College Admission Essay

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said “A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” When we experience something for the first time the way we look at the world changes. We start to encounter life in a way we never thought we would. As past experiences begin to accumulate the way we perceive new things is formed from historic events in our life. In this short essay I will discuss how I came to understand myself, and how my ideology was formed.
I entered my freshman year confused. I did not know what my goal was and did not have a clue what I wanted to major in. I decided to take Environment and Society 105, thinking I would learn more about nature. I look back and realize how naive I was to take take an

At the conclusion of my first semester in college, I discovered my calling and declared a major in Environmental Studies. At that time, I thought I understood how my plan to major in Environmental Studies came to be. I thought that it was a decision I made based off the things I learned in my first semester of college, however this was all wrong. The idea began to formulate in the beginning of my summer going into fifth grade. As kids do my twin sister, neighbors and I spent all day playing tag, capture the flag or manhunt with vigor. However, eventually the exhilaration from playing these games wore off and the four of us were in search of something that could reignite our excitement. A neighbor who lived down the street from us told us about a nearby park that sparked our curiosity. The route to the park started off with a short walk on the road where we live. At the end of the road lies a narrow dirt path. It's easy to miss the path due to the overgrown foliage, but with keen eyesight one can spot what seems to be an old spur trail. Unsure of what lurked in the woods, we contemplated returning home, but our curiosity gave us the confidence to explore this foreign world. The narrow path was

As we set forward, the path diverged into two; one way bared right and the other continued forward. We opted to bare right. The path weaved in and out of trees as it led us up a knoll. As we approached the top we could her frogs chirping in a nearby vernal pond. We made our way down the path and examined the pond. The pond was home to a plethora of plants, aquatic insects and amphibians, all of which were foreign to us. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching frogs and exploring a world that we never knew existed. I was hooked. An energy unlike any extended throughout my body and ignited a desire to understand the natural world. The experience my sister and neighbor had was different, however. The curiosity that consumed me did not resonate with them. As summer came to a close, I found myself reflecting on the experience I had at the park and was craving to continue exploring the park. Before I knew it, summer was over. The time I spent hanging out with friends and enjoying summer was replaced with going to school. Soon the memories from summer began to fade and the experience I had at the park evaded my memory. Months later, on an unusually warm fall day, the scent of decomposing leaves reminded of the park and the curiosity that invigorated me months ago was reignited. I set out to the park, taking the same steps I took months