I am accomplishing nothing. I do not object to the position of the object, nor am I looking for something underneath it. So why am I lifting weights? I could write an essay glorifying “no pain no gain” or “embrace the grind” philosophies, but I hate lifting weights. For seventeen years, I had practiced, studied, and prayed without deliberating the reason, and then I ignored the feeling that I might be doing it all wrong. On that June day, I...

Consider this: as a high school student, I take everything my teachers say as true, not because I necessarily believe them, but because "success" depends upon it. I have learned to survive by accepting all which my teachers utter, because, after all, they write the tests. Now consider this: if one German monk incorrectly transcribed a Latin text in the twelfth century, we could still be living, teaching, and learning this mistake. As theories became increasingly complex, this possibility continued...

Dear Roommate, My name is Matthias Schmitz and the first thing you should know about me is that my life does not make sense. A Christian and a sinner, a lacrosse player and an avid reader, an American patriot who loves Germany: the list goes on. But you probably do not care about any of that, so I will tell you that I am the last of eight children. With five older brothers and two older sisters, I have had...

I am a meathead. My friends are meatheads: yet to them, I clearly have a problem. As I pull up next to a friend's car at a stoplight, Mozart drowns in the horrible bass of their dubstep. He similarly finds little room in the locker room before games-rap lyrics promoting sex, drugs, and violence suffocate his wordless melodies. Mozart's sonatas, fugues, and minuets shield me from daily distractions. The crescendos carry the numbers and symbols down the page as I...

Sturgeon's Law, coined by the science fiction writer Theodore Sturgeon, states, "95 per cent of everything you hear or read is crap." -Burton Malkiel: A Random Walk Down Wall Street Believe what you will, I intend this essay to lie within the 5 percent-I intend to tell the truth. Whether history, Literature, Science, or Religion, the short answer sections of tests never fail to boost my grade. When I do not know the answer, I have always been able to finagle my...

Wharton's emphasis on leadership resonates with my work experience at BiketotheBeach. Additionally, the Behavioral Economics concentration aligns with my academic interests, and the study abroad program at Goethe Universität Frankfurt appeals to my cultural curiosity. The Management 100 program at Wharton mirrors my work this summer with BiketotheBeach. BiketotheBeach is a nonprofit benefitting Autism research which hosts 100-mile charity bike rides. I had previously worked as a ride-day volunteer and completed the ride as a biker, but this year I...

Society's treatment of Autistic children provides evidence that our culture is not done marginalizing people. While social hindrances do prevent Autistic children from integrating fully into society at a young age, we do little to help the children to grow into self-sufficient adults. Through my work at the Auburn School, a school for children with Asperger's, and BiketotheBeach, I realized that Autistic children struggle to socialize just as one struggles to pay attention. Once again, I came to understand they...

Calculus, Chemistry, Physics: I love the certainty of those fields. Equations balance, energy is conserved, everything is accounted for. However, something always made me uncomfortable in those classes while learning the history of the subjects. For instance, physicists believed in the geocentric model for centuries until Copernicus proved them wrong. How could millions of people believe something so fundamentally incorrect? Consider this: if one German monk incorrectly transcribed an ancient Latin text in the twelfth century, we could still be...