Undergraduate / 'My Carnival Prize' - interests and learning materials [3]

Write a brief essay (250 words maximum each question) in which you respond to the following questions. (freshman applicants only):

Tell us something about yourself or your interests that we wouldn't learn by looking at the rest of your application materials. (While you should still pay attention to sentence structure and grammar, your response is meant as a way for us to get to know you, rather than a formal essay.)

My Carnival Prize (is this a good title?)

The goldfish slowly wafted in the water instead of swimming around and I wondered if this was normal. I carefully examined its plain, orange gill, watching for signs of shallow breath. This delicate creature was the only prize I won from the carnival and I treasured it.

I re-homed it into a shallow bowl and filled it with water as soon as I got home. I dropped tiny pieces of bread into the water and watched as it gobbled up the pieces. That was when my researching began.

I immediately bought it some real goldfish food and when the pet store owner told me that tap water had to be neutralized with conditioner, I bought a bottle of that too. Over the next few weeks, I added pebbles and leaves into the bowl to make it more comfortable for my new pet. One day, I decided that "Jelly" needed a friend, and so I went to the pet store to seek him one. This was the beginning of my marine biology hobby.

Now I have 4 fish tanks and as much as 160 fishes at once. I've owned and even bred goldfish, koi, mollies, guppies, platys, cichlids, eels, tetras, Siamese fighting fish, shrimps, snails, crabs, and so on. Like the aquarium geek I am, I know all about pH ranges, water hardness, and suitable temperatures for fish.

From this experience I've learned that sometimes interests grow out of the most unexpected things. I'm willing to try anything because I would like to discover where my next passion lies. Who would have thought that this plain, orange fish I won at a carnival would have made such an impact in who I am.

Undergraduate / 'psychology course' - Help with Johns Hopkins supplement [2]

Write a brief essay (250 words maximum each question) in which you respond to the following questions. (freshman applicants only):

Johns Hopkins offers 50 majors across the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering. On this application, we ask you to identify one or two that you might like to pursue here. Why did you choose the way you did? If you are undecided, why didn't you choose? (If any past courses or academic experiences influenced your decision, you may include them in your essay.)

In my senior year of high school, my school finally offered a psychology course. Although there was only one teacher who taught the class and a limit of two classes, I was grateful that this was the first opportunity I had to experience a field I had always been interested in. Before then, my knowledge of psychology was fully dependent on the section of book in the library on that topic which let me explore the mind of intellectual geniuses and criminal masterminds. In the few months that I have taken this course, I have learned that viewing a room from different angles gives different perspectives and the mind can often be fooled by certain tastes or smells. I have pondered the purpose of sleep along with the most famous psychologists and analyzed these dreams. Unfortunately, the study of Psychology is very limited in high school. At Johns Hopkins, I hope to pursue a major in psychology. I'm interested in The Department of Physiological and Brain Sciences because it can provide me with the education that the one course in my high school cannot. It offers over thirty courses that can give me an in depth view on the different aspects of the brain and body. From courses such as social psychology to the history of psychology, I can discover how science, history, and social life come together in this field. Besides classesïbecause most of science is actually hands onïI would be interested in research and internship opportunities at Johns Hopkins. One of the research opportunities I am interested in is studying behavioral neuroscience. I look forward to learn in these diverse courses and apply my newly obtained knowledge to the scientific field of psychology and labs.