College essays that made a difference - Princeton Review 2010
David Auerbach
The applicants
David was competitive in many areas and competed at the state level in speech and debate, youth legislature, and mock trial. He was also active within his high school as editor of the school newspaper, National Honor Society president, a mathematics tutor, and a member of the track and cross-country teams. Outside of school, he did independent genetics research and worked on preserving the ecosystem of a local river.
Stats
SAT: 1560
ACT: 35
High School GPA: 4.00
High School: Sprague High School, Salem, Oregon
Hometown: Salem, OR
Gender: Male
Race: Caucasian
Applied To
Carleton College
Dartmouth College
Macalaster College
Willamette University
Essay
David used the following essay in each of his applications. He explains, “I picked the ’anything you want’ option because I felt the other questions were too confining.”
Cleaning Your Room Can Change Your Life
Recently, during a futile attempt at cleaning my eternally messy room, I tripped over the leg of a chair and fell sprawling to the floor. As I lifted my head, I found that I was at eye level with the very bottom shelf of my bookcase. One book on it caught my eye—a book I had last read in eighth grade. I pulled the book out and began to read.…
I read of a world where the written word is forbidden, where books and other printed material have been banned for decades. Without the printed word, intellectual life withers and debate dies. In the absence of debate there are no disagreements. In this dystopia, all are equal because no one excels and mediocrity rules. All are therefore happy. On the surface, the system seems to work.
Enter Guy Montag. Guy is a fireman; that is, his job is burning books. He enjoys his job, for he knows he is making the world a safer and happier place. He is a perfect product of the system … until he meets Clarisse.
Clarisse and her family are misfits. In Guy’s hyperaccelerated world, they still enjoy walking. In his world, questions are discouraged, because asking questions is part of the process of discovery. Clarisse is expelled from school for asking questions. She has a natural curiosity about others; in her words, “I just want to figure out who [people] are and what they want and where they’re going.” Perhaps the most profound question in the book is Clarisse’s simple query to Guy: “Are you happy?”
As he ponders this question, Guy realizes the fallacy behind the “equality” he fosters. By destroying books, he forces people (including himself) to give up their individuality and ability for independent thought. They become dependent on the system, expecting everything to be handed to them on a plate.
What did I learn from this book? I learned from the frenetic pace of Guy’s world to slow down and take time to enjoy life. I learned from Clarisse’s curiosity that there is nothing wrong with asking questions. I have always been an inquisitive person, but since first reading this book, I have become even more inquisitive about the world around me. Finally, I learned the incredible power of knowledge. Knowledge bestows the power to create or destroy. It enables us to judge and to choose. The ability to make decisions is what makes each of us so different and interesting.
For me, reading this book was a life-changing experience. I often pause and ask myself: “What knowledge have you gained today? What power has that knowledge given you? How has it made you different?” One additional difference reading that book made to me was the realization that books and especially their contents need to be protected in order to avoid mediocrity. And thanks to Ray Bradbury, I now know that Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which book paper burns.
See this page to find out where this student got in.