Uchicago Experience

My desire as a child to travel the world led me to my education at Pace University, first of my many destinations. The teaching methodology, the process of assigning homework, the serene atmosphere in the campus and the ever-helping faculty and staff have already instilled confidence in me. This has helped me ease out of my comfort zone to explore and innovate. Gaining my higher education in America has exposed me to a whole new set of scholastic vocabularies such as credit hours, GPA, courses, Greek life involving sororities and fraternities and

Institutions of higher education often struggle to find strategies that successfully engage students in learning. In the article “Faculty Work, Student Success,” Colleen Flaherty attempts to address this problem by analyzing the benefits that undergraduate research has on students and faculty. However, she points out that faculty have a hard time balancing the demands of focusing on teaching students while keeping up with research, without sacrificing the quality of one or both pursuits. Flaherty uses the College of New Jersey, as an example of an institution that took a risk and did a complete reformation of their curriculum focusing on the teacher-scholar model and undergraduate research (Flaherty, 2014). Since the implementation of the program in 2004, it had benefited both students and faculty alike such as increased retention and recruitment rates and increased student-faculty interactions (Flaherty, 2014). The new curriculum lightened the faculty teaching requirement to three courses a semester than were focused on undergraduate research and scheduled time to pursue their own research while encouraged to include students in that as well (Flaherty, 2014). While this new model has worked well for this university to engage students in learning through an emphasis on undergraduate research and balancing the faculty’s workload by changing their curriculum, this model may just not be feasible for some institutions since they vary greatly in size, focus, and resources, etc.

One of my many aspirations at the University of Texas is to become a principal factor of the scholar community. Being a pertinent part of this highly-educated group will be a crucial part of my future as well as my fellow colleagues at UT. Not only will the Forty Acres Scholar Program help pay for my education at the University of Texas, it will teach me the values of education and teaching others. The scholarly community will help me branch my passions to other people so that they can also be shown the same light that was shown to me and they can see what made me adopt my taste in sports, music, and life in general. They can do the same, which will increasingly make college life much more amusing. This great opportunity will provide everyone

In “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff discusses the need to encourage students to apply their knowledge in a variety of areas to academic pursuits and the need for schools to ‘exploit’ the students interests in such a way that they will succeed in their studies. Graff is a professor at the University of Illinois and begins the essay with discussion of his childhood and Chicago and the impact that upbringing had on his interests and personality. He understands that not every student is going to be immediately interested in subjects which have long been near and dear to those in the higher levels of academia, but that student’s more “lowbrow” interests are just as valid as means of communication,

As a student at the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier, my contribution to the professional and academic community is to increase critical thinking, develop knowledge and build curiosity and questions among my peers in an impactful manner. I can refine my skills as I perform in a challenging field that I am enthusiastic about. The USC Rossier educational program will guide me towards a fulfilling career that is enticing to my goal of providing a service that improves society and build upon other skills and abilities to create creative and innovative ideas in the field of education.

My eyes lit up as a saw all of the different clubs and organizations offered. I loved Quiz Bowl, Book Club, Dance, and Chess Club in high school and I would love to continue these in my college life. Furthermore, at Rensselaer I can pursue my personal interest in sustainability with like-minded students through Vasudha. I could quickly see that many people at Rensselaer share similar interests with me. This idea was further supported after my subsequent tour around campus. Students were studying outside or milling about in groups, but what drew my eye was a group of students in vests and holding nerf guns. I watched as they prepared for battle and then took off after one another, and I had to stop myself from asking if I could join. The people I met and the students I talked to showed me the fun and encouraging side of a school that is known for its academics. Spending a couple hours on campus allowed me to see the fun, studious, and unique nature of Rensselaer and I felt right at

Yet, UCSB’s goals emulate some Naturalist theory as seen in their mission statement. Their mission statement states that each student and faculty member will experience an “educational journey of discovery that stimulates independent thought, critical reasoning, and creativity... [through] interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society” (Mission Statement). Naturalists goals denies specificity and are unclear to each member divulging a different academic path for each student or faculty member (Sutton 1/20/11). By looking at an aggregate level, UCSB members work together to achieve that “educational journey of creativity”, but on an individual level, each member has varying goals for his or herself depending on his or her role. Students do not have the same goals as their professors or the Chancellor, their goal is to work to achieve their degree whereas the Chancellor’s goal is to provide a thought-provoking experience for his students. The mission state accommodates and supplies a different experience for each member because it is ambiguous. UCSB members must explore their own path to achieve their own goals to understand what their education and careers meant. Naturalist goals determine

Two years ago, when I was faced with the difficult task of choosing a college, I turned to my family for advice. My three oldest siblings, despite their natural bias as Notre Dame alumni, helped me weigh my options thoughtfully and considerately. Talking to them individually about their alma mater, however, I quickly noticed a common thread between their musings which ultimately convinced me to follow in their footsteps: each passionately emphasized the unique opportunities available to them at Notre Dame, opportunities which elevated the school’s role beyond that of mere instructional facilitation— Notre Dame is dedicated to the comprehensive formation of its students. Now, as student myself at Our Lady’s University, I understand what my siblings

I love the humanities, I love everything about them from the feeling of reciting one of Juliet’s soliloquies from Romeo and Juliet in front of full auditorium; to the tedious work of editing a story I’ll never publish. Everything the liberal arts degree has to offer gives me an adrenalin rush. It is my dream to become a journalist with the old fashion purpose of “bringing the facts to the people”. It is my dream to be a New York Times best seller, or poet, or pianist, or actress. But I’m going for my nursing degree. All those dreams are lovely but it’s always been my goal to be independent. A science education is the best way to get there. If the humanities offered a solid future I would pursue it, but to pursue the current liberal arts degree is to take a risk; a risk I can’t afford, risk many can’t

The University of Chicago has a prime location in the heart of Chicago and has a strong reputation for giving an above excellent education that will prepare me to continue into graduate school. Inside the classrooms of the University I found it intriguing to learn that the desks are placed in a circular position as a brilliant method to promote discussion. This is a very important element because when I become actively engaged, I learn and remember the material permanently at a quicker rate. By forming a circle with the desks, it has provoked a sense of community in the classroom between myself and the other classmates. This community inside and outside of the classroom is the perfect connecting point in the cycle of every opportunity the University of Chicago has to offer, from those I have listed above to those I may not know of until very the first

When I explored Johns Hopkins University online, I came to a conclusion that it has everything that one could possibly dream of. To begin with, JHU is capable of nurturing a comprehensive liberal education while allowing a remarkable amount of freedom in designing one’s own curriculum. Moreover, as a person hungry for intellectual stirrings, I wish to be surrounded by people equally eager to learn and folks considerably smarter. I want to acquire knowledge from those around me and share mine to contribute to the richness of JHU’s environment. Furthermore, I would love to take advantage of various research opportunities. Without a doubt, at Johns Hopkins University, I will continue to variegate my experiences by immersing into a vibrant, diverse intellectual community of scholars. Moreover, I am sure that JHU's academic approach will endow my natural curiosity with adequate tools to expand my intellectual horizons and become a Renaissance

I will confess that as I have begun my college search, I often find myself absentmindedly skimming through hundreds of college websites, just searching for a superficial fact that could at least compel me to wait another 30 seconds before clicking another tab. Yet, when I crossed Whitman’s page, something changed. I was on the edge of my seat; for once, the tables turned and I closed every other tab. I explored past the surface and was astounded by the very foundations of Whitman. Take the collaborative environment for example. I am the student with a reputation for organizing class-wide Google Docs because I always appreciate a new perspective and Whitman actually values that. The academia of the school is also stunning. Whitman manages to

In Wisconsin, programming tasks have been made manageable and similar to make learning easier. We hardly need to study outside of the textbook, find resources online or prepare for background knowledge. Although such has helped make learning simple and efficient, I would like to learn how to prepare myself for larger challenges in the future and help form the habit of self learning, and that is what I believe my new school will help me with. Wisconsin trains great engineers, but I believe my new school will make myself a true life problem solver. Besides computer science, I have also longed for a liberal arts experience during my college life, where I learn how to engage, view in a different perspective as well as be inspired. I hope I can move to an environment where people not only challenge each other’s perspectives, but also build upon big dreams and diverse ideas. And I know that is where I can push myself to the limits and fully utilize my

Jack W. Meiland, a professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan, convincingly emphasizes that college education actually exerts more value on motivate students to successfully fulfill themselves with engaging in diverse intellectual activities rather than simply imparting factual knowledge and fundamental techniques as a dominant approach taught in high school. It makes sense that college program is always treated as a highly advanced and even relatively superb level of education, which means more innovative works especially those based on critical evaluations are supposed to be initiated. Indeed, intellectual activity is persuasive enough to typically distinguish college work with high school because students are expected to develop

I choose to be a college professor because college is rare space where diversity exists, and the classroom allows people to discuss issues plaguing their peers and the nation. Like Grinnell professors, I want to facilitate the sharing of ideas, opinions, and use students’ home cultures and prior experiences as a resources to classroom discussions. Because these reasons motivate me to enter graduate school, I created a semester long independent study schedule to prepare for the