In addition to the Common Application essay, please select one phrase from the Bates mission statement below and comment on how it inspires you and draws you to Bates (1-2 paragraphs).
Since 1855, Bates College has been dedicated to the emancipating potential of the liberal arts. Bates educates the whole person through creative and rigorous scholarship in a collaborative residential community. With ardor and devotion - Amore ac Studio - we engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action. Preparing leaders sustained by a love of learning and a commitment to responsible stewardship of the wider world, Bates is a college for coming times.
Here is my writing:
My finger stops. My eyes stop longer. The start of Bates mission statement "the emancipating potential of liberal arts" flings me back to Mr. Hoang echoing voice: "We are the only gateless school in Hanoi, but that's just the least thing making us, well, liberal". My high school years proved his words. The concealed pips in me have been nurtured and transformed by the encouraging words of Mr. Cong when we held the first M- Christmas Show, the warm hugs I'm wrapped in everyday and the journal writing Mrs. Hang encouraged me to write (and draw and photograph). A coincidence. Still, the free and open san-serif typeface of the phrase coaxes me onwards. Here, I perceive a piece of the stated liberty sparkling in the full-of-light Dining Commons, another in the hot latte cup in The Ronj and many under the leaves of Historic Quad. My eyes bright with the thought of learning the moves weekly with the BallRoom Team, working as a graphic designer for The Mirror or simply engaged in the mentorship program by Bates Buddies. Bates is it. A destiny.
One day, I typed Vietnam in the searching bar on Bates website. The result repeated a name - Dean Bill Hiss. Three Batesies confirmed that in 1997, he was the first Dean of Admissions to come and recruit Vietnamese students. He made his visit just 2 years after US Government decided to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam. It's heartening to know that Bates was the pioneer in not only the normalization of relations between the two countries but also in the acceleration of bilateral ties in education. And thanks to him in specific and Bates in general, since then I have had numerous bright mirrors of students studying abroad to follow. Now I have found out how to make positive changes to the lives of the disabled children in Birla Village or the limited budget of my hardworking parents. Only at Bates can I research in the first-class facilities of Ladd library and confront forehead wrinkles and focused look in the Debate Council. Equally important, I may study off-campus in Yonsei University and brush up my hands-on experience during internship. Maybe I will become an economist and unfreeze the real estate market. Maybe I will become a teacher and plant the seeds of knowledge. Maybe I will become both. Whatever I'm determined to do, this prestigious liberal arts college will only say "Try it! Emancipate your potential!".
Well, nice to see a Vietnamese here. And applying to Bates, you're my opponent.
Your English language is great, a wide range of vocabulary and good grammar. I just wonder whether you are really answering the question.
I'm no better than you but in my opinion, you did not really talk about the potential of liberal arts. You should search "liberal arts" on google, I think. That does not simply mean "liberal".
I chose the second phrase so I cannot give you any further comments. Deadline is coming, you should do it fast.
Last night I wrote the essay, checked grammar myself and submitted #_#.
Good luck to you.
