Undergraduate / Celebrate My Nerdy Side! A sneaky prompt from Tufts. [8]

Welcome to my brain. It's not too clean, so keep your arms and legs inside the synapse at all times. Here, you'll see why I always take pictures from my nerdy side. It's my best side. I accept it; I've grown accustomed to being the youngest in my math and science class. Sophomore year, I remember being awkwardly elated when the senior girl next to me in AP Calculus asked me for help. My language is filled with esoteric references and mathematical terms; the look of sheer confusion on my friend's face confirms my success. I didn't respond to question number one because it already took my answers. All six of them. I wear plaid because it reminds me of prime number tables; also, parallel lines are antisocial. They never meet. I am reading a book on Chaos Theory for an extra-curricular assignment, even though I don't have to. I've already learned it all. My Middle School project fair was an infinitely detailed investigation into fractal geometry - if you'll excuse the pun, which you may not. I don't play chess competitively, though. I consider that a step too far. Instead of using thesauri to fluff my language, I recurrently must utilize a syntactic onomasticon to disencumber and abridge my parlance postliminarily to composing a dissertation. But, as yet, I cannot say in response that I am also attending a prestigious New England university. So I guess I'm not all that nerdy after all. This essay is exactly 250 words.

Undergraduate / Could I write an essay about the Internet? Of course I can, it's NYU! [2]

I am not prepared to talk about the Magna Carta. I am not going to prepare an abstract of Woodstock, although I would very much like to, or try to justify an meaningless object that happens to be on my desk at the moment. Instead, I will shed my judgment on something more subtle.

The Internet, in the eyes of this teenage technocynic, is a wasteland. Truthfully, but with perhaps a glint of melodrama, I see the fall of Western civilization in every other blog contribution and Facebook thumbnail. And so, after a number of futile hours wasted online, I was relieved to find an accessible site with tangible hopes and valiant expectations. This page is dedicated to real music, delicately and brilliently designed animation, and the uplifting of the mind. The Tripatorium, it is called. It is not an idol, it is not changing the world, but it represents a new counter-counterculture effort to refine the scourge of online life. True, there are many sites dedicated to fine art and bewildering graphics, but none as successful in combining the two as The Tripatorium. Perusing through its astrologically-inspired archives requires a certain level of maturity and respect, which is a welcome challenge to the hoards of YouTube philosophers and Twitter typists. I believe I stand for most of my peers when I say that, apart from school, the Internet is the most suggestive new 'educational' tool. For this reason, I must bow in figurative respect for a brave new venture into the future of webculture.

Undergraduate / Why Swarthmore -- Phirst Draught [3]

What's up, internet community! Take a second and absorb this first draft for a minute, will ya? Feel free to be as mean to me as you'd like. Biting sarcasm and over-the-line criticism is welcome.

So, Why Swarthmore?

Swarthmore is the Quaker scholar's answer to an Ivy league university. I see in Swarthmore a valiant effort to trace back to what education should be, and executes it impeccably. In my first rounds of research into the next four to six years of my life, I was attracted to Swarthmore because of its small population and class size. I have seen many colleges that seem to lose sight of each student in the throng of scholars that surround him. Not so under the beautiful canopy of of the Scott Arboretum. I know that I thrive in small classes, preferring to speak up and lead class discussion rather than sit back and doodle. It is my expectation that, at Swarthmore, my doodling prowess will significantly decrease.

However, not everything at Swarthmore is small. Accompanying its individual focus is a staggering breadth of academic opportunity and a unique, rigorous curriculum. I am ready to step into a refreshing new kind of education, and Swarthmore offers exactly that. I need a place where I can walk up to a professor and ask him anything. I need an environment that matches my own personality and my own principles. Like its students, and like me, Swarthmore is an outgoing and intriguing institution.

Among the students of Swarthmore is a certain kinship that is scarcely seen elsewhere. In following with the principles of the Quakers, students prefer to work together in their education rather than adopt the competitive ambiance of many other schools of Swarthmore's tier. I thrive in places that encourage cooperation. I need a setting where I can feel comfortable starting a conversation with a stranger. Just as I am not only a physics pupil, Swarthmore's affect is not limited to any specific pathway. I can expect to meet people whose background and interests may seem completely opposite to mine, and still become great friends. Who's to say that, by taking a few steps from the Hicks Hall steps and by walking a few meters east, I won't meet an interesting German Studies major and start discussing Victorian-era art? Anything is possible with the global stance of Swarthmore.

I am prepared to meet a challenge that will change me for the better. I may find countless new friends as active in 3D animation as I am, or as adept at Guitar Hero as I am, or as accustomed to wearing plaid as I am. Although I am convinced that I will be a physicist, I do not want to be limited to this pursuit. I want to have the opportunity to engage in other interests. Both within and without the classroom, education embodies a lifelong quest to 'let your life speak,' and I think Swarthmore speaks for itself.

What can I change? What can I add? Subtract? Multiply?