Why is Pitt a good choice for you? (250-500)
My pre-high school biology classes covered the organs and organ systems of the human body, and I learned about a variety of subjects, ranging from digestion to immunity. However, the one organ that was never discussed was the brain because my teachers claimed it was too complicated. But this did not curtail my curiosity. To learn more about the brain's complexity, I joined my school’s neuroscience club.
Through neuroscience club, I learned about brain structure and function and how other factors can affect the brain and body. It allowed my interest to evolve from a simple curiosity to an amazement for its immense complexity. As I write this very sentence, my occipital lobe is receiving information from my eyes, which are moved by the oculomotor, trochlear, and abducent nerves. This information is relayed to my frontal lobe, which plans out every word that I write. That is not all, as my medulla oblongata and pons are, at this very moment, controlling my breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure without my conscious knowledge. This is only the beginning of everything my brain can do; some of its abilities have not even been discovered. But what has been discovered about the brain was due to its information processing, a testament to the enormous and crucial role the brain plays.
Though I am proud of all I have learned so far, there is still much for me to discover. I want to continue studying the brain, feeding my curiosity, and developing my knowledge. The University of Pittsburgh can help me do so. With classes such as Brain and Behavior, which discusses behavior and the structure and function of the nervous system; Developmental Neuroscience, which discusses the birth and development of neurons and a complex nervous system; and Neural Basis Of Vision, which focuses on visual perception and action, my interest in neuroscience will continue evolving, and my knowledge will keep improving.
Hopefully, U Pitt will be my next step, but I know it will not be my last. I want to use the knowledge I gain at U Pitt to pursue my interest in neuroscience in medical school. My dream is to continue research to help further our understanding of a variety of neurological disorders, ranging from ALS to aphasia.