College Admissions Essay: What I Want from College

What I Want from College

My high school is completely project-based. We've designed restaurants, traveled to Mars, redone the trials of Exxon-Valdez and Bhopal, and had our own Olympics. All of our academic subjects integrate into the projects. In 11th grade, second trimester, the assignment was to build and maintain a utopian society on Mars. As part of the project, I was asked to define the value system of my group's utopia by ranking the importance of ten qualities that make a successful city, including health care, pollution, transportation, education, housing, entertainment, and others. I wondered how I would even begin.

I looked at my classmates, some of whom were talking, sleeping, or simply bored. Suddenly, I realized what my utopia would contain. Of course, my class's lapse in attention was only temporary. But what of those consistently apathetic students and tedious classes? What would happen if every student in the classroom were involved, inquisitive, and motivated?

And so, Edutopia, my utopia, solidified in my mind. Its first and foremost priority was that of an education, and not merely of a high school or undergraduate level. Students of Edutopia would have every opportunity to follow whatever educational pursuits they desired, on Mars. I set out to build a society that respected intellect. And throughout the next trimester, I did.

After my completion of the project, I re-examined my career and life goals. Before I discovered that Edutopia was my idea of paradise, I had never realized that education was so important to me. When I did, though, I decided to pursue a career in education.

Cornell University has all the resources I need to further develop my intellectual interests.