This is an essay I wrote for Emerson's Honors program essay that they want on the common app.
"Wallace Bacon, a recipient of an honorary doctorate from Emerson College in 1975, wrote that the liberal arts, or humanities, 'are concerned with the question of what makes life worth living. And that question concerns not simply oneself but others. The humanities must help us learn who we are; they must help us learn the otherness of others.'
In this light, describe an encounter with someone or something different--an 'other' which revealed to you your sense of self and your relation to humanity. This encounter may involve a person, place, culture, or text (book, speech, film, play, etc.)."
It said to make it approx. 400-600 words. I made it mostly anecdote, but I shortened it a lot from what it originally was (1000 words! ACK!) and it's still 669 words. I don't think I could shorten it much more, and I don't know if I really need to, but I am a bit worried if it really answers the prompt and I think my conclusion's a bit weak. ^_^;
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When I attended a pre-college program in San Francisco, I was confronted with a problem: I was terrified of cities. I'd spent quite a bit of time in New York City with relatives, being carted around and intimidated by huge buildings, never-ending mazes of streets filled with honking cars, and millions of unfamiliar people. At those times, I'd trusted that the adults knew where they were going and I would be fine so long as they were there.
But I wasn't a kid anymore, and I was somewhat unceremoniously dumped in the middle of San Francisco where everything was unfamiliar. I had almost nothing in common with my roommates, and as much as I wanted to explore on my own instead of shopping for clothes, I couldn't bring myself to step outside of the dorms and into the unknown.
I was forced to confront my fears soon enough, as we were lead in groups to an important meeting on I-don't-know-where street, and afterwards were told there were shuttles outside to take us to get our ID cards or schedules. I already had both, so I supposed I should just go back to the dorm. However, I had concentrated so hard on not losing the group that I hadn't paid attention to where we were going. Instead of waiting for the shuttles to leave and strand me, I boarded one and hoped for the best.
But where we arrived there were no shuttles waiting to take anyone anywhere. I knew the address of the dorms and had a small map, but when I attempted to walk away from the building, I suddenly couldn't tell left from right and was too terrified of getting lost to go any further. New Montgomery Street quickly felt like an island in a vast sea filled with sharks.
As I paced in front of the building trying desperately not to cry, I heard a familiar voice and found it was my admissions counselor. With his help, I managed to get a shuttle driver to take me back to the dorms. After I was dropped off, I thanked the driver, ran into the building, up the elevator, into my dorm, and flung myself onto my bunk-bed, crying.
How could anyone expect me to do that every day to get to my classes? Everything was too different from what I was used to! Even if I did know anybody, I couldn't cling to them like a child and ask them 'would you take me?'The whole point of this had been to test my independence! Surely I could handle it? I'd at least managed to find my way back without completely losing it.
After that, I found other ways to manage. I looked up the addresses of my classes and coordinated bus routes to make sure I got where I needed to go. I still nearly got lost a few times, but I'd manage to ask the right person for directions or finally discover how to read a map. Other times, I got too confident and ended up walking ten blocks in the wrong direction, but I kept my head and always made it back. There was lot more to do and see and experience in a city than in a suburb - like finding my way to an AMC theater at night to see the premier of Harry Potter 7 Part 2 while running late and making my roommate save me a seat.
Those six weeks taught me a tremendous amount about myself. There are all sorts of places and lifestyles in the world, and all of them are interesting and worth living. I was more capable than I thought, and I could probably find a way to make any of those lifestyles work for me. I could overcome my fears, and take on challenges with confidence. I'm a girl who's ready for anything that college can throw at her, who knows what she wants, and I'm confident that I can make it all work out fine.
