Liberal Arts Education Personal Statement

Although I was first attracted to Michigan because of my family’s love for the University, my family is neither the only nor the main reason why I am applying. I’m looking for a liberal arts education—a program that teaches skills and knowledge applicable to a wide array of careers— with the opportunity to delve into research. Coming from the Windy City, I also need a bustling campus, active student body, and dynamic college town. Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts balances these factors and creates an environment I will thrive in.

The many areas of interest that I selected on Michigan’s supplement represent my desire to explore multiple avenues in college. Perhaps I will become a lawyer whose background in biopsychology, cognition, and neuroscience helps her empathize with each client, a doctor whose knowledge of political science aids her understanding of discrepancies in public health, or a journalist whose love of creative writing and literature radiates in the printed word. When I stumbled across LSA’s Major Impact Visualization, I was enamored by the possibilities each study could lead to. Economics could take me to a career in health; political science, sales; biology, law.

I was further drawn in after I discovered that LSA’s website reads, “We teach you how to ask the right questions—how to think, not what to think.” I’ve never been able to accept facts at face value—to solve an integral without knowing its practical application or read a primary document without understanding the writer’s bias.

I’m interested in a program that expands the mind’s powers, rather than instilling equations, definitions and

memorization.

After I’ve traveled many paths, identified connections between them, and heard a variety of perspectives, I want to commit to a single major and have the opportunity to turn pre-professional. Learning foundational skills at LSA my first two years and transferring to Ford to concentrate on public policy or Ross to study business after sophomore year seems like the ideal college trajectory. LSA doesn’t restrict me; its flexible curriculum allows my curiosity to run wild, gives me a generous amount of time to declare a major, and even lets me transfer to another University of Michigan school without falling behind.

What I find most compelling about LSA is its Honors College. My small class sizes and close relationships with my teachers at Latin have instilled in me the value of community. With a peer advising system, smaller classes, and South Quad to house all Honors College students, I’m confident that this program will support me in my transition to college and create this close-knit community. The specially designed core curriculum and opportunity to collaborate with other like-minded, intellectually curious students is an added bonus. They’re the students I want to examine the tweets of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump with in my section of “The Revolution Will Be Tweeted: How Social Media Affects Politics” and then cheer on the Wolverines with after class.