Posts by KapurAS

KapurAS

Dec 23, 2013

Undergraduate / What is your favorite word and Why? - Ambition ( UVA) [6]

I hope these opinions help, but I am a student and no professional.

I would probably start the essay with 'Ambition. I am ...' so it directly follows 'what is your favorite word and why' order. I also wonder whether it is right to say 'fate', since this is defined as something predetermined, you probably cannot do something special, only follow what fate has for you. Finally, when you say 'encourages me to be futuristic, ambitious and a risk-taker', what 'particular aspect' are you referring to? I would change ambitious to enthusiastic or some other synonym so you are not repeating ambitious to many times.

KapurAS

Dec 23, 2013

Undergraduate / Representative - Why Columbia Essay [4]

Thanks for the advice. I think I will probably alter it, as you say, to focus on the faculty and the programs they offer where one works with staff.

KapurAS

Dec 23, 2013

Undergraduate / Representative - Why Columbia Essay [4]

I am currently writing my 'How does ... satisfy your desire to attend university' question and have conducted a fair amount of research on Columbia. I am a little unsure about how to formulate my answer. Is it okay to cite specific staff members and their work as a reason? Research opportunities available?

So for Columbia I was thinking about starting off with 'When I first read 'The End of Poverty' by Professor Jeffrey Sachs, I finally felt like there was hope for the billion of people who live on less than a day. In his book, his optimism had inspired me and as I read on I became more intrigued to learn from him. At Columbia, the Earth Institute, led by Professor Jeffrey Sachs himself, stands as a leader in fighting against poverty and with the Millenium Villages Project it is making lots of progress. The Earth Institute, to me, is representative of Columbia as a whole. With the best professors in the world, such as Joseph Stiglitz, and as a major research university Columbia is creating ground-breaking research that I would love to be apart of.' Would this be too specific? Is focusing on a professor not answering the general question of why Columbia?

All advice would be welcome and much appreciated!