Common App Essay - Self Chosen Topic

WittyUsername01
Sun, 09 Sep 2012 21:49:49 +0000

I basically took an essay I had already written for my UNCG app and expanded it a bit. The prompt was “How have your past experiences and interests influenced your choice of an academic major?” My intended major is Computer Science. It isn’t really in a standard essay format, but I think it works.

I’ve been interested in computers almost as long as I could type and move a mouse. Although I’d guess that every boy has a nerdy phase when he’s young. As well, I think the fact that my dad had a BS in Computer Science and 30 years of IT experience was a major factor, due to the whole “I’m going to grow up and do what my father/mother does” thing that happens when children are very little. I lost interest from about 7 to 12. But ever since the age of 13 my love of computers and technology in general has continued to grow. When my parents finally got me my own laptop, I would spend hours tweaking file systems, exploring every nook and cranny of my hard drive, and in general acting like a computer geek. When I got an iPhone, I jailbroke it and spent hours combing through it’s file systems, just trying to find what crazy stuff I could do to it. One of my favorite experiences with computers was taking apart an old desktop PC when I was 14. I spent about a week and a half in my garage dissecting the thing. When the old family desktop finally died, I did the same with that (the guts of it are still in my garage). And this past summer, I began planning out the spec for a custom, self-built desktop PC. Through this process and the research that went into it, I learned so much about the technology behind modern computers and about computer hardware in general. I think its probably the best example of my passion for computers, as well as my drive to learn more and more about them.

It seems only natural to me that I get a degree in Computer Science, or some sort of computer technology related major. I can expand my knowledge and passion for computers, and hopefully be able to pursue a career in an industry that I love.
How have your past experiences and interests influenced your choice of an academic major

What do you guys think?