Avenues and Backroads: College Admission Essay Sample

If there are two things in this world that I cherish, they are my best friend, Manuel, and my driver’s license.

Being able to drive has allowed me to go beyond the bounds of the South Floridian suburb in which I currently reside, where the most exhilarating thing to do is eating at the neighborhood Denny’s. Nonetheless, the most thrilling part of having my license is being able to go on long drives with Manuel.

Of course, the conversation always begins the same way: mindless banter about our orchestra and our schools. After that, the conversation completely digresses to anything, I mean anything – all while I’m randomly turning into avenues and backroads alike.

“I hope that space tourism is a thing when we’re adults.”

“I want to be the first person to play violin in space.”

“It would have been legendary to see Jascha Heifetz live.”

As I looked unto the stars on those drives, I realized that there is an infinite world, an infinite number of routes and possibilities. That is where biomedical engineering comes in. Of course, with the rapid advancement of modern healthcare, students who are gifted in math and science are blindly advised by family, friends, and teachers to go into biomedical engineering. However, the meaning of being a biomedical engineer goes beyond being able to use biology, calculus, chemistry, and physics on a daily basis. It is about having the power to save lives by solving medical problems with the problem-solving skills required of an engineer.

Of course, the role of music in my life cannot be overlooked. In the moments when words do not suffice, music has given me a voice. It is that voice that I wish to give to others through biomedical engineering – to cancer patients with an immune system that is not strong enough to fight against metastatic cells and to children with bone defects due to congenital abnormalities, among the countless others whose hope lies in the hands of biomedical breakthroughs.

At Johns Hopkins, I will have the opportunity to pursue my academic and personal passions, creating a single constellation out of all the cluttered, random stars in my mind. At the Grayson Lab for Craniofacial and Orthopaedic Tissue Engineering, I will create tissues that could, potentially, change people’s lives. Under the direction of Jed Gaylin, I will continue pursuing my passion for music by performing in the Hopkins Symphony Orchestra as a violinist.

In essence, just as I grew up on those drives with Manuel, I will be able to grow as an academic and as a human being at Johns Hopkins – all while I experience an unwavering desire to explore Baltimore’s avenues and backroads.