Hey guys! Below is my response to Cornell's prompt:
Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests? (Please limit your response to 650 words.)
It is 647 words long, and due in less than 10 hours. I would really love your comments, and as promised, will critiqued yours almost immediately!
Response:
"They said this money serves God's purpose, now they act like it belongs to them", said my grandfather with contempt, after resigning from his various posts with the Swadhyay Parivar. This intrigued me, and on further research I learnt that over the years that organization had been involved in many fraudulent business practices, and with a membership of over five million, had come to very closely resemble a cult.
Thus began my fascination with social psychology - what drives people's behaviors, what are our motivations, what we think affects us versus hidden stimuli. The internet proved to be a great mentor - from the brilliant psychology blog 'The Situationist', I learnt how the widely accepted beliefs on human thinking and behavior are seriously questionable; from 'Psyblog', I learnt about cognitive biases and how they lead us to making irrational decisions, whereas 'The Last Psychiatrist' provided incisive insight into the mind of a practicing psychiatrist. Soon I became the fourteen year old trying to convince her friends why hate could not be a sustainable source of energy for the 'Sith' (from the Star Wars universe) because it is not a natural emotion, but a function of stimuli from abhorrent sources. Multiple re-runs of 'Lie To Me' and books like 'What Every Body is Saying' by Joe Navarro even convinced me that I had become a walking lie detector with an uncanny ability to decode even the slightest tics!
My second enduring passion is computer science, and particularly coding. Few things get me more excited than reading about how some 14-year old has successfully defaced the website of a major corporation, or how some 22-year old has made his fortune with a website startup. I have taken all the computer science courses offered by my schools, and many weekends find me sitting rapt in front of the computer, wracking my brains over some problem from 'ProjectEuler', or furiously trying to optimize my code for 'Codechef'.
Since my education system does not provide much latitude with respect to these interests, I have endeavored to continue my journey of self-improvement by taking online courses, such as 'Introduction to Programming in Java' and 'Introduction to Algorithms' (MIT OCW). I am currently reading 'An Introduction to Developmental Psychology' by Alan Slater, and make it a point to discuss the concepts I learn with my therapist. In this regard, the College of Arts and Sciences offers unparalleled opportunities - the space to explore the relationship between people's emotions and judgments with Dr. David Pizarro at the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research (BEDR), with the time to participate in research with the Knowledge Representation and Reasoning group at the Department of Computer Science. If admitted, I would pursue double majors in Computer Science (focusing on Artificial Intelligence) and Psychology (concentrating in Social and Personality Psychology), with a minor in Cognitive Science. Computer Science's emphasis on algorithmic approach along with psychology's focus on critical thinking provide fertile ground to probe the many questions I have, such as "Can cognition be parameterized?", and "Can findings from machine learning further our understanding of social psychology?".
I am also interested in embarking on a cooperative work-study program in computer science, because of the unique opportunity to immerse oneself in an intensive environment with professionals. Having taught myself five computer languages, I am eager to test my mettle, as well as bring the skills I learn at the workplace back to the laboratory.
Overall, Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences is an institution where I can flourish with students who are equally passionate about making a difference in people's lives. If I can understand what drives people into joining cults, what makes them believe so firmly in an ideology that they do not think twice before taking their own lives, and if I can make even one person see reason, I would be the happiest person in the world.
Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests? (Please limit your response to 650 words.)
It is 647 words long, and due in less than 10 hours. I would really love your comments, and as promised, will critiqued yours almost immediately!
Response:
"They said this money serves God's purpose, now they act like it belongs to them", said my grandfather with contempt, after resigning from his various posts with the Swadhyay Parivar. This intrigued me, and on further research I learnt that over the years that organization had been involved in many fraudulent business practices, and with a membership of over five million, had come to very closely resemble a cult.
Thus began my fascination with social psychology - what drives people's behaviors, what are our motivations, what we think affects us versus hidden stimuli. The internet proved to be a great mentor - from the brilliant psychology blog 'The Situationist', I learnt how the widely accepted beliefs on human thinking and behavior are seriously questionable; from 'Psyblog', I learnt about cognitive biases and how they lead us to making irrational decisions, whereas 'The Last Psychiatrist' provided incisive insight into the mind of a practicing psychiatrist. Soon I became the fourteen year old trying to convince her friends why hate could not be a sustainable source of energy for the 'Sith' (from the Star Wars universe) because it is not a natural emotion, but a function of stimuli from abhorrent sources. Multiple re-runs of 'Lie To Me' and books like 'What Every Body is Saying' by Joe Navarro even convinced me that I had become a walking lie detector with an uncanny ability to decode even the slightest tics!
My second enduring passion is computer science, and particularly coding. Few things get me more excited than reading about how some 14-year old has successfully defaced the website of a major corporation, or how some 22-year old has made his fortune with a website startup. I have taken all the computer science courses offered by my schools, and many weekends find me sitting rapt in front of the computer, wracking my brains over some problem from 'ProjectEuler', or furiously trying to optimize my code for 'Codechef'.
Since my education system does not provide much latitude with respect to these interests, I have endeavored to continue my journey of self-improvement by taking online courses, such as 'Introduction to Programming in Java' and 'Introduction to Algorithms' (MIT OCW). I am currently reading 'An Introduction to Developmental Psychology' by Alan Slater, and make it a point to discuss the concepts I learn with my therapist. In this regard, the College of Arts and Sciences offers unparalleled opportunities - the space to explore the relationship between people's emotions and judgments with Dr. David Pizarro at the Cornell Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision Research (BEDR), with the time to participate in research with the Knowledge Representation and Reasoning group at the Department of Computer Science. If admitted, I would pursue double majors in Computer Science (focusing on Artificial Intelligence) and Psychology (concentrating in Social and Personality Psychology), with a minor in Cognitive Science. Computer Science's emphasis on algorithmic approach along with psychology's focus on critical thinking provide fertile ground to probe the many questions I have, such as "Can cognition be parameterized?", and "Can findings from machine learning further our understanding of social psychology?".
I am also interested in embarking on a cooperative work-study program in computer science, because of the unique opportunity to immerse oneself in an intensive environment with professionals. Having taught myself five computer languages, I am eager to test my mettle, as well as bring the skills I learn at the workplace back to the laboratory.
Overall, Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences is an institution where I can flourish with students who are equally passionate about making a difference in people's lives. If I can understand what drives people into joining cults, what makes them believe so firmly in an ideology that they do not think twice before taking their own lives, and if I can make even one person see reason, I would be the happiest person in the world.