Undergraduate / 'a three year intensive science research course' - Union College [2]

Essay Question: At Union, a liberal arts education includes interdisciplinary study, undergraduate research, opportunities for international study and involvement in Minerva Houses. Why is Union a good fit for you?

I need 250 words whereas this essay has 281 words: PLEASE HELP!!! And please give your opinion about the essay.

Out of all the countless options that Union College offers, undergraduate research is one opportunity that stands out the most for me. Ever since sophomore year of high school, I have been involved in a three year intensive science research course. Even though I faced many obstacles in this course, I know that my ability in overcoming everyone of these barriers has helped me gain a better understanding of the research world. Researching doesn't involve making a prediction and finding its answer in a week or two. It involves countless hours, even years, of research. Knowing that I would be kicked out of this course if I didn't find a mentor within the first six months of the course, I knew I had an obstacle ahead of me. Thus it was a research of its own in finding a mentor to work with. I spent countless hours researching possible mentors, reading their journal articles, e-mailing them, and if rejected starting all over again. At one of my mentor meeting, Dr. DalCol, whom I had never contacted before, said to me "so you are the girl who has been contacting all the local cardiac surgeons to be your mentor, right? You never give up now do you? That's good." While being in this course not only have I finished one required research, I have gone ahead and started another one at the Cardiovascular Center at Albany Medical Center because of the love for research that I have grown while being in this course. I know that the undergraduate research opportunity at Union College will provide me not with the same but better research opportunities than the ones I have grown to love.

Undergraduate / Doing the "Impossible"--Common App Essay [3]

Topic--Write A Personal Essay!!!

After unsuccessfully finishing my AP Physics B final project titled "Mission Possible" at the end of my junior year, I came to believe that nothing could be more 'impossible' to accomplish in life than building a 50cm*50cm*80cm device that mechanically started by dropping a quarter onto a mouse trap (, did eight different tasks next, one after another, and at the end raised a balloon with your team sign hung from it.) My view of the word 'impossible' changed dramatically though after I watched a TV series, Expedition Impossible, over the summer of my senior year. It taught me that I could achieve anything in life that I wanted badly and taught me to never say 'impossible.'

Wanting to see people do impossible things in Morocco was the reason I sat besides my four siblings eagerly that first day the show was aired. The show, Expedition Impossible, consisted of thirteen brave teams, with three contestants each, who competed with each other, doing impossible tasks, in ten different stages of the expedition to take home the final prize of $150,000 and three new Ford Explorers. Seeing these teams race across desserts on camels, run over steep snowy mountains, sail through rivers with high winds, jump into rivers from high mountains, and solve impossible puzzles encouraged me that things weren't impossible to accomplish. In addition, seeing a blind guy do all these things also sparked a fire inside me. Eric Weihenmayer of team "No Limits", a 42-year old blind man, is known to be the first blind person to reach the Seven Great Summits of the world, of which one was Mount Everest. It is one thing to see people do impossible expeditions but a totally another experience to see a team consisting of a blind guy do things that even healthy people can't do and take home second place at the end of the month long expedition. Eric and other influential heroes helped me to realize that my physics project could have been possible.

By looking at the impractical things that Eric accomplished on Expedition Impossible showed me that constructing a 50cm*50cm*80cm box, was only one of the many, though, but possible thing that I had to accomplish in life. Eric's great physical and emotional strength taught me to look at every task as having "No Limits". Most people might argue that TV shows don't teach life lessons. But for me Expedition Impossible has changed my view of the world.