Swarthmore: What Makes Me To Describe Who I Am?

When I first got accepted into Stuyvesant High School, I heard countless of rumors stating: “Oh the workload is terrible”, “The competition is so fierce” or “Out of schoolwork, extracurriculars, or sleep: you can only pick two.” I found it hard to let it faze me, since I graduated from one of the most prestigious middle schools. However, the rumors transformed into reality when I stepped into Mr. Nieves’ Freshman Composition Class. The workload at the beginning of the year was brutal, coupled with assignments from other core classes that seem unaware of the workload of other teachers. Reading assignments were a regular, and there were journal entries and occasional quizzes to keep us in line. What made it bearable was the friends I made in that class; everyone had their own opinion about the topic we were talking about, and listening to other perspectives really broadened my horizon and enriched my learning experience in Stuy. Another thing that this class has taught me is the importance of time management, a skill that I will carry on for the rest of my high school career and life. When I choose to sign up for Mr. Nieves’ AP American Literature class in my Junior Year, I was hoping to relive the discussion-based lesson plans and meet more outstanding peers. I was not disappointed, to say the least, reflecting through all the experiences at the end of the course. The lesson plans he laid out for us were an interesting mix between small lectures and class output, and what I

Though the parents constantly ensure that they do the opposite of the social norm, they’ve made sure to inspire Jeannette with the values of schooling. Alongside Jeannette’s parents value instillments with an added extra persuasion from her sister, Jeannette takes the leap and enters into the world of academia with an Ivy League college acceptance. “I applied to its sister college, Barnard, and was accepted.” (Wall 250). Even with her upbringing Jeannette is still bright enough to make her way into a good college, a college that most would say “trash” like her didn’t deserve to attend.

In Barszczs’ essay conclusion, he gives poetically clear examples why students will benefit from taking campus-based courses. He stresses the value of face to face interaction between the students and the faculty. Being late to a class, or missing an assignment has a stronger effect if the student has to personally interact with the instructor. Barszcz defines the word education as a process of “drawing out”, stating that campus life can “draw out, from within a person, qualities of intellect and character that would have otherwise remained hidden or dormant.” (8).

First, a college student suffers from many financial problems because of the high cost of tuition and books. After reading Bird’s selection, I have found words such as “dismayed” and “overwhelmed” to help identify the author’s attitude. Throughout this reading, these words express that majority of college students felt lowly due to the loss of ambition towards professors or have reconsidered if they belong in a college. Given the diction, it helps portray the sense of tone that Bird expresses throughout her writing. An example is, "I am dismayed to … estimate that no more than 25 percent of their students are turned on by classwork.” Her tone in this writing sounds sarcastic and disappointed. Many people believe college is the next step after high school, however, that is not true according to Bird.

Liz Addison’s essay, Two Years Are Better than Four, was published on September 26, 2007, in the New York Times Magazine’s college essay contest. The essay was only a response to Rick Perlstein’s opinionative article, “What’s the Matter with College?” in which he argues that the college experience is no longer exists. Addison’s essay contains both weaknesses and strengths throughout her claim, title, opposition, common ground, and evidence. Addision’s claim is stated fairly throughout her essay, but of course, it is more coherent in the beginning of her essay, “For Mr. Perlstein, so rooted in his own nostalgia, is looking for himself – and he would never think to look for himself in the one place left where the college experience of self-discovery

Having traveled down a declining slope in my sophomore year, I was suddenly motivated to prop myself back up. I was for the first time emancipated of my pride and began to actively search for means to amend my “defeat”. When I finally received final semester grades, I was proud of not simply the hard work I’ve put into achieving these grades, but more importantly, how I picked myself up and rose above the ebbs and flows of my academic career.

while "geek" conveys specialized expertise and devotion. The former is negative, the latter positive. In a 2007 interview on The Colbert Report, author Richard Clarke said the difference between nerds and geeks is "geeks get it done." (Goldsborough, 2010)

During high school, I struggled to maintain my grades and focus. I was in a small town, and every ounce of opportunity seemed to slowly be sucked away from the town as the years past with the aid of the downward economic spiral beginning. I felt, like many of my fellow classmates, that opportunity had passed us by. I didn’t dare conjure even the thought of attending Eastern; it would’ve been too similar to the

Moreover, Dr. Leamnson’s article has challenged me to be a better student. It causes one to reassess oneself as a student. It also inspires one to look at all of the problematic areas that one may have academically, and encourages one to have a desire to reinforce that behavior with the “nerdy tricks” he provides within the

Galileo Galilei, an Italian polymath, once said, “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.” After graduating college, many students feel anxious about the new chapter of their lives they’re about to begin. Students are bound by a curriculum since primary school, guidelines they conform to all their lives in order to walk across a stage with a degree in hand. However, these individuals are seldom able to explore the passions inside of them that shape their aspirations throughout their time in the education system. Instead, they reflect on their college years of staying up all night to write final papers. Finals papers students have revised and edited a multitude of times in order to produce a paper that adheres to a rubric and, once again, conforming to another set of guidelines. In Donovan Livingston’s Harvard Graduate School of Education Commencement Speech, “Lift Off”, Livingston uses rhetorical devices such as alliteration, allusion, and metaphor to reinforce his message that students should not be limited by the confines of the education system, but that the education system should be supporting and guiding students towards reaching their full potential by the time they step out into the real world.

In Chapter 7 of the novel “Doing School”, Denise Clark Pope, a Stanford Alumni and Senior Lecturer at Stanford, describes Faircrest High School functions and how the upsides and downsides present themselves throughout the school’s system and how they “do school.” Based on Pope’s claims “Doing school” is when students are not engaged with learning and they don’t commit themselves to school or the values that the school has. Pope observes the school’s five “best and brightest” students and their behaviors over one year to discover what these young people do to get “good grades, win awards, pursue extracurricular interests, do community service, and help teachers and administrators.” She uncovers the truth behind achieving great success in school: the students are thought to be hard working, intelligent, and

To be a “Nerd” according to UrbanDictionary.com’s top voted definition is:”One whose IQ exceeds his weight.”. If you do not know what urban dictionary is. It is a website that explains words to modern terms. The terms that the general English speaking population uses and agrees on. Although, that is the most popular. The one that I feel fits the situation better is the second highest ranking definition for nerd:” An individual persecuted for his superior skills or intellect, most

I don’t look like a nerd. My appearance does not conform to the tired stereotypes of “nerd”: I don’t wear glasses or dated clothing, I don’t outwardly express my involvement in any particular fandom. Though I do not look like a nerd, I am one, and I am completely comfortable in identifying myself as such. At this point in my life I feel empowered to fully be myself, but this was not always the case. As with most people, I lacked confidence and identity in my early years.

In regards to the time that my guidance counselor was supposed to send my scores, transcript, and activities resume, but only included my transcript, we did resolve the score dilemma, but I forgot about sending the activities resume as that was not an item on the checklist. If that can be included in my Swarthmore application, I would greatly appreciate that. I attached it as a PDF to this email.

Dork, dweeb, geek, techie, or trekkie? What is a nerd? Dr. Suess first used the word “nerd” in 1950 it described a “small, unkempt, humanoid creature with a large head and a comically disapproving expression”. Newsweek, just a year later, reported the word beginning to take on a derogatory meaning as someone who is dull, and rigidly conventional. Over the next two decades, the meaning of the word did not improve. In 1971, The Observer called nerds, “people who don't live meaningful lives,” and The Chicago Tribune put it simply in 2002, “silicon valley”. Considering nerd is a slang word, the volatility of its meaning and usage is not surprising. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the meaning of the word is changing again. Behind the