<p>Now that we're all done with applications for this year, I'm putting this up here so that I could get comments while waiting (very long) to hear back from Cornell. Be brutal if you have to, and bear in mind that I can't change anything at this point.</p>
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Describe your intellectual interests, their evolution, and what makes them exciting to you. Tell us how you will utilize the academic programs in the College of Arts and Sciences to further explore your interests, intended major, or field of study.</p>
<p>Growing up in a political family and in the company of peers who thought deep and hard about economic, political and sociocultural issues, it was hard to remain a stranger to the social sciences. I started out as a history buff, addicted to stories and accounts of the past. My gift was an ability to absorb historical texts as if they were novels, each account as vivid and poignant as that last scene in Salingers Catcher in the Rye. This, I later realized, was also my affliction. </p>
<p>I was a consummate fool. History had been my gateway to concepts such as capitalism, justice, democracy, communism, imperialism, secularism and nationalism. But I was so given to the view that history was just another epic work of literature, a story for the ages, that I failed to see how any of these concepts related to the quotidian realities I saw around me. I was breaking the cardinal rule of the social sciences by closing my eyes to the world in my eagerness to understand the ideas that governed it.</p>
<p>Like any other evolutionary process, change has come slowly to my understanding of the social sciences. But it is this staggered courtship that has made the social sciences exciting to me. Ive had many eureka moments (sans the naked old men dancing in the streets), powerful instances when Ive learned just how much we can understand about our societies with a knowledge of subjects such as history, economics, politics and sociology. But I will not make sweeping statements claiming to have captured the essence of the social sciences; indeed, there is no panacea that will resolve the breadth of our ignorance in its entirety.</p>
<p>In biology, the term perfection doesnt exist in the dictionary of evolution. The same is true of my intellectual passions. I remain adrift in the bazaar of ideas, and like any sane shopper, Im certain that I will not leave with exactly the items on my shopping list. As a student at the College of Arts and Sciences, I will concentrate on disciplines that have intrigued me for a long time particularly, history, economics and government but not at the expense of the wealth of opportunities that I will find at Cornell.</p>
<p>In high school, I took a class in game theory and for the first time, I realized how closely the mathematics was intertwined with the social sciences. One concern that stayed with me during my college search was how I could factor my interest in mathematics, science and technology into my college education. Cornells program in Science & Technology Studies provides a unique solution, with classes such as From Surgery to Simulation that marry science and technology with my passion for the social sciences. </p>
<p>Having lived my entire life in a capital city (Singapore), Ive seen how commerce, governance and culture can interact at close quarters. The Cornell in Washington program at the College of Arts & Sciences will extend my appreciation of the way policy-making instruments function in the worlds most powerful capital. The social sciences are, and will always be, disciplines that are pegged to real-world affairs and I can think of no better city than Washington DC where I will benefit from immersing myself in the heart of the action. </p>
<p>These programs are innovative and exciting additions to a comprehensive liberal arts education, but ultimately they do not overshadow a larger point: at the College of Arts & Sciences, I can find anything from generous research funding to ample opportunities to study abroad - that would conceivably benefit my collegiate experience, and feel safe in the knowledge that I am in the most experienced, knowledgeable and doting hands. </p>
<p>Attending Cornell is not only about the four years Ill spend taking advantage of these endless opportunities; it is also about the lifetime Ill spend in the world. And I know that my time at the College of Arts & Sciences will prepare me well to be a productive, cosmopolitan and civic-minded member of any community I choose to become a part of.
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