Essay of Application Post Write

To be completely honest, I really hate this essay. I think it came out horrible. I looked up Northeastern's application and after a wild goose chase found out that they use the Common Application which tells you to include an essay of your choice. So with no prompt I just wrote what I want to do, why I want to do it, and why they can help. I think it's blah. I don't like writing without a good prompt and I didn't care much for the ones in the book either. I don't think my essay is creative or would even be picked, but thankfully I have some time to work on fixing it.

Essay of Application

My entire life I’ve been surrounded by people in the medical profession and even attended nursing school with my mother when I was a child. Due to these early experiences, I knew that I too wanted to work in the medical field. It was love at first sigmoid. During high school I decided to take forensic science and a basic anatomy in order to get a head start.

Once I graduated high school I was certain I wanted to pursue a career as a medical examiner. Though many others found it eerie and gross, I found it to be interesting and exciting, as well as helpful. As I progressed into my first year of college, I was advised (especially by my mother) to be a plastic surgeon or an anesthesiologist. Although these were interesting and rewarding careers, they didn’t pique my interest. Then, as I began my second year of college, I found what I felt was my ideal career. I began getting laser skin treatments for acne and some months later my mother helped start a new medical aesthetics spa and then I knew.

By getting a degree as a physician’s assistant and training in dermatology and medical aesthetics I can achieve my ultimate goal. I will be able to enjoy my career and be able to start a family. As a physician’s assistant I can enjoy more time and freedom than I would as an M.D.

Through Northeastern University I would be able to earn my degree and hopefully get an internship so I would be able to gain valuable experience, since I feel that internship provides a critical and effective role in preparing for a career.

Post Write - This I Believe

I think it came out... okay. I didn't really know what I believed and then this sappy little piece came out. I threw it together, since in my own thoughts I felt a belief essay should be written as it would be said not rehearsed and drafted. I'm a little worried about the style and format and whether this even works as a radio essay, since I've never done one. I know it's really corny, but aside from that does it do anything for anybody? Does it make sense to anyone but me?

This I Believe

It only takes one person, one moment, one simple event, to change your entire life. The best part is you never know when or how it will happen to you. It’s amazing how sometimes, as if by a miracle, it happens when you need it most. You may not know what you need or what you believe anymore, but fate sends you some message to let you know to keep trying, keep moving and not give up. To help renew whatever faith you may have lost along the way.

It’s distressing to me that only about half of all marriages will last, that we’ve developed into a society which relies on couples therapy and open dating in order for relationships to succeed. After recovering from many a failed relationship, I wondered what was wrong with me. I had more than once been betrayed, cheated on, lied to, and simply left for someone else. I was often left with no explanation and forced to wonder “why?”

I finally had it when I suffered a particularly bad breakup. He had been seeing the girl next door more and more frequently and after 2 weeks of beating around the bush had a friend pass the message that it was over. I was torn. Things weren’t great in the relationship, but I hadn’t seen this coming. When I finally mustered up the strength to call him, his only explanation was that he wanted to “test new waters.” I decided to take some “me” time and attempt to figure out what I wanted, especially once I decided to go back to dating. Enough was enough, I wasn’t going to appease everyone anymore and let myself be walked on. When I finally met a great new guy and the cards started to play out, I decided to be true to myself first and him second. If he didn’t like this new me, I would just move on, and be fine with that.

I believe in love. Not just love for others, but a love of myself that isn’t the least bit narcissistic. Because of this newfound love and because I stopped trying to please everyone else first, I was ready to love and be loved, and I found that. I’m finally truly happy, even if I had to be by myself, and that’s something I will gladly believe in. I finally found a man who appreciates me, who compliments me, and who helps me to fulfill my dreams. He motivates and inspires me and gives me the strength to keep going. He has helped me to truly appreciate myself. He keeps me sane when I drive myself crazy. He gives me a shoulder to lean on and a hand to hold. He’s the sign fate sent to renew my faith in love.

Talk Balk on Women and Eating Disorders

I'm glad that I managed to get my point across, since I was worried about the clarity of the piece. I will definitely take into consideration adding a more convincing point about new-gen. models expressing different beauty than the 80's. On my personal piece, I do feel that it helps to support my point that the media is not entirely to blame and helps show the other side. It definitely, I think needs a bit of editing and reduction. I do think that there is a lesson in it, and I'm going to attempt to make that same point while being a bit more concise.

Thanks for your feedback!

Post-Write on Women and Eating Disorders Essay

I feel that my paper is in decent shape right now. To me, it’s a fairly good length (about 2 pages.) I’m very opinionated about the topic and I have a lot to say about it as is clear when reading it. I definitely feel I need to do a little bit of cleaning up and editing, and I’m sure something is off grammatically, somewhere. I’m a little worried about a few things, whether my ideas are clearly enough stated, and whether they sound right (since I like many people tend to write like I speak sometimes.) I also wonder if the portion with my personal experiences is too long, I know we were supposed to include our opinion on influence and personal experience, but I also realize it isn’t an auto-biography. Any feedback from anyone would be great!

Woman and Eating Disorders

Jean E. Kilbourne states in her essay, "Beauty...And the Beast of Advertising." that women and young girls are being influenced by media icons to be overly concerned with their weight and that the girls affected by this are becoming younger and younger. Kilbourne tells us of a Glamour magazine survey which showed that 75% of it's readers felt overweight. This survey however, was conducted in 1984, a fact which I feel skews Kilbourne's point. While the media surely has some influence over us, I don't believe that women's body issues stem solely from what they see in magazines and on runways. I also believe that the ideal body of a woman has significantly changed since 1984.

Once in a psychology class, as I studied the eating disorders, I found myself to be the perfect candidate for anorexia, which raised the question, “How did I manage to break the mold?” Many young girls and women suffer from eating disorders and have distorted images of themselves, but is the media totally to blame? I do agree with Kilbourne to an extent that the media plays a role in these disorders, but I feel that there is much more behind it. A person’s psychological health and stability plays an enormous role, as does the environment and parenting style in which they were reared, and their daily exposure to the media and their peers.

In support of Kilbourne’s ideas I have to recognize the constant media exposure which promoted a waif-type body to be the ideal. We are constantly reminded to pay attention to weight, whether our own or that of others. We have shows such as The Biggest Loser which show us obese people struggling to lose weight; and while loser refers to losing weight it also subconsciously bears a negative connotation. On the other end of the spectrum we have shows such as America’s Next Top Model and Make Me a Supermodel in which aspiring models compete for highly desirable modeling positions. Weight gain and loss is carefully monitored and criticized. Another issue is that it is impossible to go to a store and not find the cover of at least one magazine shouting to the world that some celebrity has gained weight or was photographed with cellulite and criticizing them. One could argue that this provides an inappropriate mold for girls (and in some cases boys) to try to fit.

I can personally say that I have struggled with body image issues and I have seen friends battling eating disorders. I feel that peers influenced my low self esteem and self worth, as well as my negative body image at the time. I can also say with almost certainty that those people I know who have struggled with the same issues felt the same pressures. I believe age is another important factor, for example, a girl in middle school will most likely compare herself to her peers, while a teenage girl is more likely to compare herself to peers as well as role models in the media. Teasing and name calling at a young age as well as environments which make these children susceptible to criticism, I feel, can negatively impact their psyche and their body image. In my own experience, I was very thin as a child, but in my pre-pubescent years, I , like many other girls my age, gained what was affectionately called “baby fat”. While many of my peers began to melt away into womanly figures, I hid in my clothes and tried to figure out why I didn’t look like them. I had been an avid swimmer up to that point, but as name-calling and criticism began, I slowly discontinued my favorite sport. To add insult to injury, I also got braces and glasses around the same time.

When high school came, I decided to try to reinvent my image since many didn’t know me, I couldn’t do anything about my weight, but changed my style and avoided my glasses as much as possible. I never could achieve the perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect everything that many people seemed to possess, but I worked around it. My weight still bothered me since I would buy clothes that I loved and then feel awkward and fat if my stomach showed, I hated one piece bathing suits, but hated how I looked in a bikini. I finally had enough the day my own mother called me fat. I started swimming on a team 6 days a week for a year and lost some weight, but in my mind still not enough. Since then I have changed my diet, since somehow I avoided the clutches of eating disorders that claimed some of my friends.

Earlier this year I was given an enormous boost of confidence, when I was scouted for a modeling agency. Somehow this was a seal of approval from a group of people who didn’t owe me anything, but an honest opinion. Since then I have felt more confident in myself and more motivated to actively take care of myself and my weight. And if I put on a few pounds, I try to change my diet and work it off, instead of hating myself. It could be argued that modeling increases societal pressure, but I believe it depends on the environment.

In the 80’s and 90’s models were encouraged to be waifs. Shapeless, curve-less, incredibly thin women were the ideal and I feel that this created extreme pressure on women everywhere. If we look at the career of Kate Moss, one of the most influential models of the 90's, we see this ultra thin woman as being the ideal. She was featured on the cover of Vogue numerous times and has been featured on a total of 300 magazine covers. At the peak of her career she may have inspired some girls and perhaps even caused a few self image problems. Thankfully, the newer generations of models are curvier and more realistic. While still thin, supermodels such as Heidi Klum and Gisele Bündchen are the new ideal and many agencies are promoting this image. While many celebrities are still being criticized for weight gain, many of them now are being criticized for too much weight loss. In working with my modeling agency I have seen how much more supportive the business is now than it ever was before. All talent, models, actors, singers, and dancers are encouraged to eat well and exercise moderately and to live healthy lifestyles. While our progress is monitored, we aren’t criticized to lose weight, and anyone who seems to be losing too much weight or seems to have a problem is pulled aside and can be pulled from the agency for unhealthy behaviors. They also make sure that education is a priority and anyone who is failing in school and putting too much emphasis on modeling, can be suspended. They promote a healthy environment which shows that health and education are first, and modeling comes later.

I strongly believe that if trends such as these continue that young women and men could begin to overcome eating disorders and start to live healthier lifestyles. We often joke that women always hate something about themselves, but it’s no laughing matter. Supportive environments and less criticism of public figures, celebrities, and role models can help people start to accept and improve themselves in healthy ways. It is unrealistic to assume we can completely eliminate eating disorders, but lowering the number of cases is attainable and crucial to saving lives and helping future generations.