College essays that made a difference - Princeton Review 2010
Heather Fireman
The applicants
In high school, Heather helped found a chapter of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and served as chapter president and regional historian. Her freshman year, she competed in the International Olympiyeda Science Competition and won a summer trip to Israel to compete in the finals.
Stats
SAT: 1600
SAT Subject Test(s): 800 Math Level 2, 790 Chemistry
High School GPA: 4.00
High School: Stratford High School, Houston, TX
Hometown: Houston, TX
Gender: Female
Race: Caucasian
Applied To
California Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Stanford University
University of California—Berkeley
Essay
Heather used the following essay in her applications to Caltech and MIT.
The prompt was to make up a question that is personally relevant, state it clearly, and answer it. Heather posed the question: What areas are you particularly interested in studying and why? How did your interests develop?
Everybody is curious. Some people are more than others. They aren’t satisfied with a simple explanation. They must know how and why. They are scientists.
Some people think it’s irrelevant how or why the world works just so long as it does. Content not to think too hard, they miss out on the sheer wonder that is the world around them. Scientists, on the other hand, learn something amazing every day.
I first began to think about a future in natural science as a seventh-grader when I started a book called Hyperspace, by physicist Michio Kaku. I was somewhat familiar with science fiction staples like black holes, time travel, parallel universes, and higher dimensions, but only as plot devices on Star Trek. A lot of it was beyond my grasp, since I had never taken a physics class, but I had always been interested in the concepts. To think that real scientists seriously theorized about any of it inspired me to read on.
I turned to The Physics of Star Trek, which considered the possibility (or not) of the many novelties of the show (like the holodeck, warp drive, and matter transporter) actually existing within the confines of the physical world. Physics seemed a wonderful adventure, so naturally I couldn’t wait for my first physics course in high school.
I had to survive chemistry first. At my school, chemistry was considered the most difficult subject around. I didn’t have much trouble with it, so I enrolled for a second year to prepare for the AP exam. Concurrently, I took physics and a required semester of biochemistry. I wondered at times if I was nuts to do so, but I braved the elements and was fascinated by what chemistry had to offer: a background for interpreting natural happenings and a means to advance scientific understanding in general, a worthwhile pursuit.
The AP in chemistry required not only a wealth of knowledge, but also an abundance of lab work. I grew confident working with the techniques and equipment and always looked forward to working in the lab. Concepts were one thing, but demonstrating them in the lab provided a whole new insight into what made things work and introduced us to many lab techniques and approaches. Investigations into enzyme performance revealed the effects of various influences; countless titrations of solutions perfected our methods; gel electrophoresis and qualitative analysis tested our nerves and concentration. That year, chemistry was my most challenging subject, and it took up a significant portion of my time. But it was also the most rewarding. Suddenly, it seemed like chemistry could be part of my future. Now, it seems a more and more possible path. In the meantime, I am a school science lab assistant. I want to explore chemistry and chemical engineering, physics, and biochemistry before narrowing my choices. I want to work in the laboratory, either on the pure or applied side of science.
In any case, I will never stop being curious. I’m a scientist.
See this page to find out where this student got in.