Posts by jpc34

jpc34

Dec 23, 2010

Undergraduate / Things I Want to Accomplish in the Next 4 Years - Why Yale [4]

i believe the why yale essay is supposed to be 500 characters, not 500 words...

jpc34

Dec 13, 2010

Undergraduate / "I'll never know everything there is to know" - Brown: What don't you know? [9]

Thanks so much, and I appreciate your help. I cut it down a bit, but I think I'll risk it and leave it in. Good luck with all your applications, too!

jpc34

Dec 11, 2010

Undergraduate / "I'll never know everything there is to know" - Brown: What don't you know? [9]

aggghh. I wrote the intro to whimsically segue into the essay, almost poking fun at people who are so caught up in knowing so much and having laundry list resumes. Do you think admissions officers would look at it and immediately think of that essay?

jpc34

Dec 11, 2010

Undergraduate / "Soccer field" - Williams 'an environment that is particularly signifiant to you' [15]

In the last paragraph you are a bit too explicit with assigning meaning. Instead of saying "means", "symbol", "represent", and "sign", try to emphasize what you're trying to say. It'll make the audience feel that too, not like they're being told what to feel. As an English teacher of mine says, "show, don't tell".

jpc34

Dec 11, 2010

Undergraduate / "I'll never know everything there is to know" - Brown: What don't you know? [9]

thanks! do you think "These are stagnant, albeit essential, ideas ensconced in academia and meant to be passed down from generation to generation like family heirlooms." is a bit too negative? Should I change it to something that reflects more of the ideas in the final paragraph?

jpc34

Dec 11, 2010

Undergraduate / Death of my grandmother: William And Mary Essay [14]

Wow, that's really powerful. I absolutely love the second and third paragraphs. I'm sorry for your loss, but you did an amazing job paying respects to what sounds like a great woman in this essay.

jpc34

Dec 11, 2010

Undergraduate / "Quantum Physics and Relativity" Brown Science Supplement [6]

1) Maybe try to be a bit more anecdotal in the first response. Instead of saying "I had come across a topic I was really, really interested in", try discussing what about that topic excited you.

2) Wow, that sounds like a pretty amazing summer.

3) I don't think you need two of the "I would say this". The last sentence is good, but is a bit overrun with commas and I needed to labor a little to get through it. Try breaking it into two more manageable sentences.

4) Haha, antibubbles sounds like a game you'd play in third grade. Probably a bit harder than that.

Overall, I definitely get the sense that you're really into quantum physics. And damn, that's an impressive thing to be into. Good luck!

jpc34

Dec 10, 2010

Undergraduate / "I'll never know everything there is to know" - Brown: What don't you know? [9]

French novelist Anatole France wrote: "An education isn't how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't." What don't you know?

I know a lot. I know how to ride a bull standing up. I know how to swim with a shark, play with a shark, and, if necessary, wrestle a shark. I know how to charm snakes with either music or sweet-talk. I know who let the dogs out. I know the ending to The Sopranos. I know how much wood a woodchuck could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood. I know how to solve a Rubik's Cube with both hands tied behind my back. I know how to do a crossword puzzle blindfolded. I know how to speak Russian with an Italian accent and Italian with a Russian accent. I know how to write five-page palindromic essays. I know how to read Wingdings.

Okay, maybe I don't quite know all of this. As much as I've studied and paid attention in class all these years, I still don't know that much. And despite how hard I may try, I'll never know everything there is to know. All that knowledge is like a mountain range, and as I reach one peak, another summit shows up in the distance.

While being a Sisyphus of encyclopedias and textbooks may win you a couple games on Jeopardy, your breadth of knowledge does not solve any problems or illuminate the world on its own. Sure, knowing six-dimensional geometry or the first eight prime ministers of Kazakhstan does wonders for one's ego, but it does nothing standing alone. These are stagnant, albeit essential, ideas ensconced in academia and meant to be passed down from generation to generation like family heirlooms.

In reality, it takes a unique combination of curiosity, determination, and creativity to become truly knowledgeable. You must be intellectually curious enough to seek out information and ideas, resolute enough to sift through and gain a genuine understanding, and creative enough to add a new perspective and go one step further. I strive to attain all the information I can, from math to literature to woodchucking, in order to gain a greater understanding about the world as a whole. I don't want to just work through it and spit it back out; I want to take what I learn and synthesize it to further venture into the unknown. From there I'll reach the bottom of the next mountain, but isn't that what an education is all about?