A Common Thread: College Admission Essay Sample

Since I was a toddler, my father has taken me sailing on the Long Island Sound. As I grew older, I began to ask questions. How do the sails move the boat forward? Why isn’t the boat pushed over by the wind? After ten years of asking questions, I had learned enough about how a sailboat operates to sail one by myself.

The pursuit of knowledge has never been confined to the classroom for me. In everything I do, I search for new information. Whether I am investigating something as complex as the relationship between sail trim and rudder position or as simple as which meal provides the most satisfaction per dollar, I have come to appreciate that extracting knowledge from everyday situations is one of life’s greatest skills. With my college experience, I hope to continue this trend. This is what Lehigh University and I have in common--a drive to gather and apply knowledge whenever, wherever possible.

From my time spent on the Lehigh campus and my interactions with Lehigh faculty and students, I have grown to know Lehigh as a place where learning is second nature. I was able to sit in on a Thermal Physics class while I was visiting, and the attentiveness and willingness of the students to engage with the professor made it abundantly clear that they loved what they were learning--difficulties and all. Additionally, Lehigh and I both place a high level of importance on using knowledge to improve upon existing ideas. In my life, this desire manifests itself in the school seminars I choose. Courses such as 3D CAD, Introduction to Technology and Design, and Principles of Engineering allow me to experiment and use my growing aptitude to produce something tangible. At Lehigh, the desire to apply such knowledge appears in the form of innovative research by the faculty and students. Yet the basic concepts remain the same--the eagerness to seek out knowledge and the drive to use it, the concepts on which both Lehigh and my own life are built.