Undergraduate / 'I found lack of academic challenges' - Transfer Essay [6]

I am planning on transferring schools and was hoping that someone could look over my essay and help me improve it. The Prompt is: Please provide a statement (250 words minimum) that addresses your reasons for transferring and the objectives you hope to achieve. Thank You

When looking and applying to colleges as a senior in high school I thought I had found a perfect match at UNCW. During my two years here, I have met many great lifelong friends and had many experiences that I would not trade for the world. At UNCW I have had two of the best years of my life but I just feel like something is missing and that UNCW might not be the ideal school for me today.

At UNCW I have found a lack of academic challenges. I personally do my best when I am challenged in the classroom and I have not found that challenge here. Many of the students I meet here chose to attend UNCW solely to party and go to the beach. Honestly those are major reasons that I choose to attend UNCW. Since my freshman year I have matured a lot and my priorities have changed greatly. While I have realized that academics are not the top priority for many of the students here, and they seem to do the bare minimum to get by.

I believe that UNC would give me the best resources to attain my academic and professional goals. UNC has been ranked as one of the top public university for its entire existence and is even considered a "Public Ivy" school. Being located in Research Triangle Park and having such a high reputation, Carolina has many advantages for networking and finding internships that can lead me into my future career.

Since my dad was a graduate of UNC and growing up only an hour and a half away from, I visited Chapel Hill a few times every year. The history and traditions of UNC such as being the first public university and drinking from the Old Well on the first day of classes rival no other institution. Chapel Hill is a special place and has an atmosphere that I have not experienced anywhere else. I would want nothing more than to tell people that I am a Tar Heel.

Undergraduate / 'international business, people and cultures' - Study Abroad Short Essay [2]

I have to write a essay for a grant to study abroad. I am open to any suggestions that you may have. Don't hold anything back.The topic is: Please submit a type-written 200-250 word essay explaining your reasons for studying abroad and why you should receive this grant. Specifically address the relevance of the study abroad site and program to your academic and personal goals. Address how

you will utilize your education abroad experience to develop as a global citizen.

The economy today is much more global than it was just a few decades ago and everyday there are more and more transactions of goods and services between different countries. Each country has their own advantages and disadvantages and because of this trading between countries is mutually beneficial. Having never left the southeast United States, I would definitely benefit from this grant so that I could see the world and give myself a better understanding of how the future of business will be like. With so many countries being involved with each other exchanging goods and services, it is essential to understand how these relationships work and what makes these transactions run as smoothly as they do. With any international business you are involved with people that have different cultures and beliefs than your own. Observing and seeing these differences first hand can do nothing but help the way that one communicates with people from other countries that you may be involved with. Studying abroad will not only improve communication skills with people from other countries but it can also change the way that you view your own thoughts and beliefs by being aware of how other people in the world live. Being surrounded by people your entire life that have similar ideas and beliefs as your own, can shelter you from opposing views. Being able to witness first hand the way others live will allow me to have a better understanding of different cultures and how to best live in the growing global economy that we live in today.

Book Reports / Oedipus Theme Essay - "blindness" of the truth [2]

I'm writing an essay that is supposed to make an argument as to what the overall message or theme of the play is. I would really like if someone could help me with making my thesis stronger and help me with points that would make the essay a lot stronger. I know I have to go and put in more citations than what is already in it. Thanks ahead of time for your help.

Author Samuel Butler once wrote, "A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide." Even people that have great vision and can literally "see," can still be "blind" to truth and complete understanding of it. Throughout the tragedy Oedipus the King, Sophocles' repeatedly bring up the idea of sight and uses it as a metaphor for insight and knowledge. The protagonist of the play, Oedipus, is "blind" to the fact that the fate that he had tried so hard to avoid, had come true without him knowing of it, while the physically blind prophet Tiresias was the one who can actually "see" and understand the truth and the actions that had already occurred.

When Oedipus was just a baby he was taken away from Thebes to be left on a barren mountain to die after an oracle had told his father Laius, "that doom would strike him down at the hands of a son"(1176). The shepherd who was instructed to kill baby Oedipus, felt sorry for the newborn and figured that it would be just as effective to let the baby grow up in a far away city, so that he would never know or meet his biological parents. The shepherd took him to the city of Corinth where he was raised by Polybus and Merope, members of the royal family. Laius and Jocasta assumed that there baby was killed but never went and sought for proof. This reluctance to think that someone might have pity on a baby that is only days old contributed to the inability to know the truth. Oedipus grew up believing that the royal family of Corinth was his biological family and was never told that he was adopted. This is the first instance where it is apparent that Oedipus himself was truly "blind" to the truth of his history that would ultimately lead him to create his own demise.

Later in Oedipus' life, he overheard a drunken man say that he was not his father's son. After telling who he thought was his real parents the man's claim, they assured him it was false and mad at the man who spoke those words. Oedipus was satisfied but still went to see an oracle. The oracle told him, "You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see- you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!" (1178) Oedipus scared of what he heard left Corinth never to return so that this prophesy had no way of coming true. On his journey away from Corinth he was harassed by a group of travelers and he had to kill the group singlehandedly in self-defense. He came to Thebes who had just had their king murdered at a crossroads and was busy trying to solve the riddle of the sphinx. The citizens of Thebes inability to solve the riddle caused them to not seek out their past leaders killer. Oedipus quickly solved the riddle once arriving in the city and the citizens were so impressed with his knowledge and insight that Oedipus was named King of Thebes. By being praised and being seen as a role model, caused him to believe that he was superior to most. This cockiness continued to contribute to his blindness of the situation that had occurred. You would think that a new king would ask questions about a preceding ruler especially one that was murdered. He married Jocasta, unknowingly that she was his biological mother.. Oedipus was "blinded" to the fact that the prophecy that he worked so hard to avoid had come true without anyone's knowledge of what damage had already occurred.

Later on, the city of Thebes was suffering from a horrendous plague that would only go away if the murderer of Thebes' previous king, Laius, was either killed or banished from the city. The citizens had great respect and confidence in their current king Oedipus, and begged him for help so they would not die like so many others that already had from the plague. Oedipus sends for a physically blind prophet named Tiresias to disclose to him everything that he knows about the murder of Laius.

Tiresias immediately recognizes Oedipus when he arrives in Corinth and refuses to tell him what he knows. Oedipus gets upset with the blind prophet and mocks him by saying things such as, " Tiresias tells him, "You are the curse, the corruption of the land!" Oedipus is quick to call Tiresias a liar and the prophet is quick to counter by saying:

So,
you mock my blindness?
Let me tell you this.
You with your precious eyes,
you're blind to the corruption of your life,
to the house you live in, those you live with-
who are your parents? Do you know? All unknowing
you are the scourge of your own flesh and blood
It is at this time Oedipus is informed of what might be although he still is extremely doubtful. Oedipus begins to question his own knowledge of the truth for the first time. He realizes that he may have been mistaken his entire life.

Oedipus goes to his wife Jocasta to tell of the events that had just occurred. He was informed that there was a survivor of the group that was with Laius at the time of his murder. Oedipus demanded that the survivor come back to Corinth and tell him if he was Laius' killer. The man returned to Corinth and immediately recognized Oedipus as the murderer of Laius. Jocasta was so sickened with the fact that the horrible prophecy that she thought she eliminated years before had come true, that she hanged herself. When Oedipus found her dead body, he took the pins out of her robe and stabbed his eyes so he would not see the harm that he had caused due to blindness of knowledge and truth behind his own history.

Although Oedipus was renowned for his knowledge and insight, his "blindness" of the truth about his past had caused him to have the same fate, as was prophesized in his early years. Although his father, mother, and himself did everything they thought they could do to make sure it did not occur, Oedipus true lack of knowledge led to his own downfall and the downfall of his own family. Whether fate can be avoided or not, depends on the ability "see" and understand the truth.