Undergraduate / 'Computer studies and Homecoming Parade' - Northwestern University Supplement [4]

Revised: Please edit

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 remember when I was 8 years old, my mother always used to drive to Evanston every weekend to eat at Clarke's. On the way there, we would always pass a building and just before it stood a black sign with golden letters that read, "Northwestern University". I would have never guessed that ten years later Northwestern University would mean something to me.

The Lincoln Park High School Marching Band was invited to perform in Northwestern University's Homecoming Parade the first time I set foot on campus. Before the parade, we got the chance to watch the Wildcat Marching Band perform their field show. The band was full of life as they marched and showed us their paws, they growled with Wildcat pride. They were excited to perform what they had put so much hard work into for us. Then they started to play. It was a fresh, crisp sound that surrounded the area in which we were standing. It was exhilarating to hear music so articulate. One of the many great things about NU is the many programs open to its students. The music programs that are available to non-music majors is an aspect that is important to me. I have been a trombonist for five years and I have worked very hard at it. I am in the top marching and concert band as well as the advanced orchestra at my high school and I want to continue working on music, learning new instruments and just for the learning experience.

Not only was the music great but so was NU's atmosphere. Everyone experiences a vibe that will tell you about a place. You know when home feels like home and when it doesn't. NU's atmosphere gives you that feeling. The feeling that you are home. All of the students were engaged in conversation, laughing and socializing, different races interacting with each other like a big family. The coming together of the students at the Homecoming Parade also showed me NU's diversity of students. I have been speaking French for 8 years now and I have lived in Paris, France, yet I still want to travel more and meet more people and learn more languages. Being a student who has lived in the U.S. for 17 years, I don't always get the opportunity to meet people from other unique countries. NU provides that diversity and richness of culture that I've always wanted to explore. Even within its opportunity to study abroad.

While pursuing an education, I want to major in Computer Science and combine it with the arts or work with robots, and minor in French. I love the open mindedness of the computer science field, there are a ton of jobs that you could do. NU's Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences really allow their students to combine creativity with computers and to invent all kinds of different programs and devices that could change our world. The students are challenged to use their minds to create something that could make a difference in people's lives, animal's lives, and society. Having that freedom to expand my education and ideas is what also drew my attention to NU. I want to be creative; I want to invent and change the world, even outside of the U.S. I have a thirst for knowledge that can never be quenched and I want to thrive in a University that will challenge me, that will let me explore and excel in everything I want to do, and that has a wide variety of cultures that I could learn from. NU is that University.

Undergraduate / 'Puzzle maker - Dom Cobb' - University of Chicago Essay Option 3 [3]

By all means please tear this essay apart and be harsh about it. Thank You in Advanced
Essay Option 3: Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, 'Between living and dreaming there is a third thing. Guess it.' Give us your guess..
Living and dreaming are two very contrasting actions. You could draw tons of Venn diagrams trying to find similarities between the two, but I doubt you'll find what you are looking for. The last option would be to somehow combine the two together as one. The thing between living and dreaming is the point where you have to question whether you are living or dreaming, or in other words, being stuck in a surreal moment.

We are all familiar with The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy runs away from home and takes an adventure through an unusual land. She encounters a sack of talking straw known as The Scarecrow, an entire sculpture of metal who wants a heart, known as The Tin Man, and the king of the jungle who is afraid of the jungle itself, otherwise known as the Cowardly Lion. Dorothy's mission is to get home. Dorothy and her peculiar crew go through the adventure fighting through flying monkeys and cackling green witches to get to the wizard. By the end of her journey, Dorothy wakes up to be told that it was all just a dream. Even the audience is convinced that Dorothy must have been dreaming but Dorothy doesn't take this for an answer, she knows this event has taken place, or does she? In 2011 back in Kansas Dorothy, now an elderly woman constantly analyzes and questions what it was she had experienced. The next thing to consider is how can we feel, physically and emotionally, if we are only dreaming? We have to be doing both at the exact same time.

The next person that takes on this puzzle is the puzzle maker himself: Dom Cobb. He takes ideas to another level known as Inception. His strategy is to play with people's subconscious ideas to the point where it causes an affect in their conscious minds, but before he created these puzzles he forgot to mention how dangerous the outcome of the situation can be. For example, while in a dream or inception, Dom must use a spinning top to figure out if he is alive or dreaming. The top spins without stopping if he is still dreaming but if he isn't dreaming the top stops, verifying his question. The point here is that Dom can get so deep into people's subconscious mind, that they are unsure of which one is life and which one is the dream. It is almost as if your conscious mind is lost in your subconscious mind.

Whether you need a spinning top to make sure you are living or, you need a friend to keep you awake because a man in a green and red Christmas sweater with razor sharp knives on his right hand is out to get you, being between a dream and your life is still a mystery; aside from all of the dreams, there are moments where you experience an event that is surreal and you must try to wake yourself as if you were asleep but you really weren't. When you were a young child, I am sure you had the dream of your parents taking you to Disney World. Then that one day hits you, you are at Disney World staring Mickey and Minnie straight in the eye with awe because you cannot believe you are seeing what you are seeing. For a split second, your mind goes blank, your eyes dilate, and your soul snaps back into place. "You are here," is what you tell yourself. You snap back and enjoy your moment, the moment you thought you'd never see.

Some events can appear more surreal than others that leave you permanently stuck in between living and dreaming. There is nothing like seeing a classmate on a Friday, like every other Friday, logging into Facebook on a Saturday morning to find out that that classmate has died, and returning to class on a Monday to a piercing silence and your classmate's empty seat. You go through a couple of days trying to justify, trying to wake up, but you can't wake up because you are very well awake. At this point in your conscious mind, it is almost as if you were dreaming they were alive and you are desperately trying to remember what the dream of them being alive was like while stuck in the reality of something that you wish was only a dream. There, you don't know which one is real. You don't believe your mind. You don't believe your eyes.

If you could just imagine how surreal some events can appear to people you too would question if it is real or not. Try putting your feet in the shoes of a witness of the 9/11 attacks, watching a building that stands stories high crumble down with fire and ease. Try to imagine yourself in the shoes of an African-American who has watched his or her friend or relative be lynched and burned because of the color of their skin. The most horrible of events are the very last things we want to dream about, but when they have been lived, it is difficult to believe that it had ever been lived and if they were to happen to you, you too would question in that split second if you were dreaming or living.

Undergraduate / 'Engaged' - Northwestern University Statement (Engineering and Applied Sciences) [2]

Hi I am writing my statement for Northwestern University and I just finished typing it and would like some feed back the prompt is: 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?

In advanced I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my statement
Here is my statement:

Northwestern University is a university that is diverse and allows students to be engaged with each other. Students learn about each other and meet people from all around the world. These students are able to share a part of them with other students and mix cultures. Not only are the students able to meet people from around the world at the university itself , but they are able to study abroad and travel the world being engaged in their work but at the same time learning about a new country or city. Being a student who has lived in the U.S. all my life and has spoken French for eight years and has had the opportunity to live in Paris I continue to want to explore the rest of the world and having that diversity will give me the opportunity to learn about other countries through other students if I am unable to visit them myself. Northwestern University's Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences allows their students to combine creativity with engineering and creating inventions or programs that can change our world. Students design and create and solve problems and not just any problem but problems that are a big issue today. They solve problems that can make a difference in people's lives and not only people but animals as well. Having the freedom to be creative and solving bigger problems in the world really draws my attention to The McCormick School of Engineering and applied sciences being someone who is interested in pursuing computer science and that loves being creative , but at the same time using my creativity to touch peoples lives or to make a difference, is a very important aspect to me and Northwestern University shows me that they can offer me that aspect. Northwestern University also has a wide variety of programs from science to animate arts that combines music and computers to the programs available to students who don't want to pursue a degree in music but would like to play in college and the list goes on. Being someone whose thirst for knowledge can never be quenched, I want to dwell and thrive in that environment, around students who want to learn different things and use it to propel them in life, around students who want to learn everything about everything. That atmosphere is very uplifting, the Northwestern campus is very uplifting. I remember being there performing with the Lincoln Park High School Marching band, we were invited to perform in the Northwestern Homecoming Parade and we received the opportunity to watch the Northwestern University Marching Band perform and the atmosphere was amazing. The band was amazing and the atmosphere of the school's spirit felt like home. That is something I want to be apart of , I know Northwestern University has so many great things to offer me as a student and that I would thrive so much more and I want to be able to make a change in people's lives through my work and Northwestern University has showed me that they can help me accomplish those goals.