Engineering and Ambition: College Admission Essay Sample

“This year,” Mr. Stelfox exclaimed confidently as he addressed the room of eighth-grade students, “I will uncover your innate love of science and technology.” By exposing us to the practical side of science, he did just that. Every morning we futilely attempted to predict his lessons, and every morning we were surprised: we built Rube Goldberg machines, conducted dissections, and even designed a multitude of experiments independently.

Though Mr. Stelfox kindled my enthusiasm for technology, it was my demanding and rewarding high school life that fueled my newfound passion. I took every Advanced Placement science and mathematics class available, and I also became a devoted participant in science-related clubs and competitions. In my junior year, however, my passion was transformed into anxiety when I suddenly realized that my interests were too broad. I was lost when confronted with the enormous array of possible career paths.

By a stroke of fate, my participation in Carleton University’s Shad Valley Program, a prestigious four-week summer science enrichment course, made my path clear. Each year the program brings together top math and science students to attend numerous environment- and technology-related lectures and workshops in preparation for a final project. The announcement of our assignment came somewhat unexpectedly from the program director at the end of the second week: “In teams of 13, you must call upon your technological and physical understanding to devise the design of a ‘waste-reducing’ product, of which a panel must approve before you may construct a presentable prototype.” We all groaned at the immensity of the workload ahead of us even before the final words: “You have only two weeks.”

My twelve teammates and I spent countless hours over the next two weeks on research and design, sustaining ourselves on little sleep and too much coffee. We pored over volumes of physics and mathematics reference books and surveyed companies to understand the marketing potential of our ideas. We held brainstorming sessions, argued our points, and suggested countless design improvements. Despite our genuine efforts and limited hours, the panel heartlessly rejected our ideas twice because of miniscule flaws. Fortunately, our product drastically improved each time. When we finished, I experienced true satisfaction for the first time: I knew that each aspect of our prototype, from economical to technological, had been optimized.

My ambition is now to become an engineer/physicist. The flexibility of this career will allow me to address environmental issues, an imperative that I feel strongly after my education at Shad. More importantly, I crave the challenge and satisfaction of completing one of the most strenuous paths in engineering. It is for precisely that reason that I yearn to attend Cornell’s Engineering program. Not only is it at the forefront of scientific research on environmental control and clean energy, but it will also guarantee the satisfaction that I will receive only from a highly demanding and academically rigorous program.