Undergraduate / Earthworms may not have a heart, but I do - Cornell Common App Supplement [2]

If someone could critique my supplement essay for Cornell it would be greatly appreciated. I'm applying for early decision, and the deadline is the first of November. I also need to cut the paper down by about 140 words. Any suggestions on the paper itself and the grammar are welcome.

Describe your intellectual interests, their evolution, and what makes them exciting to you. Tell us how you will utilize the academic programs in the College of Arts and Sciences to further explore your interests, intended major, or field of study.

Did you know that the average human produces over ten thousand gallons of saliva in a lifetime? Or that when killer whales travel in groups, they breathe in unison? How about that people with high self-esteem have a larger hippocampus in their brain that those with low self-esteem? Whenever I hear facts, my brain automatically stores them, filling my brain with piles of information, whether they be merely entertaining, or have a more intellectual use. Learning facts like these is what started my passion for science.

Throughout my schooling, my science classes are the classes I've enjoyed the most. As a child, we dug in the dirt to find worms, and then talked about the worm's anatomy. Even now, I remember that earthworms don't have a heart, but have five of an organ that works very similarly. When I was a young teen, I was intrigued by the Doppler Effect and its applications, and now I understand how it applies to the Universes' accelerating expansion. When I started high school, new doors were opened. I took Chemistry, Astronomy, Anatomy and Physics classes; my mind was blown with new and interesting pieces of information. But none of the courses interested me as much as my Biology class.

Because I loved the first Biology course I took, in my senior year of high school, I decided to take AP Biology. My love for Biology is amplified by my love for facts and ease of memorization. Biology is filled with memorization, whether it be that the ribosome of a cell synthesizes protein or the uses of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) in the Krebs and Calvin cycles.

As I learned more and more about Biology, my interests started honing in on particular topics. For example, I really enjoy genetics, and have recently started auditing a college level genetics class. Another topic that I'm incredibly interested by is pathology. How diseases affect the body, the way diseases like lung cancer spread in almost unpredictable ways, and the reason certain medications work and others don't is extremely fascinating to me.

It was in this AP Biology class that I first encountered Neuroscience. We read an article about different careers in the science field with a brief description of each field. Although I knew I loved science, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to major in. When I read about Neuroscience in my Biology class, it shot to the top of my list of possible majors. It described Neuroscience as being the study of the brain and nervous system, and that a Neuroscientist figures out the way the brain impacts the rest of the body through synaptic signaling. I started reading studies done by Neuroscientists on my own, and my interest in the field became increasingly deeper. Discovering the way the brain impacts everything from pruning fingers that have been immersed in water to bipolar disorder became my new favorite pass time, and I have now started auditing an introduction to neuroscience college course to further my knowledge on the subject.

The College of Arts and Sciences will let my mind absorb as much information as my brain possibly can, and apply the information to real life problems. Cornell calls out to my love for knowledge with its abundant amount of intellectually invigorating courses. With over 4,000 courses offered, the programs in the College of Arts and Sciences will permit me to explore my curiosities, discover new ambitions, and gain the knowledge I need to achieve my ideal career of a Neuroscientist by allowing me access top-notch classes taught by renowned professors.