Application Essay

Application Essay The environment at St. John’s is stimulating, and I think it offers me a great opportunity to advance. I am excited about being able to break down and analyze the great philosophers and scientific minds of history, and I believe St. John’s will give me the best opportunity to do just that. Whenever I encounter something new, as my math teacher said, I have a habit of viewing it with the suspicious eyes. Then, why this way is or isn’t working or linked causes me to ponder continuously. For me, the process of learning is full of wonderful and surprising events. As I go with the flow of thinking, I often find myself at far-off place from where I originally started. Aquinas’s view is known as Moral Rationalism for a reason. When we read Plato in class, I had agreed with him. Eastman and Dr. Seuss to an ‘80s edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica my parents rescued from a sidewalk and the entire Great Books collection we inherited from my grandmother. No matter how many times we organize, a week after the last effort I’ll come across a scientific cookbook next to a German-English dictionary (Cassell’s) and Isaac Asimov’sGuide to Shakespeare. The only bookcase in my house I can reliably locate things on contains my Doctor Who novels, whatever Shakespeare plays I haven’t taken out, and a selection of classic sci-fi. These moments mean so much more to me than memorizing other people’s ideas for exam results. Therefore, the “Ah-ha” moment that gets me excited cannot be overridden by artificial number in my report which my school thinks is so important. When a student in a sophomore music theory class wanted to ask a classmate a question about the rhythm of a jazz solo, she did, without fear that asking the question would make her seem unintelligent. I considered feelings something to be controlled by reason. Yet here was Hume, acting like reason didn’t matter. Describe your reading habits and discuss an aspect of a particular book that has been important in shaping your thoughts. The biggest moment of clarity that occurred through a book came from my ethics class. We read David Hume’Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals.In it, Hume argues that sentiment is the principle of morality and not reason. This was the complete opposite anything I had seen argued before. Plato and Thomas Aquinas, for instance, had both made reason and integral part of morality. Sometimes pieces of thought which seem to be completely irrelevant to one another, before I know become connected and make one amazing, completed puzzle of my own making. These unexpected enlightenments, which I call my “Ah-ha” moments, give me butterflies and make my heart flutter. Everyone in the classes spoke, not to the professor for the sake of a grade, but to each other for the sake of the exercise. On a Saturday halfway into my first semester at Smith, my friend and I went in search of a study room. I have always treasured the sensation of paper on my fingers as I flip through the pages of an engrossing story. Now, I keep my library card thin and toned, exercising it regularly. The workers at our local bookstores know me by name, and I keep business booming all the time. My house has always been full of books, from P.D. When I leave the house I usually use my Kindle for convenience. Technology has a few benefits, like being able to have many books in one place. I can have a large waiting list of my preferred books, all downloaded and ready to read. I am able even to buy and download anything I desire from the Amazon website whenever I want. However, as convenient as technology can be, I still prefer holding a book in my hands.