Undergraduate / 'intellectual stimulation' - Bowdoin College Supplement [4]

In an effort to understand your interests and aspirations for college, we ask you to select one of the three topics below and provide a response of up to 250 words. Please include your name, birth date, and your topic choice at the top of the page.

Bowdoin students and alumni often cite world-class faculty and opportunities for intellectual engagement, the College's commitment to the Common Good, and the special quality of life on the coast of Maine as important aspects of the Bowdoin experience. Reflecting on your own interests and experiences, please comment on one of the following:

1. Intellectual engagement
2. The Common Good
3. Connection to place

I chose to comment on intellectual engagement.

I have an obsession, or rather an addiction, to intellectual stimulation that has been prevalent in different forms since my early youth. This obsession began in the form of a video game addiction. Each night, immediately after dinner, I would line up several stools to prop myself upon in order to spend hours studying the computer screen as my brother played the strategy-based video game, "Starcraft." I was fascinated by my brother's intricate solutions to challenging in-game problems in order to win battles, and each night I attentively observed so that I could learn and play as successfully as him. The adaptive problem-solving and collaborative skills, and unique creativity required for success in the game forced the boundaries of my mind to expand.

Although my childhood addiction to video games eventually subsided, I was able to connect the problem-solving skills I developed from games to the real world in order to feed my perpetual curiosity. My 10th grade AP World History teacher helped me discover my hunger for cognitive stimulation, which subsequently gave me access to deeper thought. She constantly challenged our young minds by immersing us in controversial discussion, and forced us to ask questions until we began to genuinely wonder and desire knowledge beyond the classroom. This craving for academic intellectual engagement she helped me find coupled with the problem-solving skills I learned to value from video games shaped my main goal in life: to pursue answers.