more important second requirement: it's a good school. I believe in college not just for transcripts or degrees but for the actual purpose of gathering and attaining knowledge. With this outlook there's the understanding that you get out of college what you put into it, but with Northwestern I'm sure that I would have no problem immersing and committing myself fully to its academic curriculum. I don't know what I want to do, but Northwestern's undergraduate program offers me security in the fact that all of its departments are strong. I don't have to worry about backing the wrong horse, or realizing that I love journalism of history in a school where their programs are weak in some areas. Whatever I end up doing Northwestern can teach me. This raw undergraduate versatility is Northwestern's primary draw for me. This strength of programs combined with the fact that Northwestern employs distribution requirements instead of a rigid curriculum ensures that I can freely and easily learn what I want to learn. I want to leave college smarter (or at least more knowledgeable) then I walked in. With Northwestern's academic strength and sheer volume of reputable programs I know that I won't have any problems with that.

I wish I had more to tell you. Bigger or deeper reasons for my firm interest in your school, but really that's all I have to say. What more could I want out of college then a great school with a location that appeals to me? I'd be equally happy at a small or large University, (Northwestern's in-between, sounds great to me) I don't particularly care for the particular skill or ranking of sports teams (I like supporting my teams, but it's really more about being at the game then whether we win or lose for me.) Perhaps I'm not as picky as I should be, but all I'm looking for is opportunity. The opportunities to grow, learn, experience, and mature. I know Northwestern can offer this opportunity, I know Northwestern can give me all the tools I need to make myself better, and that is why Northwestern appeals to me.

Undergraduate / "Being an editor" - Common Application Short Answer [4]

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences in the space below (150 words or fewer, 1000 character maximum).
So, that's the prompt and I'm having some trouble with it. My essay is a little long right now, and I need help figuring out what to cut and whether this essay is a suitable kind of answer. Here goes:

Being an editor was not what I expected.
I expected my staff to be motivated and to do their best for the paper and the class.
As it turned out, this was an extremely optimistic prediction.
But that didn't make the experience any less valuable; in fact, it probably made it more useful. I learned to push kids who were in a class solely for credits to do their best work, I helped them figure out story ideas they cared about, I fought with my Adviser in order to give kids the right to publish what they cared about. I consistently gave kids feedback on their writing, and while I still ended up with some who can't spell to save their lives, they improved, they got better. I didn't have the crack team I wanted, but I got a rag-tag bunch of troops who taught me more then any semi-colon wielding master journalist could ever teach me.

(157 words)

PS: What happens if send in a short answer over the word limit? Does anyone know?

Undergraduate / "The Gift of Perception" Rice University Entrance Essay [8]

I wrote the following essay in response to the Rice University Prompt:
A. The quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice? (Most applicants are able to respond successfully in two to three double-spaced pages.)

Thoughts? Feedback? It's all appreciated!

I was young when my father first told me that he though I had been blessed with the gift of perception.
It was written in a letter I had received at the end of my eight-grade graduation, he said that he was constantly amazed by the insight I showed towards issues and problems. It was mentioned; I thanked him, and nothing more was said of it until my grandfather started to die.

He was... off-base when he died. He was extremely resistant to new ideas and constantly attacked their harbingers; he grouped everything simply and easily into good and bad. My father couldn't stand it, and so, one day when we were driving, he explained perception to me.

He told me that when a person is young, a child, things appear as black and white, good and evil. As they grow older these shades slip and blend together, creating a tapestry of gray, he told me that at the height of a persons perceptive powers, they realize that just about everything in this world is a shade of gray. After that, they get old, they get scared, they retreat and revert, everything once again establishes itself as clear black and white and the cycle is complete. He told me that me that my greatest asset was I had been blessed with the keen ability to see things as they were, to always recognize that things were more complicated then they seemed and to understand their true ramifications.

Now this isn't to say that all morality is relative. There are certainly good and evil in this world, lighter and darker shades of gray, but few things are unabashedly evil or to be completely rejected. Every action, regardless of its character, has intentions running beneath it, and every intention colors, tints, and changes the action. Apart from pure malice and true altruism (two exceedingly rare motivations) this leads to a constant twisting and changing of what is right and wrong.

And that is where morality and perception comes in. Goodness doesn't necessarily come from grouping actions or people or ideas into good or evil, it comes from understanding and acting. Only through a thorough understanding of what we hate or fear, what drives it and propagates it, can we conquer it. Only through this perception can I draw my principles and ideas, only through understanding other peoples motivations and actions can I create a moral code which is simultaneously rigorous while still existing within the realm of human reason.

I grew up in a home without faith, I grew up in a home which didn't subscribe to any real political ideology, in short, I grew up in a home without any base code or idea to drive my actions. I received the lessons that compassion was good and cruelty was bad, I received the basics of kindness and goodness but it was ultimately up to me, and me alone, how I would live my life, how I would choose to conduct myself and what idea or code I would subscribe too.

And this is the greatest gift my father has given me.
I am my own person, I know myself, I know what I think is right or wrong, I know what drives people, and, perhaps most importantly, I know what drives myself. I can accept myself and others for all their good and evil, I can work to change the world while acknowledging, understanding, and even embracing its dark side.

Integrity born of perspective, perspective born of understanding, understanding born of empathy. This is who I am, this is what I do, and this is what I can bring to Rice.

Undergraduate / Why are you intrested in English? - Rice Supplement Essay [4]

The following is my answer to the Rice Supplement Prompt:
With the understanding that the choice of academic school you indicated is not binding, explain why you are applying to that particular school of study.

I'm interested in studying English, and here's my essay. I'm not really sure what they look for in a short answer, so any feedback is appreciated.

It started in second grade, and, like most good things, it came to me in the form of a hippo-head handout.
Underneath the bright paper eyes of my yellow hippo there were pages and pages filled with clumsy handwriting. It was a journal of sorts, our teacher had handed them out and instructed us to write in them everyday. Not about anything in particular, just to write. My work was clumsy, I didn't really understand the concept of a sentence (I thought you put one every ten words) and my commas were arbitrarily thrown into the mix, more errant pencil marks then true pacing or punctuation.

Despite this myriad of errors when I first received my hippo back I received the comment, "Benn, you have a very strong voice! You have real talent, you should come talk to me sometime!" This comment struck something in me, a loose spark caught fire, and I suddenly wanted to be a writer.

Since then I've grown to love writing, I've improved vastly, I now understand sentences and on occasion commas, I can use semi-colons fluently and am even capable of making conscious stylistic decisions in my fictional work. This is farther then I ever though I would be, and so short of where I want to go. Every time I write I reach the top of a hill, survey the area around me, and realize I still have mountains to climb.

And I love it.
Its something to work on, its a constant pursuit which characterizes and defines me. Despite moments of mad frustration, despite mountains of torn up pages, and the despair which accompanies a thousand deleted pages I won't stop writing. Because every precisely placed word, every flowing and powerful sentence, and every cohesive paragraph fills me with pride and joy. I want to master English because I'm a writer, its who I am, and even if I never publish anything that is never going to change.