COLLEGE ESSAYS

Stanford Supplement - Short Essays

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NEXT ESSAY
Prompt:
In addition to your Common Application essay, please respond to
the following three questions. Your responses must be at least
250 words but should not exceed the space provided.

Stanford students are widely known to possess a

sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea
or an experience you have had that you find
intellectually engaging. (1800 Characters)
I am an Internet entrepreneur. Since age 12, I have coded and
designed websites -- for my school, the local community, and as a
personal hobby and pastime. In fact, I started my own Internet
business in 2004 and was hired as a webmaster by Intel
Corporation this past summer. I also volunteer my free time to
run the website of the largest community service club at my high
school, Key Club. My interest in Internet technology started out
as a mere curiosity and casual pursuit, but has steadily evolved
into an intellectual passion that defines who I am today.

When I first signed onto the Net at age 10, I felt a curiosity and
zeal unlike anything I had felt before. The Net was my new toy
and I wanted to know what made it tick. Thus began my quest for
answers. I learned HTML, the basic building blocks of every
website. Next, I taught myself JavaScript, Cascading Style
Sheets, PHP, MySQL, XML . . . and the list goes on.

At age 14, I started an Internet business called FreeTheFlash

Entertainment. The website, (www.FreeTheFlash.com), is a
multimedia entertainment portal that collects user-submitted
videos, flash animations, and games from all over the Net. In the
process of starting and maintaining this website I’ve learned
leadership, communication, and business skills that literally
define who I am today. I’ve learned that innovation and new ideas
are crucial in creating anything successful and worthwhile in
today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape.

In the last year alone, my website reached over 620,000 visitors

who viewed over 3 million webpages. I’m proud of my web
development talent because it allows me to share my creativity
with the world, while providing others a vehicle to share their
creativity as well.

Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on

campus. Write a note to your future roommate that
reveals something about you or that will help your
roommate--and us--know you better. (1800
Characters)
Upon first sight of my room, you might get the impression that I
am an unorganized, pack-rat slob. There are piles of clothes lying
in heaps around the room and the only way to determine if they
are clean or dirty is to sniff each article of clothing individually.
Empty videogame boxes are arranged inventively on my dresser
and floor. The bed is a mess and the pillows are nowhere to be
seen. You may say to yourself, "I can't room with someone like
this." But, remember the familiar adage "you can't judge a book
by its cover?" That is as true as can be when it comes to me.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like I couldn't straighten up my room

if I wanted to -- but I'd much rather be reading the latest issue of
Fortune Small Business magazine, studying, or rolling out new
improvements to my half-dozen websites. I'm always scheming
something new; I've been known to spend many hours dreaming
up fresh business ideas. Fortunately, this "messiness" is only
limited to my room, and no other parts of my life. I'm consistently
ahead of the game with my homework and I meet every
extracurricular commitment without a hitch. Perhaps it's
because I never skip a beat in my school, social, and business
lives, that I'm forced to skip several beats when it comes to
cleaning my room. With only 24 hours in a day, I must prioritize
the order in which I tackle projects. For this reason, cleaning my
room often takes a back seat to that upcoming Calculus II test or
the launch of that new website I've been working on for the last 3
months...

I understand the importance of a clean living environment and

I've been working on straightening my room more regularly. I'm
confident that by the time we meet, I'll be able to keep the cover
of the book looking as first-rate as the pages inside.

Tell us what makes Stanford a good place for you.

(1800 Characters)
For six years I've been designing websites and Internet
applications -- doing what I enjoy, what I excel at. I've pursued
my ambitions and developed a fervor for Internet technology as a
medium for expressing ideas and communicating knowledge. I've
learned first-hand the power of this technology to reach out and
make connections with people, to effect change, to make a
difference in the world.

There is no better place to study Internet technology than

Stanford, the foundation for many of Silicon Valley's most
innovative companies -- Google, Yahoo!, Hewlett-Packard, and
Sun Microsystems. I want to be immersed in a learning
environment that encourages innovation, teaches creativity, and
fosters an entrepreneurial spirit. I want to go to a school where I
can live among students who have the same appreciation for
learning and drive towards excellence that I have.

My dream is to push the envelope of Internet technology past its

existing boundaries and limitations, to bring new innovations and
new ideas to the global marketplace. What better place to strive
for this dream than at Stanford? With esteemed programs like
Stanford Technology Ventures and the Mayfield Fellows Program,
a world-class faculty, and state-of-the art research facilities,
Stanford is the ideal university for the budding Internet
entrepreneur like me to excel both academically and socially.
There is still a lot to be learned about software and the Internet,
and I hope to be on the forefront of new developments. I'm not
afraid to break tradition; to do things better than they’ve been
done before. At Stanford, the leading institute in Internet
development, I can make my dreams of leading the Internet to a
new generation a reality.