What influenced you to apply to Harvey Mudd College? What about the HMC curriculum and community appeals to you? Please limit your response to 500 words.
Although I’m too young to have a bucket list for life, I do have a bucket list for my educational experiences at college:
1. Mastery in biology, with plenty of complimentary subjects on the side: My first love is biology, and I want mastery of it. So I appreciate the intensity of the Harvey Mudd major with its colloquium and capstone requirements. But I know myself and I desire to use my time as an undergraduate student to study more than just biology. I will enjoy the core curriculum and the humanities, social sciences and arts requirements. I will also explore some of the joint majors, particularly Biology and Chemistry.
2. Study abroad with integrated programs: As an aspiring science major, I was not sure I would be able to study abroad without disrupting or extending my time until graduation. When I looked into the opportunities at Harvey Mudd, I found that I could study abroad in more than 20 programs in virtually every corner of the world. I’m intrigued by Sweden for no other reason than I would like to see the place that spawned both the Nobel Prize and IKEA (a store that was essential to furnishing my garage laboratory at home).
3. In-depth and published research: I have had the opportunity to participate in scientific research in the field of ophthalmology during my high school years, and I am quite interested in continuing my involvement with research. I am especially excited that Harvey Mudd incorporates research into every phase of my education and that there are so many summer research opportunities. I would look forward to doing something like the research on gene therapy for HIV-AIDS undertaken by a student in the summer of 2016 and then presenting at the annual student presentation days. I also feel like I will have a much better chance to achieve my goal of being published at Harvey Mudd because I will not be competing with graduate students for positions in labs or on research teams.
4. Serve the community: I have always had a passion for volunteering, and I have been able to explore that throughout my high school years during my time on the student council, my tenure as student council president, and my participation with the National Honor Society. I can tell you right now that I will be an enthusiastic participant in the Science Bus program. My love of science was cultivated and nurtured by my participation in an elementary school club and I would love to “pay it forward” at Harvey Mudd.
Access our library of sample college application essays, all annotated to show you exactly how an admissions officer evaluates an essay… what’s effective (style, content, tone) and why.
Get Inline
