Cornell Supplement Essay College of Arts and Sciences

Describe your intellectual interests, their evolution, and what makes them exciting to you. Tell us how you will utilize the academic programs in the College of Arts and Sciences to further explore your interests, intended major, or field of study.

From the age that I was ten I would always hear my father complain of the preposterous bills that would be enacted into laws. He viewed it as a "useless piece of society that meddles with a person's rights, and is an idle intrusion in the household." My father has been known to say a lot of things on assumptions-so since that day I would consume myself in the evening news-viewing it to become informed of what is going on in the community, and the country. As I went through Middle school my passion for it became dormant-it was only until the 10th grade that it fully engulfed me.

Over the fall semester, I decided to take a more concentrated course in Political Science at the local community college to see whether it was something I was truly interested in. Mid-way through the course I realized how my views on the way our government worked drastically changed. The instructor-Mr. Roberts, would allow open discussions of hot topics to develop a sense of our humanly ideals on government. At the time I didn't think much of it. It was until I was assigned an essay that required me to analyze how the author is able to convince the reader of Voltaire's ideals that I was able to make a connection. The author of the short novel based his assumptions on Voltaire's views on how politics should remain-"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it". Then, I was able to make the connection of why the instructor focused an exponential amount of time developing our ideals-it was because this was the foundation of politics.

My passion for exploring our government's policies more in depth led me to enroll in AP Government my senior semester-a class that I was not required to take, but willingly agreed to know that it would involve going deeper into our government's policies. Any type of government-unlike most other things in our ever-changing world will always be present, and our freedom of speech allows us make changes to better our society. I have seen it enacted through local petitions around my community, such as Occupy L.A. a few miles away from my house. It has made me realize that a person is possible of participating in politics, and that they do not have to settle for the status quo if they believe that it can be bettered. I was astonished by how this subject could have the potential to lead into important decisions made by politicians that affect the people as a whole, and how the people have the power to revolt if they believe that there was some fault in their reasoning.

Cornell has a vast array of courses ranging from such subfields as American, Comparative, and Political Theory that surpass all of my interests in majoring in that field. Attending Cornell will allow me to expand my knowledge of our government and apply it later in life. By providing internships and studying abroad programs that allow me to interact with others in my field of study, Cornell is an exceptional choice to grow as a student and as a future politician.

Any input or revisions would highly be appreciated. I also need to slim it down from 546 words to 500.

Maybe revise this to: From age ten, I would always hear my father complain of the preposterous bills that had been enacted into law.

For the next sentence, it isn't clear who your father is talking about - is it the legislature or the government in general?

The third sentence is good but it's not 100% clear why your father saying things based on assumption. I know what you're trying to say - that you wanted to properly inform yourself and not just go off what he said, but you might be able to make this clearer. This isn't a big change though.


Make the beginning: It was only until... Also, when you talk about the author, do you mean Voltaire? If so, maybe it would make it clearer to write: required me to analyze how Voltaire is able to convince the reader of his ideals that I was able to make a connection.


More in depth is good, but it could be changed to something better, like "to a deeper extent" or "at a closer degree", something like that maybe.

Also, "but willingly agreed to know that it would involve going deeper into our government's policies" - should be "but willingly agreed to, knowing that..."


My take on this would be: Government of any form, unlike most other things in our ever-changing world, will always exist, and our freedom of speech enables us to make changes that will improve our society.

It's a good essay though so well done!

Thank you for the help, I will make sure to include these changes.