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Bowdoin College Supplement Essay-How have you prepared for Bowdoin?



xugx29 4 / 9  
Dec 8, 2009   #1
Any suggestions will be appreaciated. Thank you!^___^

Bowdoin is a liberal arts college that thrives on intellectual discourse in and out of the classroom. Students, faculty, and staff all participate in the exchange of ideas in an atmosphere characterized by high achievement and a sense of balance. The Admissions Committee is eager to learn more about you and your school community. Reflecting on your own educational experiences, how have you prepared yourself to enter an academic environment like Bowdoin's? (Suggested length: 250-500 words.)

It was gloomy. On the crowded street, people ignoring the silent red light shuttled in the flowing of vehicles. I, alone, standing on the edge, waited for the hazy light turning green.

The campus on this raining Sunday afternoon looked desolate. There are only rainwater and fallen leaves on the basketball court. I walked in the dim building, occasionally passing by a lighted classroom with two students working with their heads down. Second room on the left on the fifth floor, I took out the keys, turned the handle. It opened.

The light wood fragrance emitted by the guitars and drums dispersed the bleak air. The studio was messy as usual. It looked just like an ideal place to play music.

I picked up the guitar leaning on the corner, unconsciously fiddled the strings with my thumb. Listened carefully, then I adjusted the string one by one. After hitting several chords, my numbed fingers warmed up. I turned around to search for the scores I did not finish practicing yesterday. They were a little bit broken, but still good to use.

It was not easy to maintain a rock band. Leaving the pressure of the study aside, it was already amazing to get over the slackness after several weeks of illusionary excitement and insist forwarding. I have seen too many ambitious clubs collapsed in the first month. Being in the band would not add scores on my test, neither would it make my college application look better. People wondered why I am so serious. Would abiding the mainstream be much easier, like anyone else?

I think that thought is too utilitarian. I am not keeping this band for anything else, but its own sake. I enjoy it. We are always told to aim far, but sometimes we forget to enjoy the path under our feet. That is something more real, more worth valuing. If we care about tomorrow all the time, what we did today is not important any more. Even though we are working hard today for tomorrow, we could not feel the satisfaction of achieving anything. In this busy city, on this pompous campus, it feels so good to just put my head down to do the things I purely love. I love my band, not only the nights on the stage where we pour our minds into our music and receive all the screams and applause, but also on my way to school for practice every Sunday afternoon, the crowded bus, the narrow path and the twinkling traffic lights.

Located on the far north in Maine, Bowdoin would be the best place to whisk off the dust and drown my heart into what I love. Not too close to the huge metropolis, Bowdoin establishes the perfect atmosphere to walk, to dig and to achieve.


I was wondering whether the part of bowdoin is too little that I have to add more, especially something detailed, like XXX program?

Thank you again.

EF_Susan - / 2310  
Dec 8, 2009   #2
Hello!
You are not answering the prompt here, which is, "Reflecting on your own educational experiences, how have you prepared yourself to enter an academic environment like Bowdoin's?"

You didn't say anything about educational experience, academics, what you plan to study...

You are a very good writer though;
There are only rainwater and fallen leaves on the basketball court. is great, and so is this; Bowdoin establishes the perfect atmosphere to walk, to dig and to achieve.
EF_Kevin 8 / 13053  
Dec 12, 2009   #3
Would material be a good word here? What about "money-worship" or something like this?

Oh, I see! Well, utilitarian is an important word, but it means something different. My challenge for you is to learn, for example, the difference between utilitarian ethics and ethical absolutism!

For that sentence, I think self-serving will be a good word.
OP xugx29 4 / 9  
Dec 14, 2009   #4
My challenge for you is to learn, for example, the difference between utilitarian ethics and ethical absolutism!

I guess the former one means "success-worshiping", the latter one means being too resonable? Maybe, I am just guessing, haha.

Thank you for the "self-serving", that does sound better!
EF_Kevin 8 / 13053  
Dec 16, 2009   #5
You are welcome. This explains everything: plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-deontological/


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