Undergraduate / My qualities; UIUC App/ Something more [3]

Prompt:In no more than 300 words, tell us something about yourself that isn't covered elsewhere in this application, some interest or experience of yours that you think the University of Illinois should know about as part of the admissions review.

The secret to a perfect life is not just possessing money or other material objects, but is in
developing your inner self. Self-improvement might sound like a fancy or a very heavy word for today's teens, but for me, it is the truth, which disciplines such as martial arts and yoga have taught me. My dad has always been interested in martial arts since his school days and my mom is a Yoga teacher. Hence, I was exposed to both these disciplines since my childhood.

Good internal values are always at the centre of a rewarding and a successful life and these values are the most important lessons that Yoga and Karate have taught me. By practising

moves, even when the body is on the verge of giving up and when the thought of
quitting seems more appealing,. I have emerged stronger and persistent, capable of enduring any kind of test life throws at me.. I have learnt that the mind is far greater than the body, and that, once I learn to take control of my mind, nothing can stop me from achieving my goal.

Martial arts as well as Indian culture have taught me to be humble and respect everyone and everything. Yoga and meditation have taught me to focus all my concentration towards the

work at hand and not to get distracted by anything that comes my way. With practice, I have grown more confident and strong, both mentally and physically. I have learnt to commit myself to something rather than quitting, once I have started something. I thus, feel that these qualities I possess, always have and will always be instrumental, in improving and pushing me forward as a student, who wants to achieve a lot.

Undergraduate / We grabbed Trophy; MSU/ Richness of Campus Life [4]

MSU Prompt:1. Michigan State University recognizes that an assortment of interests, viewpoints, and life experiences are important in student learning and enhance the university community. Describe an experience, passion, or characteristic that illustrates what you would contribute to the MSU community and how this will add to the overall richness of campus life.

The essay has surpassed the word limit which is 400 words...Please judge this as if you were an admissions staff officer and tell me what impact does this essay have on a reader...

It was a bright summer day of the Indian subcontinent, "Azad" house had put up a low score of 65 runs from 10 overs on the scoreboard .It had to therefore restrict "Gandhi" house from reaching a 66 to engrave its name on the inter house champions trophy, and since I was the team captain everyone focused their eyes on me. At a time when all my team coaches and the senior players were of the opinion to use all the pace bowlers, I made a radical decision to use the spinners and the pace bowlers simultaneously. For a time being everyone thought that I was going to blow it up, but in the end my decision proved right and we grabbed the trophy .This experience in my school introduced me to my leadership and managerial capabilities of mine and after a couple of few more such experiences, I understood that I was very much inclined towards leading and managing a group of individuals towards a common goal.

Moreover, my dad owns a construction company. Right since childhood, I would never leave a chance to accompany my dad to the construction site. I always loved to see my dad, instruct the engineers and architects while working on the blue prints and watch the workers lay bricks, cement the walls skillfully, the masons lay the tiles on the floor with geometric precision and as a result I was introduced to a whole new avenue of construction management an art in itself and realized how interesting this field is. As early as during my high school years when students normally know nothing about construction except that some bricks and cement are used in it, I was already familiar to some of the terms and concepts of pre-construction, construction and post construction phases, budgeting, cost estimating, designing, brick work,hand over,etc.

Thus, with this familiarity with my future career, and with my leadership abilities and friendly nature, I am a very sociable person. This attribute of mine, as demanded by my career, has been of great help in allowing me to easily mix in a group of different people. Also, when the tsunami hit southern parts of India in 2005, many schools including mine took up initiatives to raise funds and help the people whose lives were devastated by the disaster. I was the leader of my team and we gathered good public support for this cause and also raised a considerably large sum as a donation. Thus, these kinds of responsibilities for issues concerning the society is what I consider to be my plus point. Moreover, I have volunteered for various organizations for different causes and also took up community work in our area. I therefore wish to carry on these activities of volunteering, participating in various organizations and helping people in whatever way I can even at MSU. In addition to this, I would love to make friends and explore different cultures and traditions of the diverse community assembled at the campus and acquaint them with the rich customs and traditions of India.

Undergraduate / "Son, I am proud to be your mom"; Purdue Common App/ Autobiography [3]

Prompt: 1. Envision yourself near the end of a fulfilling, lifelong career and you just published your autobiography. Share the title and introduction.

Please judge it as if you were a member in the office of admissions...
Any kind of criticism would be happily accepted...

510 floors of success!

That evening when my mom looked into my eyes and said "Son, I am proud to be your mom", my joy knew no bounds .It was the greatest moment of my life and I still remember and cherish every moment of it. The elation which I noticed in my parents eyes, made me feel, "Yes, I had accomplished the most worthwhile goal of my life, by becoming the leader of the team that had given the world, an engineering masterpiece, "The Cloud Nine Tower". Measuring a spellbinding 2111 meters above the ground, the Cloud Nine Tower is, by far, the tallest building in the world. And that day, i.e on 16th May,2045, at the inaugural party, I was awarded the title of "The Construction Manager of the year" for the management of the project which led to the erection of the tallest structure ever built by man.

This is my story; a story of management, risk and hard work and knowing where you want to go and being willing to do what it takes to get there. I was born in a small town named "Parbhani, in Maharashtra, India. A largely undeveloped area, offering little opportunities, my family moved to Pune, the educational hub of India, when I was about to enter high school. Also called "The Oxford of the East", Pune was among the top ten cities of India and therefore offered many golden opportunities in education as well as business. A pivot for the automobile, IT and construction industries, Pune offered favourable conditions for my family to prosper. My dad, owned a construction company and with the upsurge of construction activities in the then rising India, his business thrived. I never missed a single chance to visit the construction site with him. Frequent visits to the site and observing how the things worked at a site kindled the construction manager within me. Along with the best educational facilities and an exposure to people from different backgrounds nestled in this city, I also began to excel academically and understand different people and different ideologies. I therefore was usually elected as the leader of various groups in the school and the community and these experiences sowed the seeds of leadership in me. These conditions paved the way for me to choose building construction management as my career. Since this course was at a very nascent stage of development in Indian universities then, my family decided that I should go overseas to pursue my higher education.

Thus, destiny eventually took me to the place which is dearest to me in this world: my alma mater "Purdue". This institution transformed me from a normal university student to a warrior, ready to take on any challenge that life throws in his way. It instilled in my mind the love for knowledge and capacity for original thinking. Additionally, perks such as construction site tours and on-campus guest lectures widened our understanding of the concepts and principles and helped us link theory to application in real life. These experiences are indeed of utmost importance in a course like construction management. And how can I forget my friends and companions who made my stay in university so sweet and fruitful? I recall the animated discussions and endless conversations I had with them. In their company I shed my angularities, sharpened my powers of argument and expression, and developed my wit and sense of humour. All these attributes have played a vital role in honing my skills as a construction manager and thereby have gone a long way in shaping my career.

After graduating and completing a master's degree at Purdue, I spent 2 years exploring the construction industry and putting into practice the lessons learnt in the class. I then joined a construction firm with many on- going projects.This gave me a good experience of how this industry works in the real world. By observing the senior managers and stepping on the wheels on which the construction industry runs, I was becoming ready to take the reins of management in my hands. Then, after spending some more years and I began to make contacts within the industry and started to gain a foothold within it. At the same time, my expertise and experience as a project manager grew, and once a junior, I was now a senior manager with savvy professional talent to orchestrate all the means and methods needed to accomplish any building challenge.

Then, after completing numerous successful projects, my company decided to take a giant leap ahead in this business. We decided to build the world's tallest building owing to the favourable market conditions and rising demands. The task was indeed awe inspiring and I was asked whether I would like to be the leader of the project managing team for this project. Eager to grab this golden opportunity, I happily nodded. Then after all the pre-construction practices of planning, budgeting, designing, permitting etc., began the most important project of my life when the President of India laid the foundation stone of the "Cloud Nine Tower". Both the expectations as well as the stakes were high and every aspect of the project had to be pre-planned and executed in the mind before actual implementation to avoid loses and delays. During the construction phase every day of mine would begin as early as 5-45 a.m., with me checking the construction schedule for the day, answering e-mails and looking at the problems being faced on the site which arrived at my desk. Then we held discussions with the contractors and other superintendents to discuss project progress and to address schedule, technical, and financial risks to the project. Then after catering to these needs I used to put on my boots and hardhat and walk the site with one of our construction and safety managers. I believed that a management presence amidst the actual construction activities shows a level of interest and investment that can be inspiring to both the labour force and junior managers. I asked questions and addressed issues of safety concern and construction quality. It kept me in touch with the pace of work and afforded me some working-level perspective, as well as gave me new insights from the labour force. Thus after two years of arduous work and effort we finally arrived at the post construction phase. We fruitfully acquired the occupancy certificate and with the final touch-ups announced the completion of the project and handed it over to the clients.

Then at the inaugural party when I was awarded for my hard work, I felt a great sense of achievement. Now when I look back at my journey, I think that projects like the Cloud Nine Towers and many others like it wouldn't have been possible without the support of my family and the knowledge bestowed upon me by Purdue. Then in my mind, I remember those college days and thank Purdue for making my life a source of constant learning for without which I wouldn't have learnt to grow. It was because of it that I have and always will build spaces and thereby communities that serve people. I could thus embark on a journey, seeking growth-in order to make a difference in construction, small or big. Hence, it was because of Purdue and the lessons of hard work and the fighting spirit it infused within me that an ordinary person like me, effectively climbed 510 floors of success!

Undergraduate / Select a local, regional, national or global prole and propose a feasible solution... [2]

Hey guys, my essay does not go beyond the word limit...just let me know how it is ,because i have to submit it within a day!!!!

Man is perhaps the most successful species to have ever wandered on earth.In an attempt to protect themselves from the brutal forces of nature different animal species have modified themselves, thanks to the process of evolution, but man on the contrary, modified his environment to suit his needs, instead of changing himself. Thus, owing to the technological development and the resulting easier life human population grew exponentially! In order to suffice the needs of this ever increasing population, man started gorging every morsel of nature's bounty. Today, right from the transportation sector to the energy sector and even the food sector, all are putting tremendous strain on nature and its resources. One such sector, which is also degrading our environment, is the construction sector.

Around half of all the non-renewable natural resources mankind consumes are used in construction, making it one of the most unsustainable industries in the world. This problem won't seem very concerning to some people, but just try imagining a world full of concrete jungles and no clean air to breathe or a pleasant green landscape around. What a dreary sight it would be, isn't it? We live in houses, travel on roads, work and socialize in buildings of all kinds. Contemporary human civilization depends on buildings and what they contain for its continued existence, and yet our planet cannot support the current level of resource consumption. This is well illustrated by the following example of the USA, one of the most prosperous nations on the earth. In the US, buildings account for:

39 percent of total energy uses
12 percent of the total water consumption
68 percent of total electricity consumption
38 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions.
Apart from these effects, habitats and eco-systems are being destroyed in order to increase the area under construction. Governments, globally, are worrying about the devastating effects this industry is having on our environment. But again, we cannot close down this industry for its adverse effects, because buildings and other infrastructure create wealth for us and are the backbone of the business world. Then what is the solution?

Since, I have a construction background (not that I have built some building or so) because my father has been in this business since long, I have learnt a good deal of basic things associated with construction. My dad used to and still takes me to the construction site once in a while. This stimulated a liking for this field in me and I began to explore any sceneario that I found intriguing on the site. I began to gather information from the internet and bogged down my dad and other site engineers with innumerable questions (some too silly to ask!) which he patiently answered. So when I asked him about the environmental impact of traditional construction practices he said just one word 'green construction'. How can construction be green in color was my first response, to which he smiled and left away leaving the tedious task of understanding green construction all to myself. Then over a period of time I understood what green construction exactly is and according to me green construction and the efficient use of resources is the only solution in sight to protect Mother Nature.

Green construction involves building a structure that is environmentally friendly and makes efficient use of resources throughout the building's life. It also incorporates the reuse and recycling of materials from the site to minimize wastage and optimize resource use. In it the buildings are designed in such a way as to allow maximum light and wind to enter the building to make less use of artificial lighting and cooling systems. As AC's use a lot of energy one marvelous example of use of this eco-friendly technology is the Pearl River Tower, in China. It uses a flow of cold water current through the ceiling to cool the building instead of AC's, thereby saving huge amounts of energy. The boons of green construction don't just end here. Apart from the above mentioned uses, it also incorporates use of grass covers (green roofs) to insulate a building as well as harvest rainwater thus minimizing heating and cooling requirements and avoiding water runoff; it also uses organic materials like green cement to decrease the harmful impact of construction on the environment and also makes use of permeable cement to replenish ground water reserves. These are some of the solutions to the problems we are facing today due to traditional construction practices. But lastly, it's not only about eco-friendliness or efficient energy usage but also about enhancing biodiversity while creating spaces that are healthy, economically viable and sensitive to social needs. Rather than battling against nature we need to respect it and learn from environmental processes: creating a better balance between human need and a wider environment.