Undergraduate / 'something revolutionary' - Apply Texas Essay prompt C: Extra personal informati [2]

The prompt for this essay is: There may be personal information you want considered as part of your admissions application. Write an essay describing that information. You might include exceptional hardships, challenges, or opportunities that have shaped or impacted your abilities or academic credentials, personal responsibilities, exceptional achievements or talents, educational goals, or ways in which you might contribute to an institution committed to creating a diverse learning environment.

Ever since i was very young I had a strong interest in technology, I wanted to know what all could be done with it and how it worked, I also find it fascinating that a computer can be built from things that are found in the ground. I look back as far as I can remember and I think about the technology we had ten years ago, how thick the cellphones were and how my dad had to run a 100 foot phone wire downstairs to the wall to get internet on his creamy white colored desktop computer. I've learned many new things from the information technology lets us access, things that i would have never known about if there was no network connecting the corners of the earth. The amount of that information continues to grow and it will eventually need to be processed and I can't imagine myself not being part of that movement.

when I was about 10 years old I used old parts from the attic and put together my first computer and in that same year I made a hovercraft to compete in the school science fair. Along with my technological achievements I was also running and playing my favorite sport, football. When I was old enough to join my school's track was when i began running more and more, i needed to be the best at it and eventually I became just that. Football on the other hand came more naturally than track because I was put in a starting position right away, and ever since I started playing in middle school I have kept that position, not letting anyone out work or out play me.

The world keeps changing and it can do so faster than ever because of the technology that has been improved over the years. As the technology improves so does the greater good of the world and I couldn't stand on the side and not be part of improving the world, whether it be by designing a computer that will tell you where the nearest restaurant is every time you're hungry or by creating a vehicle to get you there with minimal effort.

For the longest time I've wanted to make something revolutionary or taking a design someone else made and making it more efficient, easier to use and most importantly easier to fix. I believe that things can be made more simply only if someone took the time to put other's needs into perspective and hopefully with the proper tools I'll be able to simplify the lives of millions one day.

Thanks for reading, anything helps and i cant think of a title for this one

Undergraduate / "Information Vs. Ideology" - Texas essay on an issue of importance to me [3]

The prompt is from the ApplyTexas webiste, it reads: "Choose an issue of importance to you-the issue could be personal, school related, local, political, or international in scope-and write an essay in which you explain the significance of that issue to yourself, your family, your community, or your generation."

The amount of unbiased, true information in the world is very very small, it is hard to find in the classroom, on the news or even on the internet. Since I am at a stage in life where my world will be changing faster than ever, I would like to be confident that the decisions I will make are ones not tainted with the ideology of someone else. Not only does it bother me that my thoughts may not be truly my own but the idea that the decisions others in a position of power make may be swayed by the ideology of something that was said on a bias news station or on a popular blog.

People attend school to learn proven facts such as a^2 + b^2=c^2and that the holocaust actually happened. From those facts a student is expected to make their own decisions with their own uncorrupted thoughts. But it is difficult for this to happen because even without knowing teachers and professors tie in their own views that can destroy any organic opinion a student would have had. Today it is hard to see the difference between true information and another's ideology especially when in a classroom setting. Its not the teachers fault that their opinions may slip out in class, but sometimes it is. I think that teachers that go out of their way to share their political understanding should not be in a teaching position because they could spending more time lecturing students on the subject they teach instead of forcing their opinion upon students in the class.

When a tragic thing happens in the world i find that it is almost impossible for a viewer to know what happened without a news station trying to convince the viewer that the tragedy occurred because of something the station feels needs to be changed. The shooting that happened in Aurora Colorado is an example of this. Almost every large news outlet in the country reported on the story, they stated the facts as they should but they also included their own ideas as to why it happened. The media's explanations range from video games, to gun control, to blaming the shyness the shooter had around his neighbors. Someone may have tuned to the news to learn about what happened but are also left with the ideas that the news planted in their heads.

The internet is a dangerous and beautiful thing. The world is much closer than ever before thanks to social networks such as facebook, people can see places they would never be able to see with the availability of programs such as Google Earth and thanks to companies like Google, recipes, videos, music and much more can be found online at the click of a mouse. On the other hand the internet can be used to cause damage that can often never be repaired, the fact that any person can share their two cents on the Internet can lead to false information that can mislead someone viewing the content and that person will have no idea he or she is being manipulated.

It is almost impossible to be informed on a topic without being exposed to another person's personal agenda. All major sources of information in the world, whether it be schools, news or the internet all seem to have been skewed to represent a person's ideas. This affects everyone because people who get their information from these sources are subject to believing things they would not have if they had true unbiased information not data that represents another's ideology.

thank you for taking the time to read my essay and any feedback will help.

Undergraduate / 'My dad' - Texas essay on someone who has made an impact in my life [NEW]

The essay prompt is: Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.

Thanks for reading

Family is more important than anything, and it is easy to take your family members for granted as I did a long time ago. When I was much younger, first grade i think, my family and I moved from our comfortable home in North Carolina to one here in Texas. At the time I thought it was the end of the world, i was leaving behind all of my friends and would most likely never see them again. But my dad reassured me that i would make new and better friends at my new home and, well, he was right.

We had been living in out new Texas home for about 10 months and my mom and dad decided to split. My brother and I moved with my mom back to North Carolina where I lived without seeing my dad for about two years.

In those two years i had changed from the boy who was respectful and focused on school, to one that was getting in trouble and was more interested in playing video games than reading a book or doing homework. The time I spent in North Carolina the second time was much different than the first, I didn't have the same friends and I didn't make new ones as easily, luckily for me though we decided to move back to Texas with my dad and my life began to change again. After being back with my entire family for a few months my bad habits began to break, I was reading more and became more well-mannered than my past self. I can give most of the credit to my father who saw the problem in my behavior and fixed it. Even though the change from a well behaved boy to a troubled child and back again all happened before the 5th grade I can only imagine how I would have turned out if it wasn't for my dad.

There are many other things my dad has done for me without my even knowing, most notably and important of all is that he taught me to think more like him, to be more curious about how things work and how they could be improved. Thanks to him I can't look at a structure or machine without wondering why it was made the way it is and how can i make it better. I hope to use this was of thinking that I was given and use it to make everyone's life just a little easier, to make things more practical and help people reach new heights to achieve things they thought were impossible.

My dad may not have told me this but i know that he pushes me and worked me hard to make sure my life will be a little easier when I'm on my own. I know that when I reach that point my life will be easier because of my dad, but i want others lives to be easier because of me.