This is the prompt - "Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development."
This is what I have so far, please be as critical as possible, I really want to have a chance to get into Stanford. Thanks so much!
Ever since I was little, I have been fascinated by the logic of science and math. I was exposed to it relatively early, since my grandma was a high school math teacher and my grandfather was a math professor. I grew up with discussions about math and science at the dinner table. In school, I found that I understood that logic intrinsically. Even now, every month I wait impatiently for the next issue of Discovery Magazine, and race my brother for the first glimpse at the articles. When I am in a room, I find that I have to read every little piece of text within reach, be it a poster, a magazine, or the back of a toothpaste tube. It doesn't matter the subject, or the idea, it just matters that there is a data flow into my brain. It keeps my mind constantly active. There is a constant influx of information surging to my brain, and I couldn't imagine my life without it.
I like helping people. From the articles I read on scientific discovery, I find that the ultimate goal of science is to understand the world in order to help people. Just recently, I read an article about a team of engineers who are building prosthetic limbs for amputees that communicate and take commands directly from the brain. The victim only thinks about moving her arm, for example, and it happens. I can't imagine what that must feel like, to have a part of you lost, and the joy of having that part back. It must be something exceptional. That is the joy I want to help bring to people; to see, to hear, to feel the world around them again after they have lost the ability. I want to help save the environment with a car powered on water, and find new ways to make and store electricity so we can conserve nonrenewable resources. I want to explore the thought-impossible ideas of time-travel and invisibility. People may laugh at that notion, but in reality, who knows what we don't know; who is to say that it is not possible. After all, not a long time ago, people must have laughed at the idea of flying machines or a man on the moon. There is a story that I remember reading when I was very little, maybe eight or nine. It was about a little bad-behaved boy who grabbed the tail of a little demon and they flew to the moon, and met moonmen. Although it is farfetched, the author, in a way, imagined the future half a century before the idea became reality. Today, there are so many science fiction novels about time travel. Who is to say that the authors of those books aren't predicting the future?
I am about 500 characters above the limit, any ideas how to shorten and mch appreciated!
