456-word version: Cornell – College of Arts and Sciences – Biological Science
...One day, my sister and I were watching television and saw an astronomer floating freely above the moon’s surface. A world that never seemed possible captivated my sister, who was merely a six year old then. She asked me, “How is that possible?” Luckily, the incident occurred right after I finished learning about force in school. So I explained in confidence...
325-word version: Stanford – Biological Science
In 8th grade, I had decent grades in every subject; I aced math and was able to keep a grade point average of above A-. Despite the performance, however, I did not know what I actually liked to study...