Physics: The Key to Being a Better Dancer: College Admission Essay Sample

In eleventh grade, I remember sitting in Physics baffled that there were formulas to make sense of the world. Before this course, I had simply accepted that gravity made things fall to the ground and pushing objects would make them move. However, dabbling in the why behind all of this awakened this insatiable curiosity that still burns in me today.

That first day in Physics helped me realize that I was on a constant hunt for explanations. As I progressed through each chapter of the course, I was able to satisfy this craving for knowledge for a while, until a seemingly mundane movement triggered another question that could be answered through physics. This constant applicability to everyday events was a huge draw, as was the importance of math, a strong suit of mine, to physics problems. For once, I didn’t feel like I was memorizing information that would leave my brain after an exam. Rather, I was able to consistently apply the information to everything around me.

The greatest take away from Physics, however, was the improvement in my dance skills. Now that I knew all these rules of the universe, I could apply them to make myself a superior dancer. I was able to apply Newton’s Law of Motion that every action has an equal and opposite reaction to jetés, boosting the height of my jumps. I increased the amount of turns I was able to execute using the Law of Conservation of Momentum, by starting off with my arms farther away from my body, then slowly bringing them closer, thereby reducing my radius and prolonging my turning. Being able to apply Physics to dance felt like unlocking a cheat sheet to the world. I was suddenly able to manipulate the smallest things and produce noticeable results. Physics was this gateway to being an improved version of myself in not only dance, but life itself. It led to living in the most efficient way possible while still driving me to learn more about the universe. This course has paid off tenfold and is therefore my favorite subject to date.