So i've been sitting at the computer for hmmm, like 10 hours now, attempting to write a college essay about why id like to study engineering at this school and scientific curiousity in my life. And so far it's pretty much stayed constant at 180 words for the past 5 hours. It's 12:30 at night, school starts at 8, and I know I gotta finish this essay tonight. I know, asking for advice on this is an idiot thing to do, i should have an intelligent, original, creative opinion on this but I fucking don't. Help?
If you can't come up with a good enough essay about why you want to be an engineer then I suggest you reevaluate your career choice.
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We can't really help you with an essay that is about what you feel.
Just make shit up.
Just make shit up.
Good idea. Hey, maybe I should become a writer lol. But srsly, Ive had great grades in all my classes, but I really havent done anything in depth in one subject. Hell, I did participate in science olympiad,and then I did a leadamerica engineering camp, but those really werent that serious. I guess my problem is that I haven't found an internship in an engineering firm. Or maybe I'm just a retard not smart enough to pick a career. Sorry for the bitterness, 10 hours of staring at the screen does that to you.Mutantsteak wrote:
If you can't come up with a good enough essay about why you want to be an engineer then I suggest you reevaluate your career choice.
And I feel even worse when I read those amazing sample essays about kids designing the real mars landing module and becoming president at the same time. God I'm bitter
Last edited by argo4 (2008-12-14 21:36:09)
Build a bridge and get over it.argo4 wrote:
I guess my problem is that I haven't found an internship in an engineering firm. Or maybe I'm just a retard not smart enough to pick a career. Sorry for the bitterness, 10 hours of staring at the screen does that to you.
And I feel even worse when I read those amazing sample essays about kids designing the real mars landing module and becoming president at the same time. God I'm bitter
Oh wait.

dude, I'd love to. In fact I'm talking about the beauty of bridges in my essay lol. But it's not personal enough, and doesn't really reveal enough about me. Perhaps I'm taking a lame approach but I can't find a fresh oneTheAussieReaper wrote:
Build a bridge and get over it.argo4 wrote:
I guess my problem is that I haven't found an internship in an engineering firm. Or maybe I'm just a retard not smart enough to pick a career. Sorry for the bitterness, 10 hours of staring at the screen does that to you.
And I feel even worse when I read those amazing sample essays about kids designing the real mars landing module and becoming president at the same time. God I'm bitter
Oh wait.
hey same.
though its a grade 11 english essay
fuck macbeth
though its a grade 11 english essay
fuck macbeth
lol u want mine? It's probably on the hard drive somewhereStimey wrote:
hey same.
though its a grade 11 english essay
fuck macbeth
here's what I have so far, if you care:
Since I can remember, I’ve had an interest in creating. As a little kid, Legos were by far my favorite toys. I would construct towers, bridges, and houses, admiring their ability to project into space despite gravity. The Lego blocks allowed my mind to be translated into real world structures, no matter how small or insignificant. I would often get inspiration around my city, and to the dismay of my parents, I never seemed to look where I was going. I craved the complexity of objects around me; my eyes were caught up in the rounded silhouettes of airship hangars and the crisp arcs the bridges cut into the sky.
Now, my curiosity has found an outlet in my physics and calculus classes. The problems of integration and the study of angular momentum have brought me one step closer to the understanding of what it takes to create the structures that define our world.
They say engineering is all about building, but it’s more than that. It’s about freeing our inner desires and letting us live the lives we like in a suitable world.
Last edited by argo4 (2008-12-14 21:44:57)
thats called plagurism
good boy lala
whatever you like
huh, whatever im making sre its up to my teachers rediculously high expectations
good boy lala
whatever you like
huh, whatever im making sre its up to my teachers rediculously high expectations
nevermind, i got a hamlet paper anyway. Good luck thoughStimey wrote:
thats called plagurism
good boy lala
whatever you like
huh, whatever im making sre its up to my teachers rediculously high expectations
how come you need to finish it tonight, is the application due in a few hours or so? If you can't think of anything take a break from it.
no, the applications are due 2 weeks from tomorrow. I have about 3 essays to do, so might as well do one tonight. School tomorrow's gonna suck thoughRandomSchl wrote:
how come you need to finish it tonight, is the application due in a few hours or so? If you can't think of anything take a break from it.
edit: any thoughts on my draft?
Last edited by argo4 (2008-12-14 22:04:11)
Good start, but my advice is to take a break.argo4 wrote:
no, the applications are due 2 weeks from tomorrow. I have about 3 essays to do, so might as well do one tonight. School tomorrow's gonna suck thoughRandomSchl wrote:
how come you need to finish it tonight, is the application due in a few hours or so? If you can't think of anything take a break from it.
edit: any thoughts on my draft?
That's not bad actually. You basically need more of this. Admissions will expect you to be cliche and full of shit so don't disappointargo4 wrote:
lol u want mine? It's probably on the hard drive somewhereStimey wrote:
hey same.
though its a grade 11 english essay
fuck macbeth
here's what I have so far, if you care:
Since I can remember, I’ve had an interest in creating. As a little kid, Legos were by far my favorite toys. I would construct towers, bridges, and houses, admiring their ability to project into space despite gravity. The Lego blocks allowed my mind to be translated into real world structures, no matter how small or insignificant. I would often get inspiration around my city, and to the dismay of my parents, I never seemed to look where I was going. I craved the complexity of objects around me; my eyes were caught up in the rounded silhouettes of airship hangars and the crisp arcs the bridges cut into the sky.
Now, my curiosity has found an outlet in my physics and calculus classes. The problems of integration and the study of angular momentum have brought me one step closer to the understanding of what it takes to create the structures that define our world.
They say engineering is all about building, but it’s more than that. It’s about freeing our inner desires and letting us live the lives we like in a suitable world.
Go through your entire life and dredge up anything interesting or significant that you may have done or experienced. Even if it has nothing to do with engineering you can warp and twist it to make it relevant i.e. Every morning I do a sudoku puzzle and it requires t3h problem solving skillz and planing ability, something im really looking forward to applying to engineering. Or I enjoy playing >insert sport you suck at and only played once< and I believe it has helped me develop my teamwork and leadership ability etc.
The lego thing is sooo classic I used it in my medschool application, some shit about liking to understand how things work and being hands-on. Basically you get the idea, make an idiot out of yourself, you only have to do this once in your life.
Last edited by Aries_37 (2008-12-15 07:42:36)
Those are bad essays. College admissions officers don't want to read essays that make you sound like you think you know all the answers and that you're superhuman because, guess what, you're notargo4 wrote:
And I feel even worse when I read those amazing sample essays about kids designing the real mars landing module and becoming president at the same time. God I'm bitter
As Aries said, just elaborate on what you've already said. Discuss why you think engineering is important, why you enjoy tinkering with things, what things you've messed around with. Don't use stupid cliches... they've already seen it many times.
I'm lucky in that three of my six colleges have a "create your own question" essay, which I've already written. One of those three has some smaller, short-answer type things but that's it.
The fourth, Georgia Tech, just has a "What would you do with a gap year?" question. I'm probably gonna talk about joining the military or something, because the way I wrote the aforementioned essay would allow me to easily cut n paste parts of it.
The fifth, Virginia Tech, didn't require any essays but had an optional thing for a personal statement or an explanation of poor grades (which I used).
The sixth, Ohio State, has three choices that are all kinda sucky.

You should be able to find atleast a few reasons as to why you'd like to study this particular subject.Mutantsteak wrote:
If you can't come up with a good enough essay about why you want to be an engineer then I suggest you reevaluate your career choice.
eg, you'd like to learn how to build things, learn why things work bla bla....tbh I would have though engineering would be quite easy to write an essay on. Perhaps a good idea would be to focus parts of your essay on a particular engineering project that has inspired you. As part of my essay I focused on a particular part of law that interested me and I ended up writing too much.
These are some ideas but if you can't find anything to write about I'd, like Mutantsteak said, rethink your study path.
Last edited by ..teddy..jimmy (2008-12-15 13:35:14)
lol, thanks. I know, like everyone uses the lego thing, and you're right, I can talk about sports (and trying out different sports) as analogous to me choosing an engineering education. Thanks for the help everyoneAries_37 wrote:
That's not bad actually. You basically need more of this. Admissions will expect you to be cliche and full of shit so don't disappointargo4 wrote:
lol u want mine? It's probably on the hard drive somewhereStimey wrote:
hey same.
though its a grade 11 english essay
fuck macbeth
here's what I have so far, if you care:
Since I can remember, I’ve had an interest in creating. As a little kid, Legos were by far my favorite toys. I would construct towers, bridges, and houses, admiring their ability to project into space despite gravity. The Lego blocks allowed my mind to be translated into real world structures, no matter how small or insignificant. I would often get inspiration around my city, and to the dismay of my parents, I never seemed to look where I was going. I craved the complexity of objects around me; my eyes were caught up in the rounded silhouettes of airship hangars and the crisp arcs the bridges cut into the sky.
Now, my curiosity has found an outlet in my physics and calculus classes. The problems of integration and the study of angular momentum have brought me one step closer to the understanding of what it takes to create the structures that define our world.
They say engineering is all about building, but it’s more than that. It’s about freeing our inner desires and letting us live the lives we like in a suitable world.
Go through your entire life and dredge up anything interesting or significant that you may have done or experienced. Even if it has nothing to do with engineering you can warp and twist it to make it relevant i.e. Every morning I do a sudoku puzzle and it requires t3h problem solving skillz and planing ability, something im really looking forward to applying to engineering. Or I enjoy playing >insert sport you suck at and only played once< and I believe it has helped me develop my teamwork and leadership ability etc.
The lego thing is sooo classic I used it in my medschool application, some shit about liking to understand how things work and being hands-on. Basically you get the idea, make an idiot out of yourself, you only have to do this once in your life.
Am I weird for kind of enjoying writing some of these essays?

hahahha SO true thats how college works make sure you know what you are talking about or they can smell BS from a mile away but still BS the paper thoughCrazeD wrote:
Just make shit up.
wow, my personal statement for my UK university (for engineering) appilcations spoke about stuff in a similar way. I spoke about starting off with legos too. If you want a copy of my essay i can email it to you...PM me.
yes, very much so.Hurricane2k9 wrote:
Am I weird for kind of enjoying writing some of these essays?
oh, I hate you
but it's fun talking about why i'd join the army if i took a gap yearargo4 wrote:
yes, very much so.Hurricane2k9 wrote:
Am I weird for kind of enjoying writing some of these essays?
oh, I hate you

lol that is fun. my friend did an essay on saving private ryan and how it inspired him, but I feel like too many people would do that.Hurricane2k9 wrote:
but it's fun talking about why i'd join the army if i took a gap yearargo4 wrote:
yes, very much so.Hurricane2k9 wrote:
Am I weird for kind of enjoying writing some of these essays?
oh, I hate you
maybe so, but i've really thought this one out. the army should hire me as a propaganda minister.argo4 wrote:
lol that is fun. my friend did an essay on saving private ryan and how it inspired him, but I feel like too many people would do that.Hurricane2k9 wrote:
but it's fun talking about why i'd join the army if i took a gap yearargo4 wrote:
yes, very much so.
oh, I hate you

Don't be cliche. Write what you believe, what you are, what you want to be. Sincerity is important. Anyone can write about how they'd love to be some great ______ and do _______, but it takes someone who really wants to put their life into something to be believable.