Handiwork - Sample Common Application Essay - Option #1

Handiwork - Sample Common Application Essay - Option #1 The prompt for option #1 of the 2018-19  Common Application states, Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. Vanessa wrote the following essay in response to the prompt: Handiwork I made slipcovers for my doll house furniture when I was ten. I had a nice matching set for the living room- a sofa, an arm chair, and an ottoman- all in a gray and pink floral pattern. I didn’t dislike the furniture, but on a rainy Saturday, I decided it was time to switch things up a little bit, so I dug out some scrap material- navy blue- along with some thread, a needle, and a pair of scissors from my mother’s sewing desk. A few days later, my doll house family had a nice, newly reupholstered living room set. I’ve always been a crafter. From the early days of Kindergarten macaroni ornaments, to making my own prom dress last year, I’ve had a knack for creating things. For drafting sketches, drawing plans, making calculations, gathering supplies, adding finishing touches. There is something so satisfying about holding something you, and you alone, have made- something that was just an image in your mind until you set about to bring it into existence, to create something new, something different. I’m sure there are hundreds of doll furniture sets out there in that same gray and pink, but there is only one with fitted (albeit with sloppy stitching) navy blue covers. There’s a sense of pride there, however small. I’ve been lucky to have the time, the energy, and the resources to be artistic, to craft things. My family has always encouraged my efforts whether I be sewing a Christmas gift or building a bookcase. As my projects have evolved, I’ve come to realize that making things, useful or otherwise, is very much an important part of who I am. It allows me to make use of my imagination, creativity, logic, and technical skills. And it’s not just about making something for the sake of making something. I feel a connection to my mother’s family, from a rural village in Sweden, when I make candles. I feel a connection to my grandmother, who passed away last year, when I use the thimble she gave me when I was thirteen. I feel resourceful when I use leftover wood scraps from our new barn to make coasters for the coffee table. Crafting for me is not just a hobby, not something I do when I’m bored. It’s a way to use my environment, to discover tools, and shortcuts, and new ways of looking at things. It’s a chance for me to use my head and my hands to make something pretty, or practical, or fun. I don’t plan on majoring in art, architecture, design, or anything remotely craft-based. I don’t want it to be my career. I think a part of me is worried that I’ll lose my love of making things if there’s homework involved, or if I have to rely on it for a paycheck. I want it to stay a pastime, to stay a way for me to relax, enjoy myself, and cultivate a sense of independence. I’ll never stop being a crafty person- I’ll always have a box of colored pencils, or a sewing kit, or a cordless drill on hand. I don’t know where I’ll be in twenty years, or even ten. But I know wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, I will be the person I am because of that little girl, patiently sewing together tiny pieces of fabric on her bedroom floor: creating something great, something new, something entirely her own. _____________________ A Critique of Vanessa's Essay In this critique, well look at the features of Vanessas  essay that make it shine as well as a few areas that could use improvement. The Essay Title If you read the tips for essay titles, youll find that Vanessa’s title fits within one of the recommended strategies: it is clear, succinct, and straightforward. We quickly know what the essay is about. Granted, her title isn’t creative, but creative titles aren’t always the best approach. With some exceptions, too much cleverness or puniness in a title tends to please the writer much more than the reader.  The short title has the added advantage that it isnt adding much to the word count. Keep in mind that the title counts towards the length limit. The Length For the 2018-19 academic year, the Common Application essay has a word limit of 650 and a minimum length of 250 words. At 575 words, Vanessas essay falls at the upper end of this range. This is a good place to be. Youll certainly come across college counselors who adhere to the belief that less is always more, that the admissions staff is so overwhelmed with applications that they greatly appreciate a 300-word essay. There is certainly truth to the idea that a tight 300-word essay is far preferable to a wordy, rambling, fluffy 650-word essay. However, better yet is a tight, engaging essay in the 500 to 650 word range. If a college truly has holistic admissions, the admissions folks want to get to know you as an individual. They can learn a lot more in 600 words than 300. There is no consensus on the ideal essay length, but Vanessas essay is certainly fine on this front. The Topic Vanessa has avoided all of the bad essay topics, and she is wise to have focused on something for which she has true passion. Her essay tells us about a side of her personality that may not be apparent from the rest of her application. Also, the subtext of Vanessas essay could work in her favor. Vanessas description of her love of crafts says a lot about her: she is good with her hands and working with tools; she has acquired hands-on skills designing, drawing, and drafting; she is creative and resourceful; she takes pride in her work. These are all skills and personality traits that will serve her well in college. Her essay may be talking about handiwork, but it is also providing evidence of her ability to handle the challenges of college-level work. Weaknesses Overall, Vanessa has written a fine essay, but it is not without a few short-comings. With a little revision, she could get rid of some of the  vague language. Specifically, she uses the words things and something numerous times. The biggest concern has to do with the last paragraph of Vanessas essay. It could leave the admissions folks asking  why  Vanessa does not want to make her passion into her major or her career. In many cases, the most successful people are those who have turned their passions into their professions. A reader of Vanessas essay is likely to think she would make an excellent mechanical engineer or art student, yet her essay seems to reject these options. Also, if Vanessa loves working with her hands so much, why not push herself to develop those skills further? The idea that â€Å"homework† might cause her to â€Å"lose [her] love of making things† makes sense on one hand, but there’s a danger in that statement as well: it suggests that Vanessa doesn’t like homework. The Overall Impression Vanessas essay succeeds on many fronts. Keep in mind why a college asks for an essay. If a college wants to see more than your grades and standardized test scores, it means the school has a holistic admissions process. They want to get to know you as a whole person, so they want to give you a space to reveal something about yourself that may not come across in the other areas of your application. They also want to make sure you can write in a clear and engaging manner. Vanessa succeeds on both fronts. Also, the tone and voice we find in Vanessas essay reveals her to be an intelligent, creative, and passionate person. Ultimately, no matter what essay option you choose for the Common Application, the admissions committee is asking the same thing: Is this applicant someone who we think will contribute to our campus community in a positive and meaningful way? With Vanessas essay, the answer is yes. Want to Learn More About Common Application Essay Option #1? Along with Vanessas essay above, be sure to check out Carries essay Give Goth a Chance and Charlies essay My Dads.  The essays demonstrate that you can approach this essay prompt in extremely different ways. You can also check out tips and sample essays for the other Common Application essay prompts.

Curriculum redo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Curriculum redo - Essay Example The reason being, unlike older times, today’s industrialized world is heavily based on sectors of industries run by qualified individuals. This means that, only a person with sufficient acumen of business can run successful merchandise and only a qualified doctor can provide medical care to the sick. The reliance of this industrial matrix on the notion of transmission of specific quanta of knowledge from one generation of employees to the next ensures a continued, long-term importance of the profession of teaching. Like any other discipline, the discipline of pedagogy is full of theories and principles that provide groundwork for the educators, researchers and the teachers to develop effective classroom environment and lesson plans (Wiles, 2010). This does not only help the teachers in imparting knowledge to the learners in the most conducive environment but also help the learners to accumulate this knowledge and reflect upon it, thereby broadening their intellectual horizons (Weimer, 2002). One of the theories that arose in the past decade in this regard was the Curriculum Theory, which brings together the elements of theory and practice on one avenue. ... This paper examines the efficiency of two such ideologies in an instructional setting. It then merges these two ideologies in forming a personal philosophy of curriculum, which then forms the guiding principle for the personal teaching practice (Wiles, 2008). It is important here to establish few observations about the instructional setting in which the ideology implementation will take place. The setting here is a high school for at-risk teenagers at an adult county jail where the curriculum will be taught to English Language Learners. The setting is different from most high schools because of its students. The learners are mostly from the minority groups with poor financial background, susceptible to drugs, street crime who little no exposure to a proper school system before. To begin with, let us look at the Social Reconstructive curriculum ideology in detail and examine its appropriateness to the instructional setting. The social reconstructive ideology holds that the purpose of education is to reform the values of the society (Weimer, 2008). This ideology perceives curriculum as a tool of social reconstruction. This is important because this explains why this ideology is significant to the development of curriculum for ELL learners in adult county jail. The learners in this setting are not only materially disadvantaged but have also been victims of aggression, violence, and abuse. As psychology dictates, such adverse living conditions and unhealthy lifestyle not only affects the physiological health but also disrupts the psyche and the personality of the subjects making them more pessimistic and violent. Thus, the protocol of Social Reconstructive ideology influences this very aspect of their lives and plays a

Iconic building, building underground Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Iconic building, building underground - Essay Example The debates mainly covered topics such as: One of the proposed solutions to future attacks is the underground construction of buildings. For example, there have been proposals to expand the city of Amsterdam with a futuristic and massive underground network of activities. This paper seeks to examine the construction lessons learned from the WTC attacks and the possibility of considering underground construction as a way of avoiding attacks situations similar to the one of the WTC. The twin towers were designed and constructed five decades ago as new way of building skyscrapers in which they were to be very light in weight and involved modular methods of construction meant to reduce costs and accelerate the building schedule. They were constructed using an egg-crate design having extra columns that would hold the building standing in case one or two columns were to be lost (Eager & Musso, 2001). This design made the towers to be some of the most resilient buildings ever constructed and it is no wonder their collapse was that astonishing and generated so much speculations and debates among knowledgeable structural engineers (FEMA, 2002; National Institute of Science and Technology, 2008)). Prior to the WTC attacks, security in design was not all that an important concern to engineers, architects or builders (Bazant and Cedolin, 1991). Security was normally only considered a design priority when designing and constructing specific types of projects such as consulates, government facilities and prisons and State Department embassies. Following the attacks, security has become of absolute importance in virtually all types of construction including educational, healthcare, commercial, residential and institutional. The drastic change in the construction environment, which occurred virtually overnight, makes it important that all suitable technology and security safeguards are incorporated into the initial

Possible risks Essay Example for Free

Possible risks Essay Determination of pregnancy is not certain until the second trimester, at around twenty weeks, when the fetal heart beat can be heard via a fetoscope. Albeit there are presumptive and probable signs associated with pregnancy, like the early morning sickness or the growing size of the abdominal area, these could also be caused by a different pathology. Hence, it can be inevitable for a woman who is not aware of her pregnant state to be exposed to radiation, most especially if she is not aware of her current menstruation cycle. Radiation exposure usually occurs whenever a person is exposed to cosmic rays, external radiation from radioactive ores, internal exposure through radiation therapy given for treatment in cancer patients, and most commonly through diagnostic x-rays. More often than not, pregnant women who are not aware of their pregnant state could have gotten their diagnostic x-rays taken, which is equivalent to receiving 70 millirem. Also, she could have been exposed to other radiation sources, like watching the television and living next door to a power plant. But exposure to radiation can have an acceptable limit of 350 millirems for the pregnant woman. For the pregnant woman, the most critical period wherein the fetus will suffer the most health consequences is when the she is exposed to radiation around two weeks to fifteen weeks gestational age. At two weeks gestational age, if the mother is exposed to a radiation that measures greater than 5 rad or 5000 millirem, a miscarriage can take place or even death inside the womb. If the fetus is exposed to radiation at the gestational age of eight to fifteen weeks, the fetus is to suffer a severe brain damage from the exposure. This can result in lowered intelligent quotients or IQs, mental retardation, stunted growth and other birth defects. Mental retardation is defined as a general developmental disorder characterized by a lower than average intelligence marker and the child is to suffer from limited daily living skills due to limited learning capabilities. Stunted growth in a child will be evidenced by a sluggish growth and development progress, as evidenced by a lower than normal height, weight and even cognitive skills. After this critical period, the two to fifteen weeks of gestational age, the fetus will unlikely suffer from radiation exposure, unless the exposure is extremely large. Only having been exposed to at least five thousand x-rays at one time can give harm to a 16 week old fetus. At 26 weeks gestational age, the fetus cannot be harmed by radiation exposure, and if ever exposed to radiation, the fetus will unlikely suffer serious health consequences. This can be compared to a newborn being exposed to radiation; the chances of having defects are greatly decreased if not invisible already. However, some of the effects of being exposed to radiation cannot readily be seen or manifest in the early life. Studies also show that fetuses are extremely sensitive to the cancer causing effects of radiation exposure; hence this can increase their risks in acquiring cancer later in life. Radiation exposure can be limited, if not avoided. The pregnant woman needs to be aware of her physiological state. She would have to consult all of her diagnostic exams and her workplace to her physician, so that radiation exposure can be prevented early on the pregnancy.

Walt Disney Essay example -- essays research papers fc

Disney Productions is one of the leading entertainment businesses, bringing tremendous profits not to mention the joy it brings many people. It has not always been this easy for Disney however. It took the mind of one man to bring it to what it is today, and that’s mans name is Walt Disney. Walt Disney’s life was devoted to the arts and entertainment almost from birth. However, Walt’s fortunes and fame didn’t take form until his creation of Mickey Mouse. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 and was the fourth child of Elias and Flora Disney. He was an extremely talented child, exhibiting tremendous creativity at such a young age. Walt began drawing pictures in the 1st grade and continued until the day he died. Another of his exceptional talents was acting. Walt relished each opportunity to perform on stage or in class. While in elementary school "on Lincoln’s Birthday every year until he graduated, Walt was hauled from class to class by the principal to give the Gettysburg Address." (Fisher, 18) Walt got bored with school however and dropped out at the age of 16. He immediately got a job as a waiter on a train line and kept this job until the U.S. entered the war. Walt had a great desire to join the army, but was rejected because he was to young. Since he still desired to have some role in the war he became a volunteer with the Red Cross. Within a week he was sent to the front and didn’t return for one to two years. When Walt returned from he war he told his father that he wanted to become an animator, but his father did not approve. Walt ignored his father’s advice and enrolled in art school. Walt attended art school for several months in both Missouri and Kansas City and then later found a job at an advertising firm in Kansas. There he met a talented artist named Ubbe Iwerks. Ubbe was a great animator and he and Walt became good friends. Walt and Ubbe worked all day for the advertising company, but at night they studied the art of animation and experimented with ways to make animation smoother by using light and a camera. Walt soon quit his job at the advertising firm because he was not satisfied with the work he was doing. He found a job in Kansas City at a Film Ad Company. Walt was quickly fired from this job and having nowhere else to go, he returned home. Walt and his brother Roy decided to form their own business available jobs did... ...found 200-acre lot in Anaheim, California and purchased it immediately. Construction was completed and the park opened in 1955 and by that time Disney Productions was a financial success. People were so anxious to be the first ones in Disneyland that when only 15,000 tickets were sold for opening day 33,000 people showed up, half of them had counterfeit tickets. Certainly, Walt Disney was a man of vision. A man who had the creativity to develop ideas and then have the patience and perseverance to carry them out. Walt Disney showed courage and the desire you need to build a successful life. Even when all odds were against him, he still was able to find a way to conquer his dreams. He taught us many things and I hope we remember this man not only for his cartoons, but also for his work ethics and the contributions he made to society. Bibliography Fanning, Jim. Walt Disney. New York, NY: Chelsea House Publishers, 1994. Fisher, Maxine P. Walt Disney. New York, NY: A First Book, 1988. Greene, Katherine, and Greene, Richard. The Man Behind The Magic. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1991 Schroeder, Russell. Ed. Walt Disney, His Life In Pictures. New York, NY: Disney Press, 1996.

Euthanasia: Kantianism vs Utilitarianism Essay

The deliberate act of ending another’s life, given his or her consent, is formally referred to as euthanasia. At present, euthanasia is one of the most controversial social-ethical issues that we face, in that it deals with a sensitive subject matter where there is much uncertainty as to what position one ought to take. Deliberately killing another person is presumed by most rational people as a fundamental evil act. However, when that person gives his or her consent to do so, this seems to give rise to an exceptional case. This can be illustrated in the most common case of euthanasia, where the person who is willing to die suffers from an illness that causes great pain, and will result in his or her demise in the not-so-distant future. In this case, killing the person would seem to be the most humane and reasonable thing to do, whereas keeping the person alive would be akin to torture; which is also presumed to be a fundamental evil act. But euthanasia, in essence, is murder, and this might lead one to ask whether there can ever be an exception to murder? And if one were to make an exception in this case, what would then prevent us from making exceptions in other cases? In the worst case scenario, would this not leave an opening for cold-blooded murders to kill people without their consent, and make false claims that they did have their consent? There are a variety of positions, based on the numerous ethical theories that have been developed, that one can take in order to resolve the issue of euthanasia; but the positions I will be looking at in particular, are the positions based on John Stuart Mill’s ‘Utilitarianism’ ethical theory, and Immanuel Kant’s ‘Categorical Imperative’ ethical theory. According to Utilitarianism, euthanasia can be morally justified, whereas according to Kantianism, euthanasia is not morally justifiable; but I will argue that neither position provides an adequate resolution to the issue, due to the significant flaws that are inherent in the reasoning that led to their particular positions. According to Utilitarianism, ethics is primarily an empirical science; essentially implying that the moral standard must be based on human experiences, and not abstract principles that are largely impractical. Hence, based on an understanding of human experience Utilitarianism proposes that the ultimate end of every human action is simply pleasure, and the absence of pain. This fundamental idea then forms the basis for Utilitarianism’s Greatest Happiness Principle which states, â€Å"actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain, and the privation of pleasure† (Mill, 7). Also, Utilitarianism asserts that actions are judged as moral solely based on their consequences, and not on their motives. So, if a person acts out of good intentions, but does not produce beneficial results, then his action does not qualify as a moral action. Finally, Utilitarianism asserts that an action is good only if it promotes the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people. Therefore, an action that slightly increases your own pleasure, but in turn, dramatically decreases the pleasure of other, according to Utilitarianism is not moral action. Thus, in the context of the case mentioned in the introduction, the Utilitarian position on euthanasia would go something as follows: With respect to the individual who is willing to die, he/she would simply be happiest dead, and unhappiest alive. With respect to the people who care for the individual, they would be happy that he/she is alive, but unhappy at the same time because he/she is in great pain; or if the individual underwent euthanasia, happy because he/she is no longer in pain, but unhappy because he/she is dead. So, in applying the Utilitarian principle to this case, the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people occurs when the person is dead. The reason being that the people who care for the person are both happy and unhappy regardless of whether the person is dead or alive, but the person will only be happy if he/she is dead. Therefore, since euthanasia meets the moral standards set by Utilitarianism, it would support the act of euthanasia as a morally sound action. Unlike Utilitarianism however, Kantianism states that ethics is a purely a priori discipline, thus, independent of experience, and that ethical rules can only be found through pure reason. Also contrary to Utilitarianism, Kantianism asserts that the moral worth of an action should be judged on its motive and the action itself, and not on its consequences. Based on these ideas, Kantianism propose that an action is good only if it performed out a ‘good will’; which is the only thing that is good, in and of itself. To act out of a ‘good will’, one must act in accordance with a categorical imperative. According to Kant there is only one categorical imperative, which is to â€Å"act only on that maxim in which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law† (Kant, 528); and can also be formulated as â€Å"act in such a way that you always treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, never simply as means, but always at the same time as an end† (Kant, 532). Essentially, the categorical imperative states that your actions must not result in a practical contradiction, which can be determined by conceptualizing all other people performing the same act. To illustrate, if I were to make a promise with no intentions of keeping it, and I imagine all other people doing the same, then very idea of a promise would cease to have meaning, and thus, my action would give rise to a practical contradiction, and consequently, be immoral. Finally, the categorical imperative is an unconditional ought, which means that an action must be performed solely out of duty to the categorical imperative, without any ulterior motive, in order for it to be a moral action. Thus, with regard to euthanasia, Kantians would reject the act of euthanasia as a morally good action based on their reasoning that an action is good only if it acts in accordance with a categorical imperative. Taking the categorical imperative in terms of being able to act in ways that can, without contradiction, become a universal law, if one were to universalize killing another person – which is the fundamental act in euthanasia – this would result in a practical contradiction. That practical contradiction being if everyone were to kill one another, then there would be no people left in this world, and as a consequence, the very idea of murder would lose its meaning. Also, if one were to formulate the categorical imperative in terms of treating others (including oneself) as ends rather than means, euthanasia would violate the categorical imperative, in that the person is treated as a means by killing himself, to reach the end goal of eliminating the pain. Therefore, since euthanasia does not meet the moral standards set out by Kantianism, it would not support the act of euthanasia as a morally sound action. However, as I stated in my thesis, I believe that Utilitarianism, and Kantianism do not provide an adequate resolution to the issue of euthanasia, because of the significant flaws in their reasoning. With Utilitarianism, the significant flaw in their position lies in the fact that it is built on the false assumption that the consequences of actions can be predicted, when in actuality they cannot. For example, it is possible that the person, who underwent euthanasia because of the pain he/she suffered, could’ve been misdiagnosed and fully recovered shortly after. Also, inspired by his/her new life, the individual went on to form a charity that raised money for research in pain treatment, thereby increasing the happiness for a great many. Thus, under the utilitarian system, keeping the person alive in this scenario would have been the morally justified act, whereas killing the person would not have been. With Kantianism, the significant flaw in their position lies in the fact that they make an absolute, immutable statement – do not murder – without any consideration for the context in which murder takes place. It is unreasonable, and bordering on foolish, to claim to adequately resolve special cases of murder such as euthanasia through a simple, general statement without taking into consideration its context. Though it is indeed reasonable that deliberately killing another for the sake of harming them is an immoral act, in euthanasia, a person is killed by another only by their own consent, and for the most part, with a good motive. When a person is suffering tremendously and is most likely going to die anyways, it does not at all seem unreasonable to kill him. In fact, killing the person would seem to be the most humane act one can perform, and in not killing the person, and keeping him/her alive in such a state of pain and agony, would be like an indirect form of torture; which in Kantianism is not a moral act. Thus, for these reasons, the positions of Utilitarianism and Kantianism on euthanasia are inadequate in resolving the issue of euthanasia, and euthanasia still remains as a significant social-ethical problem in our contemporary society. Works Cited Mill, J. S. (1984). Excerpts from Utilitarianism, On Liberty and Considerations on Representative Government, 1, 4-42. London: Dent. Kant, I. (1956). Excerpts from Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, trans. H. J. Paton, 61-62, 64-67, 74, 80-92, 95-107. London: Unwin Hyman. Reprinted in E. Sober, Core Question in Philosophy: A Text with Readings, 520-540. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001.

Jane Austen s The King Of The Time - 1219 Words

(Hook sentence.) The Regency is a specific part of the much larger Georgian era, which spreads throughout the rules of the King George s. Regency is considered to be from 1811 to 1820 as the king of the time, George III, was deemed unfit to rule because of a mental illness, causing his son to be instated as his proxy, Prince Regent. Under the rule of the Prince Regent, life was transformed into a decade of social standings, where income and the amount of land you inherited determined your worth to many people. Women of this time were expected to be beautiful, well-mannered, and have good connections, so that they could easily achieve an advantageous marriage. Jane Austen lived almost her whole life in this time, which perhaps is the†¦show more content†¦He believes she has â€Å"more of quickness than her sisters,† and they often converse in amusement about the people around them (Austen 3). Since they aren t of a high society, they are constantly entertained with the desperate attempts of women who strive to marry a man of the greatest advantage. This causes Elizabeth to think highly of her ability to discern the people around her. Since she has never been proved wrong, an innate stubbornness from it was created. Pride over this has caused her to be quick to judge as she sees fit. This trait is especially shown in her first interaction with Mr. Darcy, a wealthy, seemingly proud, and handsome gentleman. The people of Hertfordshire county consider him to be the â€Å"most disagreeable man in the world† (Austen 8). She comes to agree with the gossip when she overhears him commenting that she is â€Å"not handsome enough to tempt [him],† (Austen 9). As they spend more time together he starts to develop feelings for her, but does not act on it because of her lower class. Here we can see how his pride and societal upbringing gives him a preconception against others. Her prejudice against him causes her to see everything he says or does in a negative light. Throughout the novel, this use of pride and prejudice leads to many misunderstandings about the true character of the people in it. The introducement of Mr. Wickham, a handsome man from Darcy’s past, proves to progress the story as an influence Elizabeth s prejudice.