Category: Values

How did you come to value what you do?

What Edmund Burke Did For Me

Admissions Essay: Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

By Russell K. Osgood (Grinnell)

Russell Osgood models his views on justice and compassion after conservative icon Edmund Burke. His adulation and respect comes from Burke’s belief that change is best accomplished by a gradual movement in structures and institutions rather than by a violent upheaval. Osgood wants to lead his own life that way. For more, read his essay from the Wall Street Journal.

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Russell Osgood was president of Grinnell College from 1998-2010. He is currently serving as Visiting Professor of Law at Washington University Law.

A Page From My Autobiography

Admissions Essay: You have just completed your 300-page autobiography. Please submit page 217.

By Amy Gutmann (U Penn)

Amy Gutmann’s dream was to making a lasting mark in political philosophy at a top-notch university. She did so by sharing the importance of democratic education, creating a model for placing moral reasoning at the center of everyday politics and arguing how important identity groups are for democracy. You can read more from the essay she wrote for the Wall Street Journal.

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Amy Gutmann is the president of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a political theorist and author of the book, Democratic Education.

My mission is to be of meaningful help to my people. But who are “my people?”

What is your mission?

by: Brooke Allen (Q4Colleges.com)

My personal mission is to be of meaningful help to my people.

Who are “my people” exactly? If I were Armenian I might consider my people to be Armenians or if I were a lesbian then they might be lesbians.

I am neither of those.

I’m a 59-year-old Caucasian male with a mostly useless master’s degree.

And my people are over-educated Westerners.

This mission came to me after Continue reading “My mission is to be of meaningful help to my people. But who are “my people?””