Hello there… I’m new to CC, though I’ve looked at some of the forums previously, so sorry if I’m doing anything wrong. I am a Freshman in HS that is applying to Phillips Exeter for my Sophomore year. I am looking for any advice on my application essay. The topic is “Tell us about something you learned on your own.” Be wary, this is only my first draft, and far from done, but I just wanted to see what other people think of it. Thank you, and here it is:
In elementary school, I was like most little kids; I wasted hours watching mind-numbing television shows and wasting my time online. There were times when I actually spent hours staring at a wall and rocking on a chair. It took me until middle school to realize how much time I was wasting on pointless activities. This was when I started understanding the concept of opportunity cost. Basically, opportunity cost makes you understand three things about yourself: you are wasting time, time is money, and if what your doing is not worth that sum of money, you probably should invest your time in something else. Of course, being a middle school kid who could not yet work, instead of money, I thought of all the things I could be learning in the time I was doing something else. I started spending less time doing mindless activities and more time teaching myself things. The things I taught myself ranged from me reading books, learning some new math concept on KhanAcademy, YouTube, or One Hour of Code. I had always been of the top students in my class, but I found myself getting even more credit for doing well, winning more, and understanding more things the first time.
Opportunity cost made me weigh my options and made every mindless activity I participated in more valuable because of how little I did them. In economics, you might find the theoretical opportunity cost of going to college. If you go, you are wasting the money you could make working during that time, but even though it sets you back, you go hoping to get a higher wage when you are out of college. When I was stressed, and needed nothing more than to rest my mind, I took in consideration the five new things I could learn in that hour, and recognized the value of that mindless hour. It, like going to college, would set me back, but keep my mind healthy so I could learn even more later on. Opportunity cost made me realize the value of every second.