Admission to NYU - Admission/Application Essay Example

Essay Living in a region for most of my life that is extremely hot and arid makes the concept of global climate change a bit of a mystery to me. Recently, I was able to visit some friends in Europe and the effects of global climate change were made more real to me. We traveled to a glacier and I was able to see just how much it had receded over the past fifty years. This was a shocking experience for me. For the first time, I could see changes caused by global climate change first hand. I am interested in this scientific phenomenon because there are so many aspects to it that connect with culture and politics.
One point of study I would like to pursue at NYU deals with public opinion and policy on the national and international level regarding climate change. I want to understand why so many people are ambivalent about this reality. I know that up until recently, I was one of those people. Seeing a rapidly receding glacier was my wake-up call, but I do not think this is what everyone needs. Understanding the sociology and psychology underlying the denial of risk or threat is now very interesting to me. I would like to know how understanding this could translate into governmental policies that help to reduce the human activities that are exacerbating global climate change.
I am not sure exactly what course of study this would fall into at NYU. I think a thorough understanding of human psychology would be a great place to start. We need to face the fact that policy will not work to reverse global climate change unless it works with psychological and sociological forces, not against them.
Essay #2
Since I have been a child, the sun and its power have always intrigued me. I remember my older brother showing me how to concentrate the sun’s rays on a piece of paper to make it combust (in a safe place outside and with our parent’s permission, of course!). The mystery of photosynthesis and solar energy budgets were some of my favorite topics to study in science class. Part of the appeal for me surely stems from the fact that sunlight is absolutely free. The idea of taking something that is abundant and seemingly limitless and then turning it into something useful intrigues me.
Since burning my first paper with a magnifying glass, I have been a solar power addict. I marvel at the many ways solar energy is harvested to produce energy. I know an organic farmer that wrapped a black hose around a water tower used for irrigation. The dark hose absorbed the sun’s rays, providing him with soar-heated water to run his simple outdoor shower. I am intrigued by the basic, simple application of principals surrounding solar power as well as the highly technological application through photovoltaic solar arrays to using mirrors to produce steam for turbines.
I am most intrigued by the idea of combining organic compounds with inorganic materials to create more efficient photovoltaic solar cells. The idea of mimicking or interfacing with nature to make solar energy more efficient, and therefore more cost effective, is something that I want to learn more about over the course of my college career. Read More