<p>Hello there.... I am a rising senior and plan to apply to a few Ivies ( UPenn, Brown ) as well as Tufts, BU, Northeastern and Penn State. I hope to major in mechanical engineering with a minor in Econonmics. </p>
<p>I am not sure what topic to pick for my essays.. The following are what I was considering:</p>
<p>1) A general overview of my experienecs and background: Was planning to incorporate the following:</p>
<p>A) Am originally Indian, born and brought up in the Middle East and went to a an Indian school
B) Speak 3-4 languages which include Hindi, Sindhi ( Pakistani dialect ) and Gujurati ( Indian dialect ) .. Can only read and write Arabic.
C) Was brought up in a joint family ( 10-15 members ) so that taught me alot in terms of respecting elders, compromising at times,etc and was also a lot of fun. I can't forget our weekend lunches when we would all sit together and enjoy a heavy Indian meal :)
D) Have a medical condition since birth which also influenced my thoughts and attitude a lot and is a big part of me.
E) Decided to move out of comfort zone and come to US in my 10th grade. This way, I figured i'd get used to the American system before entering university. Having moved to the US, I decided to try various activities which included Flying, Playing the Indian Drums ( Tablas ), martial arts and latin american ballroom dancing. Having grown up in the heat, I love snow and learnt how to ski which was also lot of fun. </p>
<p>I started writing an essay on this topic but the problem is it tends to be too broad and am finding it hard to write a focused essay.. Any tips?</p>
<p>2) Flying single-engined aircraft and playing Tablas ( Indian drums ): Flying is my passion and probably going to be my hook for the application. However, not sure if I can write 500 words on it. In terms of anecdotes, I was flying to Lancaster, PA with my instructor and we had a bird strike @5000 feet. There was blood all over the windshield and a broken glass althogh we continued on to Lancaster.. Not sure how what I can include for the "reflection" part of the essay. Due to my medical condition, I also had some problems getting my student pilot certificate but finally got it after getting recommendations from instructors,etc. I haven't got my license yet, even though I am ready, since the minimum age requirement is 17 ( my 17th birthday is in December ) but will be getting my glider pilot license next month. </p>
<p>I also started playing the Tablas 6-7 months ago and am loving it so far. </p>
<p>3) We had to make a solar-powered go-kart for my AP Physics class in junior year and I learned a lot about teamwork from it. What seemed like it would be an easy job turned out to be long and drawn out because of different opinions by each team member. We didn't communicate with each other too well and thus contradicted each other quite a few times in our presentation to the professor at the end of each month. We didn't put things in writing and didn't come up with a proper plan. A few team members were also pretty lazy and never bothered attending any meetings,etc and at times, shifted the blame to other team members. The go-kart was ready on the last day of school but it ran off batteries since we did not have enough time to incorporate solar panels at that point. It worked great and averaged 10 mph :o). In conclusion, there was quite a lot I learned about working as a team and human nature in general from this experience so I figured it would make a good essay topic. </p>
<p>I'd really appreciate some help on what I should write about? I feel that writing the essay 1 would be great since it details everything about me but the problem is it gets too broad. Essay 2 would be about my passion but not sure what I am supposed how I can "reflect" in that essay. Essay 3 is probably good since I'm applying for an engineering major so it shows exposure to teamwork and science projects.</p>
<p>Thanks much</p>