It is incumbent upon all students to recognize that their education feeds into their responsibility toward public service. It is my firm belief that the main purpose behind a student’s pursuit of higher education should not be self-gratification and self-edification, but bettering society or helping people through knowledge, research, and invention. Cornell appeals to me because it focuses on innovation and making students take a deeper look into the world around them to work toward fulfilling this purpose. Undergraduate...

My sharp teeth ripped at the chicken’s taut, scaly neck, tearing off chunks as dark blood smeared my otherwise white face. I reached for a napkin, glanced at my friend across the kitchen counter, and noticed the mixed looks of shock and interest on his dark brown face. I was sure he saw a savage ritual of sacrifice, born from what he believed was a culture untouched by the hands of civilization and social grace. It was really just...

MIT Essays 1) I am a wannabe rock star. Most of my undertakings are stressful, but one activity that I have always found enjoyable is playing Guitar Hero. I received the original Guitar Hero for my twelfth birthday, and have been an avid fan ever since. Through rigorous training regimens, I quickly ascended from Easy to Expert, and entered the pantheon of plastic guitar legends (winning some local tournaments along the way). Although missing one note on Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy...

Columbia Supplement 1) As a student from the city of Newark, I have become accustomed to diversity in my academic habitat. Most of my peers are either African American or Latino, and there are few who would identify themselves as members of the “majority” outside of my school. I enjoy the cultural diffusion that takes place when in a variegated environment with such a mixed social scene; it is something that does not happen at universities with primarily one or two...

Ayn Rand believes that mankind’s greatness is measured not by its collective achievements, but by the achievements of the individual. “There is no such thing as a collective thought” (Rand 603), but there are the thoughts of lone men, who create not for the betterment or advancement of society, but for the satisfaction of producing their own work. These men, labeled egotists, are the true benefactors, visionaries, and geniuses. Their thoughts are only their own, for “no man can give...

A Homework Assignment on the Contemporary Futility of Homework The intrinsically competitive and vicious nature of our contemporary free market society has trickled down from the business and working world to the sub-mature world of education and schooling. Our education reflects the modern world — students are taking more “rigorous” classes, assuming tangibly extreme loads of homework and coursework in conjunction with the overwhelming ballast of academic pride and reputation, in the hopes of achieving higher levels of social and scholastic...

If you’re looking for a prescription of summer classes or opportunities that will guarantee success in the college application process, I have to be frank - there are no golden tickets. The summer opportunities you should pursue are wholly dependent on who you are, what you want to do, and how you want to go about doing it. When a college like Harvard looks at your extracurricular experiences, it’s not checking them against a list of pre-approved jobs or programs, nodding its head when you’ve done X,Y, and Z or shaking it if you’ve only...