Undergraduate / Research, innovation, and creativity; Harvard/Yale/Princeton;Generic why Engineering? [9]

Topic: the generic - why Engineering and why this school?

I was eight years old the first time I saw a heart pulse. Watching my grandfather cut into the child's chest was unlike anything that I had ever seen; it wasn't like the movies. As the only surgeon in a hundred miles, my grandfather was the only person that people could turn to, and they often did so in the middle of the night. On this night, the patient was a five year old boy, who was slowly dying from an invasive lung infection. His struggle for breath haunted me, even as he received anesthesia. I remember comparing my grandfather's dexterous, supple movements to those I imagined of Leonardo da Vinci. The care he exercised was not the work of a scientist; it was the magic of an artist. This was his life, and it will be mine as well.

Medicine is not just knowledge, academic ability, or even practical skill - it's about having a passion and love for what you do. It's about sacrificing sleep and comfort to make others' lives more comfortable. It's about commitment - not just to society but to self; to ethics, to morals. Watching my grandfather operate taught me that medicine is much like art in that both utilize the highest forms of creativity. As suggested by Raphael's "School of Athens," designing medical technology requires the brotherly union of scientific precision and artistic creativity. Scientists have created the basic machines found in hospitals around the globe; it is now the artist's job to innovate and redesign biomedical technology, making it faster, more precise, and increasingly accessible. To that end, I have made it a point to study as many different fields as possible.

I have researched molecular biology and volunteered in hospitals, but I have also published a book of poems and taught third world students how to paint. I've reveled in ancient marvels, including temples such as the Taj Mahal and palaces like the Red Fort, meticulously studied the architecture, and explored the connections between art, science, form, and mathematics. I have obsessed over mathematics such as the Mandelbrot set that seamlessly blends beauty with calculations for infinity. Like my grandfather's gift for the art of medicine, the architecture of ancient world played with geometry and dĂŠcor, and the greatest mathematicians mixed numbers with aesthetics.

Yale's engineering program appeals to me because not only does it encourage research, innovation, and creativity, it is the only program that actually grows with me and demands a broad curriculum, incorporating more than just the sciences. I plan to imbue my medical biotechnology studies with courses in Art History, Medieval History, and Literature; knowing where the sciences were born is the key to their continued expansion. I plan to sharpen my creative talents and apply them to the sciences because I want to always push the envelope of theory and practicality. I want to make sure that the connection between my academic abilities and my soul is always strong. Students of human nature will always make the best inventors, and I've been studying humanity for as long as I can remember