Hypothetical college questions

5. Why do you want to major in biology?
Life is the greatest mystery and an astonishing miracle. Biology attempts to understand life in its many forms and that, for me, is its biggest draw. Biology has extreme current relevance as humans continue to learn how we fit into the complex ecosystems that make up our world. The advances of gene technology present the possibility of eliminating genetic and chronic diseases. Threats to our bodies that we deem to be dangerous today will be insignificant in the future. It is entirely possible that cancer could become the next common cold. Medicine is on the edge of a dramatic breakthrough, and I would like to be a part of this pioneering endeavor.

9. What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?
Ever since I lost my hearing at eleven months, I have been helped by so many people. Doctors who worked with me in the hospital during those fourteen days with meningitis, audiologists and speech pathologists who helped me overcome my deafness, and my parents who have stood by me the whole way. As a result of all their hard work, I’ve grown up into a teenager who has taken all of their help and turned it into success. I’m graduating high school in only three years, rather than the usual four, with an advanced honors diploma and I’m in the top five percent of my class. I’ve chosen to study medicine, a long, difficult, and expensive career field to go into, because I’ve realized how much everyone’s collective efforts have helped me. Looking back at their work, I now know that in ten years, I want to be the person who is helping others.

My summer reading list

Every summer, usually in the first week of July or so, an envelope comes in the mail from school. This charming envelope always contains a large amount of work that no one wants to do during vacation. Lists of books to read, textbook chapters to outline, articles to examine, and projects and essays to complete. In the past I was innundated with Palmer & Colton's A History of the Modern World, Heller's Catch-22, Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, and Orwell's 1984 as well as an essay about a perplexing poem about crossing swamps, or something...

Now, mind you, these were all good books and assignments to do. I definitely could of had it much worse. But this summer it's going to be a bit different. New York University's summer assignment? Everyone has to read one non-fiction novel (that has yet to have been chosen), and then talk about it in a small group of kids during the first week of classes. No testing, no grading, it's informal and easy.

So I decided to take it upon myself to create my own reading list so I could take the opportunity to read what I wanted to read this summer. Here it is: (ignore the red-underlines, I took a screenshot from Microsoft Word)


All of these books were chosen for different reasons and through different ways. Some were reccomended to me by friends and family, others were found on 'BEST 25 *insert type* NOVELS OF THE PAST *insert date*" lists from magazines and websites, and others were just randomly found in Barnes & Nobel.

My literacy has been shaped each summer by books chosen by Mr. Savelson, Ms. Rosenbaum, Schliermacher, Sage and DePoala, and of course- Ms. Diana, but now I'm really looking forward to shaping my own literacy over the next few months.

So what about you guys, have you read any of these? Thoughts?