Undergraduate / Texas Common application- someone who impacted... [5]

This is last minute but thank you for any opinions or advice that you offer. I find this essay a little redundant, and the conclusion seems rushed.

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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.

I remember my brother asked me once, "Should I sell my +8 legendary golden staff for 350 million penya?" It frustrated me so much that my brother can play games, procrastinate, sleep, and still get over a 95 on his AP classes. Here I was, trying to study for an economics exam while he was enjoying his time. It makes it worse that he is my twin brother. Twins are supposed to be the same in every aspect! We are not alike at all, we are polar opposites. However, despite my irritation, he is my greatest rival or the "final boss" in his words. He is my adversary and my motivation to beat.

All my life I have been looking at my brother's back, literally. He was born first, his baptism first, his communion first, his confirmation first, his awards first, and his recognition first. He always came first in everything and always better than me, which agitated me. How I envied him as I saw my achievement shoved to the side to make room for my brother's. I remember showing my fastidious father that I made a 92 in my AP World History class. Then along came my brother with his 99. Elated my father was! Casting aside my report card, my father bolstered his achievement as my brother became the talk of the dinner. My grade, my 96 was belittled by my father as he said, "You need to work on that."

I have always known that though, but my envy and pride would not let that stand. The jealously bug bit me one too many, and he became my motivation to beat. I imagined the time when I finally could beat him in something. I imagined a day were I could beat him and finally say "Ha Ha! I finally did better than you." That day never came. I was always chasing after him, and as I got close enough to reach him with my stretched arm, he would just zoom further away. He was the roadrunner, and I was the cunning coyote, stirring up mischievous thoughts to stop him

Eventually as time quickly lingered on, my envy subsided and reverence came to replace it. I came to idolize my brother more and more, and believe that I should surpass him because of my own strength instead of spite. During my junior and senior year I began to notice something. I was more focused, and more reliable. Although my grades slightly improved, I felt better. Some will say it was because I matured because my experience in high school. I like to believe it was my motivation to defeat my brother that changed me. Every time he surpassed me, I subconsciously accepted his achievements. I began to view his accomplishments now in a more of a positive view. Although I still do chuckle in the rare moments that I beat him.

Now I see myself a step closer reaching him. The senior version of me is different than my sophomore self. My brother is still the same as he was. He still plays his games, but he is the one who has impacted my life. His is my motivation.

Undergraduate / Common application-A topic of importance: GREED [5]

I like to thank you in advance for any help you can provide me. Math and science has always been my strong point and my essay are usually not that great.

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.

All my life I was taught that as one of the seven, greed is considered a sin. I see it around me and within me. How one becomes self-centered, wasteful, and how one will under appreciate things. What intrigued me was that after pondering on the idea of greed is that I realized it is important to society. Greed can lead to three good qualities for society which is ambition, innovation, and cooperation.

Greed can be called a more excessive ambition, but in the end greed is ambition. It is true that ambition can go either way, but think about it. What makes the best doctor, the best lawyer, or the best engineer? The answer to that is greed. Greed does not necessary deal with money alone, but it is a desire. The desire to make, become, or contribute more becomes an incentive to strive to be the best. The best doctor may not necessary need the salary but is in it for the satisfaction. He however, is can still considered greedy for that satisfaction. Greed gives us the will, the desire to be the best and without it, there is no innovation.

Almost everyone can agree that innovation is mostly good thing. Innovations lead to more efficient and higher quality products which allow for a higher quality of life. Switching from vacuum tubes to transistors in our electronics made our computers smaller, faster, and better. The innovation and its usefulness stems from a couple of factors. The one common factor in all of them is always greed. What made Henry Ford to effectively make use of the assembly line? Ford wanted to make a lot of cars to sell to the population more efficiently. Efficiency in the business world means profit.

Greed will make us cooperate with each other. If you want to benefit from others, you have to benefit them. I notice these same things in my classes and in society. We do things the best we can for our own self-interest, or desire. In return, we can benefit from other's self-interest while they benefit from ours. Through this team effort, we all benefit. Our self-interest will make us all interdependent of each other. We rely on other's ability while they rely on ours. For example, I might really need help in English but I am great in mathematics. My friend might be the exact opposite. We will help each other out. It is not just because we are friends that help each other out. We both have our own self-interest to do well in our bad areas.

We live in a prodigal society, and this might be the reason why we as a society are greedy. Our greed can destroy things and distort our views. On the other hand, greed allows us to be ambitious, innovative, and cooperative.