[Student Profile]
[Prompt & Essay]
Common App Prompt #1: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, please share your story.
The moment I swung open the door, it hit me. I was thrown back by the putrid, inescapable stench that penetrated every corner of the office, a gut-wrenching odor that induced a queasiness in the pit of your stomach. With one last deep breath, I headed inside. I’d come to the lab, ready to help, as always, but this was no ordinary day. We’d been hit with a case of “vomit cheese.”
I’ve been walking down these same linoleum aisles since I was a little girl eager to explore my family’s biotech startup, [name]. As I marveled at the instruments around me one Sunday morning several years ago, I counted off the equipment on the lab bench. Thermocycler–check. Centrifuge–there it is. Multi channel pipette…found it, hiding behind the towering fume hood.
I stopped to watch my uncle counting colonies under a magnifier in an effort to measure pathogenic growth after incubation, gazing at the Petri dish peppered with large, circular, off-white splotches. Must be E. coli, I thought, recalling those characteristic colonies I’d seen so many times before. By nine, I was a self-proclaimed bacteria aficionado, identifying various microbial colonies with just a glance. I seized every chance to learn over the years I’d spent at the startup I’d grown to love.
Since then, I jumped at any opportunity to help out. Processing samples became my afterschool routine. I’d toss my backpack under a desk, a quick spritz of rubbing alcohol announcing the start of my workday. So when the lab director told me about our crisis, I knew I had to step in. A large dairy producer had found that all their cheeses were spoiling within mere days. Hundreds of rinds of this spoiled cheese emanated a foul odor, rendering them inedible. Even worse, products were already set to be distributed to stores, putting countless lives at risk of this unknown phenomenon.
What if this was an indicator of something much more dangerous? I’d heard of incidents like this before, strange smells resulting from harmful bacteria in food. For hours on end, I stood behind the lab bench, processing and plating samples. With each day came hundreds more wheels of cheese. And I enthusiastically answered the call, staying late to try and isolate colonies to help understand this anomaly.
After weeks of experiments, we’d cracked the case of the “vomit cheese”: a Clostridium strain that caused excessive fermentation. We’d prevented entire warehouses of food from being wasted and saved countless people from being exposed to harmful bacteria. Because we’d identified this organism before the product hit the shelf, we were able to stop widespread contamination before it pervaded stores across the region.
My heart leapt with joy. Our finding had opened my eyes to not only this new biological specimen, but also to the immense impact our work had on the lives of those around us. Using all the scientific concepts I’d grown up exploring to confront this issue head-on, we solved a crisis that threatened lives before it could harm anybody.
In that moment, I realized a critical aspect of my journey in [name]–each new nuance I uncovered in pursuit of knowledge has been in the context of tackling real life situations. Every skill I’ve picked up, from investigating cultures as the bacteria aficionado to tinkering with complex lab machinery, has been rooted in solving problems. And in each fire I’ve helped put out, no matter how small, I found an opportunity to learn something new. Whether that meant ensuring food safety by identifying pathogens or automating sample distribution through Java programs, the unique experiences I’ve gained have given me the ability to view every situation as a problem to be solved.
I strive to carry this perspective forward to all aspects of my life. And with it, I know I can face the challenges I see in the world around me and bring change in college and beyond.
(Word Count: 650)