<p>Education: I basically wrote about my childhood and upbringing in 4 different countries in addition to all the clubs/activities that I am involved in through school and explained how each one of them has influenced and helped me decide on a future career in international business/finance. My ultiamte goal would be to get an MBA program and I mentioned that I would be delighted to work for a business management firm like Goldman Sachs or Lehman Brothers; I used a story about how one of my dad's friends' success in entrepreneurship has inspired me to major in economics and how I feel that business is a high-risk and high-reward type of trade...ssort of standard and this was probably my second worst essay.</p>
<p>Book List: I listed about 45 books/magazines that I have read over the past years and included the respective authors...it was about a page long meh.</p>
<p>Analysis: This is arguably where things started going uphill for me. I analyzed a book called The Color of Water by James McBride. This novel is an autobiography of McBride's life and he uses the memoirs of his mother to parallel the story of his childhood with his mother's own ubringing. Basically, his mother was a Jewish woman who continuously found herself having to challenge conventional norms of the times regarding race/religion/ethnicity. She has affairs with black men and eventually marries two African Americans and goes on to produce 12 interracial children. Furthermore, after her husbands die, she is forced to raise all 12 of the children by herself in a ghetto in New York City and also reverts to Catholicism as she finds spiritual guidance there. The author, James McBride, is one of her sons and finally discoverds his own heritage through the portrayal of his mother's past. Amazingly, all 12 of his brothers/sisters go on to prestigious colleges throughout the country and become bery successful men. SO, basically the reader discovers at the end of the book that James had written this book as a tribute to his "crazy white Jewish mother" and how she instilled in them moral/educational values and helped them realize that hard work is the key to success in life and that race doesn't matter since God is neither black or white, he is the "color of water" and therefore does not discriminate between his children...I could basically go on forever but this is quite possibly MY FAVORITE BOOK OMG I LOVE IT!!!!:)</p>
<p>Issue: I will be more concise here hehe...I talked about the root cause of terrorism and how the United States is appraoching the War on Terror all along since even though we might be winning on the military front, the jihadist groups are clearly winning on the "ideological" front. So, I asserted that the Bush administration is not winning the hearts and minds of the Arab people, which is arguably the key to winning the War on Terror, and that the only way the United States can enact change in the Middle East is to examine the structure of Arab society. One solution I proposed is for the USFG to communicate to the Arab youth, who are the next generation of Muslims and are therefore the most open to liberal and Western thought, and they are the ones who can dismantle the radical and traditional mullahs that weild power now...this essay rocked as well.:)</p>
<p>Conflict: I discussed how at first I was uneasy about homosexuality and how the word "gay" is misconstrued in American society today. Then, I discussed how the media is fueling stereotypes on homosexuality. Finally, I transitioned into my own personal experience with a gay person that I had to do a school project with. I explained about how I initially misjudged him and he turned out to be one of the coolest people I have ever met and how we are now close to best friends. I concluded my essay with this tangent on how tolerance is key to the progression of our society today and how being open-minded can actually sove a lot of society's problems.</p>
<p>Seminar Choice: AAAHH this was my worst essay by far...I basically just listed why I would prefer some semianrs(Cornell I) over others like the Islam one with a couple of concise reasons. I discussed how I would use the knowledge I gain from the seminars of my choice and be able to apply to my future endeavors and to the rest of my life. Finally, I finished by talking about how cool it would be to spend the summer with kids who shared the same interests as me at a college campuses and have political discussion at 2 o'clock i nthe morning...eh could have been better.;)</p>
<p>Overall, I have a very optimistic view of my essays and would be lying to you if I didn't feel like I would earn an interview come March. Hopefully, they don't think that I'm arrogant even though I am lol...anyway I'm sure all of your TASP apps are really good too and you're all just very modest unlike me.;)</p>
<p>P.S.: For all you procrastinators, if this is any solace, realize that I started my TASP application 3 weeks before the deadline. Although, I should have probably proofread my essays...heh.</p>
<p>Good luck to oen and all!!!:)</p>