Foundations: College Admission Essay Sample

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” (Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Henry David Thoreau)

I have always heard that it is best to be well rounded. However, I like to think of myself as pointed. Although I am involved in many activities that I love and value, the passion that most propels me forward is my desire to create. My experience with designing and building my second tiny house, which represents the culmination of a two-year independent research project, has taught me how to value simplification, be resourceful, and doggedly pursue my goals.

My thesis is about the process of planning and constructing micro-dwellings, which are essentially very small homes. At the beginning, all I possessed were a few shaky graphite drawings and my overwhelming wish to will them into existence. I began to literally and figuratively develop my foundations, mastering the basics of carpentry by watching YouTube videos and collecting tips from the local Lowe's staff when I endeavored to make my first house. I added to these skills for the second house, and at the suggestion of my project mentor, a local architect, I worked determinedly for hours on the program Google SketchUp until I produced an in-depth computer-generated model. Even with this new design knowledge, I still lacked the materials to actually build the home. To solve this issue, I spent countless weekends driving around town gathering windows and lumber from salvage yards and construction sites. As a result, 80% of the home is composed of recycled materials and the cost of the project has been minimal.

My second tiny house is 96-square-feet, which is three times as large as the one that I built my sophomore year. Looking at the structure fills me with an innate sense of pride, but being in it is another matter entirely. I can step through the doorway and glance to my right to see the transparent wall of windows, and then look to my left to see the tiny kitchen space, bathroom, and loft above them. Despite the intense feeling of satisfaction that I experience every time I think of the house, the project has only barely whet my appetite, and I cannot wait to improve it and add features in future attempts.

If there is any one thing that I have learned form my thesis, it is that I have found purpose. Ultimately, I would like to combine my love of tiny houses with a degree in architecture, in order to create a comprehensive set of designs for temporary disaster shelters, where victims could live while their own homes are being reconstructed. Reviewing what I have built, I experience a sense of contented resolution that I know is creative fulfillment. Now, I relish overcoming the difficulties and aspire to study architecture so that I can continue to innovate and experience this feeling throughout the rest of my life.