This is my first draft for the three engineering questions in Brown University's Supplement. any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Questions
1. Many applicants to college are unsure about eventual majors. What factors led you to your interest in Engineering? (Feel free to elaborate on your response to question 2.)
2. What experiences beyond school work have broadened your interest?
3. Brown offers programs in Biomedical, Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, Materials, and Mechanical Engineering. Since there is a common core curriculum within Engineering, students need not select a specific area until their junior year. We are curious to know, however, if any particular program within Engineering presently appeals to you. If so, please discuss that choice.
1) Engineering appeals to me for the simplest of reasons: it is a field that combines the two subjects that I love, math and science. Math has always made sense to me. Everything in it is definite: no opinions, no variability, no uncertainty. Science is the opposite, always changing and evolving, with new opinions and theories that daily change the way that we look at the universe around us. There is always a new puzzle to be solved, a new challenge to be met. To take these two fields and combine them, to be able to not just number crunch and mindlessly experiment but to create and expand technology for the good of others, is to form truly the greatest field of learning and working that I could imagine making a career out of.
2) Growing up, nothing delighted me more at Christmas or on my birthday then getting a new set of Legos. On more then one occasion I left the company of my friends at my birthday party altogether just to rip open a new box and start building something new. At a young age the final product was the same as it is for every other kid: a house, a simple box, colors in no particular order, the occasional unfit piece sticking out of the wall. As imperfect as it might have been, it made me happy, because I had created it. Soon the imperfections ceased as my simple houses became complex cities. Nothing was random now; every color and every sized block had a specific place that they needed to be. Everything was planned carefully, and if the finished product disappointed, it was back to the drawing board.
While I never lost my love of Legos (I still have my old set up in my attic), I did eventually outgrow them. I wanted to make things that meant something, creations that would have a purpose in the world. When I entered the Boy Scouts, I found my new craft in woodworking, and haven't looked back since. From the diminutive but deceptively speedy Pinewood Derby cars, to the toolboxes and workbenches that I still use today, everything had to be planned out perfectly beforehand, and when built properly, became tools more significant to me then any factory-made version ever could. Coming up with a new idea, planning it out from its conception and seeing its creation through to the end - that is what has always attracted me to the field of engineering.
3) While the idea of taking those Lego models and constructing them in the real world is fun, the field of engineering that interests me most doesn't involve building houses, bridges or cars. For me, nothing would be more interesting then to take the marvels of modern technology and to put them to use in the medical field. Biomedical engineers daily push the bounds of nature by implementing new, innovative ways to fight off disease, heal injuries, and generally improve the quality and longevity of life of the entire human population. This marriage of calculated technologies with the wonders and intricacies of the human body is something truly incredible, and something that I sincerely hope to contribute to in my future.
