Prompt: (For Arts and Sciences Applicants Only) If you are applying to Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, please discuss why you consider Duke a good match for you. Is there something in particular at Duke that attracts you? Please limit your response to one or two paragraphs.
I am a "Cameron Crazy" at heart. I have bled Duke blue for as long as I can remember, even when residing in the enemy trenches of Lexington, KY (home of the Kentucky Wildcats). But it was more than the thrill of watching the Duke men's basketball team make a late March run at a national championship that aligned me so strongly with Duke country.
Over my high school career, I have devoted much of my energies to community service and development initiatives. Most notably, in the summer after tenth grade, I made the journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to work on an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign with a nongovernmental organization called People to People. We worked to alleviate the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and promoted practices which we believed would lower the incidences of HIV/AIDS contraction. It was an illuminating experience because it helped me realize my dual passions for biomedicine and public health. The Biology Department and the Sanford School of Public Policy offer the academic infrastructure needed for me to pursue these two fields readily. Additionally, I have become fascinated by the opportunity to conduct fieldwork pertaining to global health and development through the DukeEngage program. Coupled with the aforementioned academic programs, I imagine that DukeEngage will afford the hands-on experience necessary to lay the foundation for a future career in health care delivery, either through forming health policy at a government level, or engaging in the administering of medicine as a physician. I see Duke as a place where the cultivation of these desires is not only possible, but highly encouraged and, for that reason, I cannot imagine a better place to spend my next four years.
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Does anyone think that I should just omit the entire first paragraph? What would be the benefit of keeping it in?
Thanks!
I am a "Cameron Crazy" at heart. I have bled Duke blue for as long as I can remember, even when residing in the enemy trenches of Lexington, KY (home of the Kentucky Wildcats). But it was more than the thrill of watching the Duke men's basketball team make a late March run at a national championship that aligned me so strongly with Duke country.
Over my high school career, I have devoted much of my energies to community service and development initiatives. Most notably, in the summer after tenth grade, I made the journey to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to work on an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign with a nongovernmental organization called People to People. We worked to alleviate the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and promoted practices which we believed would lower the incidences of HIV/AIDS contraction. It was an illuminating experience because it helped me realize my dual passions for biomedicine and public health. The Biology Department and the Sanford School of Public Policy offer the academic infrastructure needed for me to pursue these two fields readily. Additionally, I have become fascinated by the opportunity to conduct fieldwork pertaining to global health and development through the DukeEngage program. Coupled with the aforementioned academic programs, I imagine that DukeEngage will afford the hands-on experience necessary to lay the foundation for a future career in health care delivery, either through forming health policy at a government level, or engaging in the administering of medicine as a physician. I see Duke as a place where the cultivation of these desires is not only possible, but highly encouraged and, for that reason, I cannot imagine a better place to spend my next four years.
//END
Does anyone think that I should just omit the entire first paragraph? What would be the benefit of keeping it in?
Thanks!