Undergraduate /
Virtual reality and video games - Duke Pratt engineering essay [13]
The long version of my essay goes more into depth about my experience with programming the Snake game. I wrote about how my interest in programming developed in my Common App essay, so I don't want to rehash the same things in this one. It's pretty long, almost 600 words, and I recycled a lot of what I used in my Cornell essay, but I also modified it to fit the Duke essay prompt. Here it is:
As I read the Duke engineering essay prompt, I looked back on my life and was greeted by the familiar warm rush of excitement that envelops me whenever I think about Computer Science. Although I was only introduced to programming in my junior year of high school, it fascinated me to a degree that no other subject ever had. Though it was the hardest, most frustrating thing I had ever done, the sheer jubilation I felt when I solved a particularly difficult problem was well worth the hardship. I soon found myself bored with my school curriculum, and turned to other sources to quench my newfound thirst for knowledge. I fondly remembered playing a Snake game on my mother's old Nokia cell phone, and nostalgia demanded that I attempt to make my own version of the classic. Thus my forays into game programming began.
My first attempts at creating a Snake clone were fraught with a multitude of bugs and glitches. My snake refused to die upon eating its tail, forming an impressive constrictor knot instead. My apple developed a fear of reptiles, teleporting to random locations when the snake approached a certain perimeter around it. The two game objects also had an annoying tendency to disappear off the edge of the screen. I spent the better part of a week tracking down these bugs, which proved to be rather persistent in their peskiness, religiously reviewing each line of code to pinpoint my logical fallacies. At the end of my labor, I tentatively tested my game. The main menu loaded correctly, the title rotating hypnotically as I had envisioned. The snake responded to the arrow keys, grew longer every time it ate an apple and called up a Game Over message when it hit the edges of the screen or its own body. The apple disappeared when eaten by the snake and reappeared at random locations. Everything was perfect.
My interests in game programming were paying their dividends, but I had a dilemma. How could I use my games to actually help people? As much as I loved video games, I could not deny that I had only ever played games for entertainment. I began searching for a way to make a difference with video games. Eventually, I stumbled upon an article by the Duke immersive Virtual Reality (DiVE) research facility which spoke of the Walk Again Project, a non-profit international collaboration of researchers that enabled a paraplegic to use virtual reality to control a robotic bodysuit and perform the first ceremonial kick at the World Cup of 2014.This amazing achievement sparked my interest in virtual reality, and I began to think of ways in which virtual reality video games could be used to help people. For instance, immersive educational video games could be created to allow high school students to experience things such as performing surgery, piloting jet aircraft and exploring outer space. Implementing virtual reality into education would also make for a more hands-on and engaging learning experience, promoting collaboration and creativity.
To fulfill my ideas and interests in the ideal facilities, such as DiVE, I turn to Duke. With it's diverse student population, I would be able to meet all sorts of unique individuals, all with their own talents and personalities, but possessing the same drive to create something new, change the world and, most importantly, make a difference by contributing to society. With some of the most brilliant and innovative peers and faculty serving as an inspiration to me and galvanizing me to become the best that I can be, I feel that a Duke education would help me reach the pinnacle of my potential and help me make the world a better place.
