Undergraduate / Strong Recommendation/ Engish; My Ohio 6 Tour; Why Kenyon? [3]

I am 68 words over and I still need to make it a little more personal. These are all of the reasons that I want to include, but I'm not sure it flows too well. What do you think?

Why are you interested in Kenyon?
Is this too superficial an answer? Should I speak purely about academics?

When my parents came home from a student-teacher conference with my sophomore English teacher/advisor, I never expected to hear about Kenyon College. However, after receiving such a strong recommendation from someone who had come to know me so well and who was my favorite teacher, I officially began research of Kenyon. After the Ohio Six College Tour, I found that what I learned online was only strengthened/brought to life by my visit. Even in the scorching August heat, Kenyon was everything that I expected and more, aside from the beautiful fall foliage.

I had always assumed that my English teach recommended Kenyon to be because of its English department. While I love English, I have never been sure that I would want to necessarily major in it. However, in the information session I learned about how Kenyon incorporates the use of strong writing into every class. One student even told us how he wrote essays in his calculus class.

Another student I met left an even stronger opinion of Kenyon in my mind. Not only were Kenyon's facilities fantastic, but the students' love for all of Kenyon was equally impressive. After taking us all over campus, my tour guide offered to take time out of his day to show me all the KAC. My tour guide clearly loved Kenyon, and the extra hour he took out of his day to show me the campus exemplified that. My guide showed me an incredibly small campus, one block long, in fact. I want a place where I can truly reach out to my peers. Stuck up on a hill, there is nothing to distract you from learning about and from each other. Upon the dorm tour, I learned that students are so trusting that they don't even lock their doors.

It was this close community that I am so glad I got to experience first hand. Even the professors know you personally because of the small class sizes. The fact that these professors are some of the smartest, most engaged ones around is even better. Each teacher is truly interested in his or her class. At Kenyon, you can get a great education without having it forced down your throat.

Undergraduate / Sweden/Holland, The South, Nowhere ;300 wrds, "Where are you from?" Kenyon [5]

Where are you from? (Please answer this in any way you'd like-geographically, culturally, artistically, politically, etc.) Focus on brevity and clarity of content; 300 words I am at 251 words

Do you think I'm answering the prompt in a descent manner? Is it too far off?

I can count all of my closest relatives on both hands. There is no signature cultural piece lying around our house. When someone looks at me, they cannot easily say, "Oh, certainly you're from 'this country.'" In fact, making my grandmother's Swedish meatballs is about as close as my family gets to our mixed heritage.

However, it is my obscure cultural background that makes me curious. The ambiguity of "where I am from" has led me to try to deeply investigate my history. I never fail to ask my grandmother all about her Swedish background. I'll pester my father about family crests that I'll find lying around and our Dutch roots. My persistent curiosity has even led me to Ancestry.com to answer the plaguing question of "where am I from?" I have since collected century's worth of cultural history that has given me a plethora of answers to this question. I come from Sweden and Holland, France and England, Memphis and "The South." I have come to realize that I may never be able to define exactly where I am from. I will never have "cultural looks." I will never have an ethnic heirloom. I will never have an extensive family that reaches across the globe. However, in trying to discover where I'm from, I _________

Learning about my heritage has _________. So while it may be hard for me to say exactly where I am from, I hope to say for the next four years that my home is Gambier, Ohio.

(I know that I want/need something in these blanks, I'm just not sure of what to put quite yet. I want to try to stick to the prompt of "where are you from," so I need to try not to stray from that too much)

I will look at your essays! I promise!

Undergraduate / Small size/ Community/ Learning Opportunities/Safety/ Movies; Why Denison? [3]

Write 1-2 paragraphs briefly describing your reasons for applying to Denison. 1000 characters
This is a work in progress. As I try to trim this down by about 1,000 characters, does anyone have any suggestions? These are just the main points I want to include, so it might be repetitive.

I love the positive, chummy, unique, and intimate community that comes from Denison's small size. Denison offers its students a sense of belonging and acceptance. The close academic community really feels like family. The academics that are available to students are unprecedented because of Denison's size. The small classes mean that students can forge close relationships with their professors. Lecture halls that seat 30 people, shows that you can know your teachers. When you can connect with your professors and they understand where you're coming from, they can relate to you and you can learn better.

When you can invite a professor to a play or a concert or they offer to host your class at their own home, you know that your professors really care to know you. When you can connect with someone who offers such an exceptionally wonderful education with such great academic opportunities, you know that that is a great college.

The learning opportunities that are available because everyone lives on campus is another great feature. Students choose to spend their time on campus, from hanging out in the commons to roaming the extremely safe campus, students love Denison. It's a unique academic experience to be able to learn from your peers at all times.

With its extremely safe campus, 24-hour access to computers, and fantastic resources like the Mitchell Center, clearly Denison loves its students as seen its great resources. Outside of the wonderful campus of Denison lies the beautiful and quant city of Granville. With the huge cultural hub of Columbus just 25 minutes away and the fantastic city of Granville lying outside Denison, Denison is the perfect combination.

It is also clear to me that Denison is concerned with more than just great academics. From the plays available at Ace Morgan Theater to the movies that the film society brings to concerts presented in Slayter Union, Denison brings countless opportunities to the campus. An extremely safe campus, with 24-hour access to computers and resources like the Mitchell Center, Denison really provides for its students. From the Denison Internship Program to the plethora of leadership opportunities such as LeaderShape, the opportunities to gain experience for real life while still at Denison are outstanding.

Undergraduate / CULTURAL HISTORY; Denison - Personal experience with diversity [2]

Denison values diversity in our college community. Please describe a personal experience that you have had with diversity, and tell us how it might inform your college experience. 500 characters. I'm at 877 characters currently. I don't know where to cut down, it's such a small limit! (Also, I know I say "culture" too much, trying to change it)

While there are a few cultural pieces lying around my home, my cultural background is not very prevalent. In fact, making my grandmother's Swedish meatballs is about as much as our family embraces our muddled heritage. It is this lack of a glaring cultural background, however, that has led me to search for more answers. I'll pester my father about our family crests or our Dutch heritage. My never-failing curiosity has led me to collect generations worth of cultural history.

I have found a fascination with the cultural history that I can discover through exploring diversity. Whether it is in opinions or cultures, I believe that everyone has their own form of diversity. Just by learning about the people who have shared my last name, I have come to love to explore diversity. I hope to continue my reaching out to diversity throughout my four years at Denison University.

**I have bolded the words/parts that aren't quite right or are too repetitive. Can anyone help me with this?

Book Reports / Punctuation of Life of Pi essay; Denison supp [4]

How should I punctuate the ending?

Life of Pi by Yann Martel details the story of young Pi Patel, who is stranded in the middle of the Pacific with a Bengal tiger. After his journey, Pi has an interview with reporters who doubt his story. He gives these skeptics an option of which story to report. Either choose his story in which he survived 227 days on a raft with wild animals, or choose a more basic story in which these animals are replaced with humans.

The reader learns that this is not a choice between animals and humans, but a choice between a "dry, yeastless factuality" and a challenge of one's faith. In both reports the ending is the same, so, as Pi argues, why not choose the inspiring and exciting story? It was this unique perspective that challenged me. I realized that we are all capable of creating both a simple story and an inspiring story, each with the same ending, so why not live the inspiring one? The life of Pi Patel has challenged me to choose the "the better story;" the better life. (I want this to have a certain pause for a certain impact, how should I punctuate it?)

The prompt is to discuss a book with a significant impact on me, so I want to show how this was impactful by punctuating it correctly