Interest in Philosophy: College Admission Essay Sample

As a young boy, perhaps seven or eight years old, I remember watching a certain episode of Batman after returning home from school. In the episode, Batman finds himself in a dream world created by the Mad Hatter. Consequently, both Batman and the viewer spend much of the episode trying to differentiate what is real from what is feigned. I'm sure that for many children this half-hour viewing was not an event of lifelong consequence; I was apparently an exception. I began wondering what I knew was real in the world. I slowly started to doubt the many things that I had theretofore held as certainties—chiefly those things which had been told to me in the past by a parent or teacher as answers to my questions. Indeed, my questions were given a new rigor and an odd profundity considering their asker. I questioned the existence of God, my own existence, and the existence of the world. I wondered if and how I could ever be certain that the things conveyed to me as right or wrong, true or false, could be affirmed as such. Finally, compelled by the lack of answers I could find in my deliberations, I abandoned these questions altogether.

A couple of years later, I was sitting down at the desk of my room with several baseball cards in front of me. Like many of my friends, I enjoyed collecting baseball cards, and had recently acquired a card I had been seeking for quite a long time. As I sat at my desk, looking at this card in particular with a sort of proud stare, I became aware that it was a source of happiness for me. I started to consider what would become of my relationship to the card as I grew older. I maintained that the card would likely grow in monetary and intrinsic value and would still provide me with happiness. I could even at some point, perhaps, give it to my son as a gift or a sort of heirloom. But as I further envisioned the future, I began to realize that I would at some point die and that all temporal things, such as my card, would cease to provide me with the happiness they once had. And so I inquired into the purpose of these things. As regarded my happiness, I wondered what kind of sufficiency they provided. If these things were only temporal goods, I asked what investment should I or anyone else put into them as a source of happiness. These were the genuine musings of a ten-year-old boy. They, along with the inquiries of years earlier and so many others in between, constituted the origins of my interest in Philosophy.

The ambitious investigations of my early childhood oddly became detached from my awareness as I grew older. Entering college, I was unsure of what I wanted to study, and so decided against picking any specific path. However, in my second semester, I elected to take a course in contemporary Philosophy. It was this choice that ultimately renewed my dedication to what I firmly believe has always been in my nature to pursue. As of this academic year, I have begun my major in Philosophy and it is this same subject that I wish to study at Cornell, if afforded the privilege. At Cornell, I will have the opportunity to learn from top professors in one of the most esteemed and distinguished Philosophy departments in the world. Moreover, the Sage School of Philosophy offers multiple programs to supplement the wealth of information gleaned from the classroom, such as the Norman Kretzman Philosophy Lectures and Research Assistantships. With Cornell’s Logos—the undergraduate journal of Philosophy—I will have the opportunity to continue my participation in an academic journal; one which I of course have a particular interest in, yet which is not offered by my current school. And, as I believe that any truly well-rounded academic experience involves relationship with one’s fellow students, Cornell will enable me to interact with a large, diverse, and highly intellectual student body in formal Philosophy discussion groups, as well as in more informal settings.