Undergraduate / Children of the roadside stands/ Common App [3]

Children of the roadside stands
What is more valuable for a person? Is it lots of money, fame, or life full of luxuries? I have asked this question to myself quite often, and I concluded that it is all about right life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Happiness which one can feel on achieving the goals of life. My journey in pursuit of happiness starts with a small thought. A thought which changed my life and the way I looked the life.

The very thought which started from the wish of doing something "good" as we all know what men is a man who doesn't make this world a better place. This very thought forced me to look around and think what I have done for the very society I lived in and what I can do. Then I realized the world around me. It is not by books or articles that I know what living in abject poverty conditions is. I have seen it very closely as I live just beside a slum in Patna, India. I have interacted with the slum children and felt their misery very closely. I have witnessed children helping their parents in setting up stalls, working to help the family to make both ends meet.

"Which school do you attend?" I asked Bala, whom I encountered everyday while returning from school. Bala was a tall girl with a weighed down head. Her bright, smiling face was not enough to cover her sufferings which were evident from the bones that peeped out from her skin. "My parents can't afford to educate two children so I help them with the stall and my brother attends the nearby charity school." What surprised me most was her casual tone. It was as though she had made peace with the fact that education was not for her. This is not just Bala's fate; it is the story of almost every child living in the slum.

After a brief consideration over Bala's situation, I realized that the people in the slum do not have time to think and mourn over their miseries because they are amidst a war, fighting 24 hours and 7 days to survive, to earn a living, just to avoid death from starvation. The children grow in these slums provides a coalition support to fight this war. One of the means which help them survive is roadside stalls. In order to set up a stall, one requires support from the whole family including young children.

I decided to meet Mrs. Vidyarthi. Mrs. Vidyarthi is MLA from our constituency and runs a well-known NGO "Nav Ras". I requested her to help me to set up some facility for the children who are being denied the right of education. She offered me to join her Organization and work with the NGO for these children. This is how I ended up being a part of Nav Ras. After joining the organization I took my first step towards solving the problem of the children and wrote a letter to the Honorable Chief Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, bringing this problem to his notice. Next I met Mr. Kumar and requested him to start an evening school in my locality so that all the slum children can attend the school after finishing working in the stalls.

The school was opened and started within five weeks of my request. 129 students got enrolled in the school in the very first year and the numbers are expected to increase this year.

Next, with Mrs. Vidyarthi's permission, I founded a separate wing, known as 'Nav Adhar' inside the Nav Ras Organization which works only in the field of literacy. As the President of the wing I have made it my aim to spread the message of literacy and importance of education across the globe. I have been encouraged by the state government of Bihar and have been awarded the Young achiever award for 2012 as an acknowledgement of my dedication and working for this great cause.

Undergraduate / I have spent half of my lunch breaks sitting in the physics lab; princeton supplement [4]

If you are interested in pursuing a B.S.E. (Bachelor of Science in Engineering) degree, please write a 300-500 word essay describing why you are interested in studying engineering, any experiences in or exposure to engineering you have had, and how you think the programs in engineering offered at Princeton suit your particular interests.

Since the very beginning science has always intrigued me. I used to love spending my time observing the apparatuses in the physics laboratory during the recess at school, in my primary school days when we were not allowed to use them. I used to go inside the lab and observe my teachers and seniors performing experiments and it was then that I realized that this is what I want to do.

I have spent half of my lunch breaks sitting in the physics lab with a high school physics teacher who later taught me Physics in my high school years. From the very start I had a habit of trying to know everything that goes around me. While he prepared the lab for the seniors who would come after the lunch break, I asked thousands of questions regarding the things that I saw around me. And he was patient enough to answer my entire questions which sometimes were very silly. I remember when I was in my 3rd grade I asked him a question that today I feel was senseless. I asked him that Sir, if we live inside the earth and earth is made of rocks then how do we see the sky. He gave me a smile and then with a globe kept in the lab he explained me how we didn't live in the Earth but lived on it. Understanding my next question from the look on my face he even told me how we do not fall from the earth, that was my first introduction to gravity.

My experiences with my teacher and the physics lab taught me that engineering is my ideal major. I am a keen observer of phenomena and like going into the depth of a topic. As a prospective engineering student my vision is to make the world a better place for the disabled and I hope to design an efficient vocal cord machine so that no person has difficulty in expressing their views.

So to bring my dreams to reality I want to study in an environment that will bring out the best in me, a college that is renowned for its excellent engineering course and student body that is diverse as well as talented. This is what Princeton University provides its students. Its independent research programs for the B.S.E students will give me an opportunity to work upon my ideas and help me gain a massive experience. Its mechanical engineering course will give me an opportunity to earn basic knowledge of different engineering fields while providing an in depth, enriching and practical knowledge of mechanical engineering field.

As today an engineer does not just restrict himself to the world of experiments rather has taken a step ahead and has moved out to places. With number of opportunities around I am sure that my Princeton education will help me succeed in life and the experience that I gain in Princeton will guide me throughout my life.

Undergraduate / "Instead of being the second someone, I want want to be the first me"; NYU Supp [3]

A. NYU's global network provides students with hundreds of academic areas of interest for students to cultivate their intellectual curiosity and to help achieve their career goals. Whether you are entirely undecided about your academic plans or you have a definitive program of study in mind, what are your own academic interests? Feel free to share any thoughts on any particular programs or how you might explore those interests at NYU on any of our campuses.

'Instead of being the second someone, I want want to be the first me.' This is what the College of art and sciences at NYU offers. I can participate in a research program of my choice and get help from the extraordinarily helpful and talented faculty. The diversity of students coming from more than 100 different countries would give me a global exposure and help me understand the world needs better for which I intend to work later in my life. I am specially interested in majoring in mechanical engineering and at the same time participating in the research programs so that my first degree course at NYU builds a strong foundation which would help me reach the zenith in my intended field of study. If accepted at NYU I would like to use the numerous opportunities offered by NYU to give back to the society and the institution in the best possible way.

Please add a few lines to this. Thanks!

B. What intrigues you? Tell us about one work of art, scientific achievement, piece of literature, method of communication, or place in the world (a film, book, performance, website, event, location, etc.), and explain its significance to you.

Signals! This is the word that fills me with curiosity and amazement.How does my voice from India reaches USA in no time? How does the exact image reach us while video-conferencing?These are the questions which I would like to answer to myself one day.

The radio signals, sound waves , light waves, satellites are the things which interests me the most and they are a reason behind my intended major. The convoluted mechanism behind these has made my intentions of knowing technology and science deeply stronger and has increased my interest in science , specially physics.

Tell us why you have chosen the above campus (using a maximum of 700 characters-spaces and punctuation included).
I have visited New York once. The day I entered the city I knew that the atmosphere here suites me the best. The cultural diversity that it offers attracts me the most and as an international applicant diversity is what I am looking for in a city and a campus.

NYU New York campus has the most appealing location and as an undergraduate student I would not like to miss the opportunity of staying in a city like New York because the city is so active and energetic that you can never get out of work here.

Undergraduate / Life is full of ups and downs; issues of personal, local, international concern [4]

Discuss some issues of personal, local, national or international concern and its importance to you.
Life is full of ups and downs, whether it is for a king or for a pauper. We often think that our problems and our concerns are the be all, however it is not the case. Public by large has the ability to make or mar a decision but is the public say always correct. It has been seen on a day to day basis how the roadside vendors face the susceptibility and miserable situations. Almost all of us have seen how these people are humiliated and looked down upon. We fight for a rupee with them and do not just halt there we further go on and sometimes even abuse these people. It is not just the common men who ignore these people rather it is the government at large.

It has been often noticed that these people are mistreated by the government in terms of being given the proper facilities in terms of housing, clothing and shelter. As most of these people are from hand to mouth they have to suffer due to the irregularity of the wages and moreover with the amount they have to pay the amount to the police constables and middle men. As a consequence of it they are unable to meet out the daily requirements of their families like proper fooding, clothing and even the basic education is not being provided to them. Furthermore, it encourages the problem of child labour in the society, forcing the children to work at a tender age.

It is not just what people say and write I completely stand with such curses in society as I have personally seen and experienced such things in a slum near my house. It was for a school project that I had been there and interacted with them and to my shock young children of my age live in pathetic conditions and are deprived of even the basic necessities. It was not just this I was disheartened and completely moved when I saw young kids helping their parents with the stalls. It was really painful to see young kids working instead of celebrating the festival by lighting candles and eating sweets. As it was a combined project with the aid and suggestions of my group they agreed to form cooperative group and work together and now the women make the handicrafts and the men put up stall in different areas throughout the year and the other work as salesmen and go around the city selling products. The best thing is that the money that earn collectively, 70% of the share is divided equally among all the families, 25% goes for buying the raw materials and 5% is saved for bad times with a trusted member of the group.