What matters to you, and why?
I didn't need the extra volunteer hours - Stuyvesant didn't require them; I had a collective 250 hours of volunteering over the previous two summers; I could have found a paying job, and I most definitely could have caught up on sleep. What mattered to me was achieving self-fulfillment by making a difference. I would be lying if I said that I never reconsidered volunteering at NY Presbyterian Hospital five days a week for over a month of the summer. There were moments during my hour and half long rides to the hospital when I felt as if I could be doing something far more productive and even beneficial to myself. The smiles I managed to bring to the patients' faces made up for all of that.
I never had any problems with being sociable, so working with kids throughout the summer felt like a no-brainer. I could've done the summer camp counselor route again, but as an aspiring doctor, the opportunity to shadow doctors while being a child life assistant in the Pediatrics Emergency Department was more exciting. Some days we would get patients close to my own age, those either attempted suicide or were stranded by friends after having alcohol poisoning. Those patients would rarely want to converse with a professional and seemed to feel more comfortable in my or the other volunteers' presence. There were the two unbelievably adorable girls who had been hit by a taxi while crossing the street for a summer camp trip. I ended up spending two hours with them playing Monopoly and Life. When the time came for their x-ray scans, they begged the doctors to let me come with them.
Volunteering at a hospital may not look nearly as impressive as working on an Intel project or interning at a law firm, but that doesn't matter to me. I was satisfied with my summer because I had helped with something bigger than myself. I had contributed to vastly improving the experiences of the children and young adults.
Thanks for editing! :)
I did not need the extra volunteer hours - Stuyvesant (Is this a high school?)does not require them; I had a collective 250 hours of volunteering over the previous two summers. I could have found a paying job, and I most definitely could have caught up on sleep. But what mattered to me was achieving self-fulfillment by making a difference. I would be lying if I said that I never reconsidered volunteering at NY Presbyterian Hospital five days a week for over a month of the summer. There were moments during my hour and a half long rides to the hospital when I felt as if I could be doing something far more productive-- even beneficial-- to myself. The smiles I managed to bring to the patients' faces made up for all of that.
I never had any problems with being sociable, so working with kids throughout the summer felt like a no-brainer. I could have done the summer camp counselor route again, but as an aspiring doctor, the opportunity to shadow doctors while being a child life assistant in the Pediatrics Emergency Department was more exciting. Some days we would get patients close to my own age:sometimes those who attempted suicide or were stranded by friends after having alcohol poisoning. Those patients would rarely want to converse with a professional and seemed to feel more comfortable in my or the other volunteers' presence. I will always remember the two unbelievably adorable girls who had been hit by a taxi while crossing the street for a summer camp trip. I ended up spending two hours with them playing Monopoly and Life. When the time came for their x-ray scans, they begged the doctors to let me come with them.
Volunteering at a hospital may not look nearly as impressive as working on an Intel project or interning at a law firm, but that doesn't matter to me. I was satisfied with my summer because I had helped with something bigger than myself. I had contributed to vastly improving the experiences of the children and young adults.
This is really great! When I started reading I thought "oh, another volunteer experience", but you really made yours stand out. I hope my editing helped, it was to the best of my abilities. Good luck!
thank you so much!
do you mind editing another supplement for Stanford as well? The prompt is: Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
Tears begin to cascade down my cheeks abruptly as a look of chagrin spreads across my face. My arms flail in a rhythmic sequence. On cue I force the tears to stop spilling. One, two, three - it is time for the snide retort. I am May, a homeless schizophrenic from Eastern Standard.
First semester junior year I took an acting class as an elective. I was a member of the drama club in my middle school and expected this to be a cinch. What I didn't expect was for the class to spur an in-depth exploration of cognition and behavior. After a month of acting games, the class was given the first assignment: to pick a partner and memorize a scene from a list of plays to perform in a month. Amongst all the other characters, May was the chaotic, vivacious persona who would give me the greatest challenge.
In the midst of the month leading up to the performance, I recalled a paper I had written for a math team contest; the paper was about the syntax behind various forms of cryptography. A bell went off in my head. What if I were to combine the two principles of behavioral neurology and cryptography? The most obvious combination seemed to be artificial intelligence, but I had a distinct approach in mind. What if I were to apply the principles of artificial intelligence to myself, except in reverse? I tried to figure out how a mentally healthy individual could perfectly mimic the abnormal actions typically caused by intricate gene sequencing and motor neurons.
It is fascinating how a mere play scene shed light on the interdisciplinary nature of learning for me. Instead of just approaching the assignment as a basic exercise in performing, I dug deeper into the rudimentary buildup of my character. In turn, I developed a greater interest in cognition.
I would be happy to! I'm the editor of the school newspaper at my school, so I'm really used to editing. I've been doing it so long it's almost fun now. Also, I would really appreciate "likes" of my comments (so I can feature one of my essays, lol!) Anyway, hope I helped here as well:
Tears begin to abruptly cascade down my cheeks abruptly as a look of chagrin spreads across my face;m y arms flail in a rhythmic sequence. On cue, I force the tears to stop spilling. One, two, three - it is time for the snide retort. I am May, a homeless schizophrenic from Eastern Standard.
During the first semester of my junior year, I took an acting class as an elective. I was a member of the D rama C lub while in middle school, and I expected this to be a cinch. What I didn't expect was for the class to spur an in-depth exploration of cognition and behavior. After a month of acting games, the class was given the first assignment: to pick a partner and memorize a scene from a list of plays to perform in a month. Among all the other characters, May was the chaotic, vivacious persona who would give me the greatest challenge.
In the midst of the month leading up to the performance, I recalled a paper I had written for a math team contest.T he paper was about the syntax behind various forms of cryptography. A bell went off in my head. What if I were to combine the two principles of behavioral neurology and cryptography? The most obvious combination seemed to be artificial intelligence, but I had a distinct approach in mind. What if I were to apply the principles of artificial intelligence to myself, except in reverse? I tried to figure out how a mentally healthy individual could perfectly mimic the abnormal actions typically caused by intricate gene sequencing and motor neurons.
It is fascinating how a mere play scene can shed light on the interdisciplinary nature of learning for me. Instead of just approaching the assignment as a basic exercise in performing, I dug deeper into the rudimentary buildup of my character. In turn, I was able to develop a greater interest in cognition.
This is pretty interesting. I think the Ad Com will be rather impressed with the knowledge you display. Once again, best of luck! Stanford was not one of the schools I applied to (I want to be a cold and shivering Northeasterner, ha!) so I sincerely hope that you are accepted.