College Entry Essay

My first couple weeks at The University of Alabama have certainly been a unique experience. I threw myself into the Southern culture by deciding to rush a sorority. In Connecticut, sororities are a fun activity that a few people join, and rush is a two, maybe three day process. Here, rush and sororities are a whole different ballgame. Door songs are easily the scariest thing on the planet. Recently a video of a door song from a different college went viral with captions comparing them to horror movies, and I know that it’s just a joke but I can see where they are coming from. Having hundreds of girls scream at you while you have to just stand there and smile is quite terrifying.
During rush I also experienced another major difference
between Connecticut and Alabama; it rains here, all the time. In Connecticut when it rains, it generally rains all day and the sky is dreary. Here, it is the exact opposite; it can be clear one second and absolutely pouring the rest. The first time it randomly rained here I was completely unprepared and got drenched. From then on I realized I have to carry an umbrella or bring my rain jacket everywhere I go. Additionally, I also experienced what I considered a tornado scare, but in reality I was overreacting. When a really bad thunderstorm hit the people in charge of rush made all the potential new members go into the parking garage in the center of Sorority Row. I didn’t think it was a big deal until they told us to move towards the center of the structure, and I started to get a little worried. It was not until they moved us into the storm shelter that I started freaking out a little bit. It turns out that the only reason they moved us into the storm shelter was because it was a safety hazard to have 2,500 girls sitting in a parking garage that people were trying to drive in and out of. They didn’t tell us that until we were allowed to leave, so needless to say I was panicking for over an hour for no reason.
There is a great deal I hope to accomplish while I am attending The University of Alabama.
My primary goal is to get into the University Scholars program. With both a bachelor’s and master’s in Finance I hope that I will stand out to potential employers because investment banking is an extremely competitive field. Typically big banks hire graduates from Ivy League schools, but I’m hoping that an advanced degree will help me get my foot in the door. Also, while getting my master’s degree I would have the opportunity to specialize in Financial Engineering, which would prepare me to work in an investment market. Additionally, I want to join the Culverhouse Investment Management Group. Members of this group have gotten jobs at J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs to name a few, and that’s where I want to work when I graduate. In addition to helping me get a job when I graduate, being a member of this group will give me practical experience for the future. Also being a member of this group would give me the chance to see if I really am interested in investment banking. If it turns out I do not like it, it would be better to know now than to get a job and then realize that it is not the right fit for me.
In addition to majoring in Finance, I hope to minor in Computer Science. Computers have been a passion of mine since I got my first MacBook in the third grade. Ever since then I’ve always looked for news puzzles to solve and more ways to challenge myself. After taking a Computer
Science class at my high school, I realized that Computer Science offers me an opportunity to push myself both academically and creatively.