My question is simple, which essay of the three should I pick to use as the common app? I was thinking the second one because it ties with what I want to major in, but what do you people htink? the first prompt is about your background and diversity, second is what interests you/topic of your choice, and third one is the standard book question. Thanks alot, please get back to me as soon as possible. Also keep in mind I have extra word space avaible from the prompt to expand these essays, book one is about 430 words, other 2 are about 310. I would be really interested to hear what the moderators would have to say, but please, all comments are welcome.
I gaze with awe; so crisp yet imperious. I take note of the state of the flag: the state of tranquility achieved through the vigor of it blowing in the air is surreal.
This weekly Sunday trip to the Gurdwara, god's home, always emphasizes a guiding theme of unity. Everybody takes part in Sewa, which is as rudimentary as doing community work, but it's the indomitable power of faith that guides us in these telling moments. The culture created in this congregation is profound; I am immersed in the same superficial populations six days a week but it is this trip to the gurdwara that adds diversity to my life. When I am here, I aspire to go beyond ordinary depths to strengthen our faiths existence.
Such an opportunity lies in the Sikh Youth Symposium where I relay the virtues of our founding fathers to Sangat (congregation). It is my one opportunity to convey a certain rhythm, the one opportunity where we are at the same base.
When I speak, I am in a state of harmony where I feel the power of two relationships: between me and Sikh divinity and between me and the power of connecting with the Sangat. The combination of these two is my way of unifying me and Sangat. For those seven minutes, I ultimately realize the immeasurable awe of the flag's vigor and how compatible faith in Sikhism is with everything we do.
The path to comprehending this awe derived from faith in a world so culturally different is something I feel I can share with the vibrant Duke community. It is a community united under the divine intervention of the great Duke tradition. Ultimately, the tradition and culture of Duke is bounded by this same belief in faith; adding to the dynamics of this faith is an opportunity I look forward to.
The message behind curiosity had been an enigma to me for so long. Where was it leading me? How could I use its power? I was hapless by the depth of these thoughts.
Two and a half years ago, I did work looking at kidneys from the deceased but was too overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the powerful situation I had created in my mind. I was too intimidated to progress any further.
This past summer, I did lab work attempting to inhibit growth of BK virus through various drugs. I was immersed in my subject; every drug provided a powerful opportunity, a voice that I refused to ignore. I would spend hours scrutinizing potential effects of every drug and even more time bombarding my lab assistant with ideas and questions. I had no other motive than to indulge my curiosity. I had every possible scenario of the lab work played out in my mind before I even started and gave each considerable importance. My determination was bounded by a compulsion to not just learn, but to want.
The result of this scrutinizing process: abject disappointment. Once again, I was simply dominated by the subject. I was paralyzed, I had no answers. The power of these drugs and the nature of the BK virus replication seemed implausible. It was this challenge to my sense of plausibility that left me powerless.
It was the dominant nature of this subject that allowed me to realize just how dynamic it was, but all this did was strengthen my desire to find answers. The challenge presented to my curiosity ignited an interest unlike any I have ever had. As it turns out, curiosity need not lead me anywhere; curiosity is the one thing compatible with science and will lead to mediums where I can find answers however undefined they may first be.
It was staring right in front of me for all these years, yet I remained so oblivious to its presence. To me, aesthetic value was a subjective interpretation full of fallacies and paradoxes. It didn't have any true meaning, it was superficial, and it didn't define character. But the Moving Picture of Dorian Gray by Oliver Wilde revolutionized everything I thought was common sense.
Much of this classic is predicated on this "superficial" nature of beauty, as Dorian Gray pursues depths of freedom and prominence. This has often been referred to as a pursuit of a "green light". In the process, he loses all sense of morals that had defined him for so long. He becomes the typical tyrant of the power he wields as an upper class member in society. Dorian Gray became embedded within this culture of deceit and superficiality that is guided purely by instincts. Ultimately, the "purity of face" was what transpired him from afterthought to phenomenon, gaining him a spot amongst the aristocrat's elite despite his repugnance.
This purity of face really ignited my interest. Lady Narborough said it best with "You look so good; you are made to be good". Never before had I considered the "purity" of a face. When I thought aesthetics, I thought clothing, hair, even accessories of a face, but purity? It seemed imaginary and quite superficial in its own right. I had always before closed my mind to any thought that a face could carry so much weight. I always assumed aesthetics would lose out to true form of character. My rigid morality never even allowed me to explore the mindset of others. But this book provided me a novel's worth of different interpretations, it was this "purity" that remained so provocative.
Oliver Wilden opened up a whole new world to me, one not bounded by intellectual thought, but by the senses and stimulants controlling our mind. Seeing the story from the eyes of the protagonist, the possessor of the innocent "purity", gave me a far different perspective to analyze its nuances from. Mundane objects became animate; this unknown medium suddenly had meaning through the perspective of this protagonist. To Dorian Gray, the world was governed by laws of ideology, prosperity and harmony which was quite the contrary from my views of governance through pragmatism and intellectual thought. The openmindness I was relayed is a virtue of true essence. It's not necessarily resisting ideas, but attempting to uncover the dynamics of a different world through a different lens which is an ideal that allows for far greater fodder for thought that I could have ever created.
Simrath Randhawa
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