'Attitude' + 'Library' - UVA favorite word/favorite place too get lost

all three are only rough drafts but i cant decide which way to go! please give your honest opinions!

What is your Favorite word and why:
My favorite word is attitude. A positive attitude makes everything better. This simple eight letter word can define a person's day. I try my best to live life with a positive attitude and take everything in stride and I don't let the small things get in the way of my goals. UVA seems to hold these same ideals. When I visited UVA my tour guide had a great attitude and it really captured my attention. At the end of the tour she said that UVA had not originally been her first choice and that she was denied acceptance from her top school. After she found out she couldn't go to her favorite school she decided to visit UVA. She said she knew the school was perfect for her when she was on her way home, and a UVA alum started chanting WahooWa because he noticed she was wearing a UVA T-shirt. The spirit and positive attitude demonstrated throughout the university is amazing.

My favorite place in the entire world to get lost would be a Barnes and Noble book store. I love the atmosphere in book stores. I could spend hours upon hours browsing the store and searching for the perfect book. I love getting lost in a good book its one of my favorite things in the world. There are so many options and different styles of books to read and I could easily get lost forever in Barnes and Noble and I would be perfectly content with the rest of my life.

My favorite place to get lost is the library. It takes me hours upon hours to search for the perfect book, I scour the titles. I use all sorts of criteria in choosing a book I look at the cover, I read the title and the deal breaker is the inside cover. If the inside cover has an interesting summary of the book I begin reading. I'm not one of those people that has to finish a book once it's started though. If I hate the book after the first chapter I put it back, however if a book captures my attention I become completely consumed in the words and I cannot stop reading.

I like the 3rd choice. Show the reader the library through your senses, the smell for example. Describe a specific library --Your city public, high school, near by campus library. Single out a particular day you found, read and enjoyed a good book. Show the reader instead of telling us.

I agree with travelgirl, your library scenario seems the strongest. Imagery is everything, so capture the reader's attention my adding more visuals and descriptors! Can you read mine as well? I'm applying to UVA as well!

I like your word choice in your first essay..
but your third essay seems more personal and creative.
So I say go with the third one as well :)