How will you explore your intellectual and academic interests at the University of Pennsylvania? Please answer this question given the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying.
Essay:
It is very striking how people react when I say I want to pursue a career in law. They try to respond enthusiastically but I can really hear some kind of disgust in their voices. To most people, corporate lawyers are greedy and arrogant know-it-alls who do not care about their clients as long as they pay them. There are not many lawyers who read through the mission statement or visit the client's workspace; I think it is time to change all that.
I want a college education that enables me to be the new kind of lawyer. Being a lawyer who cares about his clients means being commercially minded; it means seeing things not just as a lawyer, but as an entrepreneur. Choosing the Legal Studies concentration and the Management concentration gives me the perspectives of both a lawyer and his clients. Wharton is a school that encourages both breadth and depth. I will be able to study certain areas in depth such as the law of corporate management and finance, while I still have the possibility to pursue my interest in history or to explore new areas of study. The possibility to submatriculate into law school is ideal to graduate from Penn as someone who knows the law, and someone who knows his clients' way of thinking.
I am someone who likes to get his hands on real problems. I have actually been advising projects on their marketing and communication towards clients and partners. I do not like to just learn the theory, I want to do something with it. The practical environment combined with small class sizes at Wharton is an environment in which I can thrive, through pragmatic courses such as MGMT 100 and negotiation courses I will learn how to put knowledge into practice and make an impact for my clients. Wharton is the kind of school that holds his undergraduates to the same caliber as they do to MBA students. This means that I will get lectures from professors that also teach graduate students. In that way I will be able to become the best version of myself.
I also plan to explore outside the classroom through the wide variety of extracurricular activities at Penn. I look forward to the closing statements in the mock trial team and joining the John Marshall Pre-Law Honour Society. The combination of Penn`s academics and pre-career student groups are a great way to prepare for law school. Although these two will be the first clubs I will sign up for, I will definitely discover other interesting clubs as well. Off course student groups are also a great way to explore and entertain at the same time, I would really like to join a music-related student group since I am very interested in music and I want to share that interest with other campus members.
Although college is mainly about preparing for the future, Penn will not only be academics for me. I look forward to exploring Philadelphia, I live a few miles away from the city center of Antwerp and I love going there. I am a very busy person so I always need noise and life around me. On the other hand, spending an evening in the Jazz club on Sansom street is the ideal way to escape from the stress that going to college could cause sometimes.
Penn is the place where I want to be and where I see myself growing. In the classroom, I want to be the person who ignites the discussion and produces the energy. I can bring an international and creative perspective, a lot of initiative, and eagerness to learn to the classroom and the whole campus.
I look forward to the strolls on locust walk, Hey Day and watching the Quakers on Franklin Field. I sincerely want to become a part of the Penn experience.
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