Penn Essay #1: “Ben Franklin once said, ‘All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.‘ Which are you?” ​Throughout my childhood, I harbored strong feelings against long-term commitments. I could never handle more than a few months of an activity or task, for, sadly, I was lazy. Even at Karate classes, my instructors’ constant attempts to encourage determination failed. I gave up easily whenever I faced challenges, and I had...

Essay for the VIPER program at Penn: ​I have always possessed a desire to benefit society, but it was only in recent years that I discovered an area of science that continuously piques my interest, the science of energy. During family ski vacations as a small child, my dad would often joke about how in a few decades the sport of skiing may cease to exist due to global warming. Because I did not understand that global warming was actually...

Stanford Essay #1: Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development. ​For the past seven years, I have experienced the amazing opportunity of traveling to a camp in Maine where I live in a wooden cabin far away from society and can enjoy the outdoors for seven weeks. Over the years, it has become difficult to explain all the ways in which this place, known as Manitou, has influenced...

The first essay, which deals with Benjamin Franklin's quote, discusses my feelings toward the question that they asked. The second essay, which is simply a "Why College of Arts and Sciences" for the University of Pennsylvania, shows that people often change their minds. No longer am I interested in Earth Science, for I have turned my mind to Mechanical Engineering. To contrast, I also included all 3 essays for Stanford, a school from which I was denied. It is interesting to...