Harvard Supplement or Transhumanist Ravings?

You may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about yourself or your accomplishments. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics:

Chosen Topic:

How you hope to use your college education.

Answer:

     Many students hoping to attend Harvard do not have much in mind with regards to what they want to do afterwards. Their focus is completely centered on getting in, and nothing else. This is why when faced with this question, the majority of applicants have no idea how or what to answer. However, unlike this vast majority, I actually have a plan beyond college, and one that is actually relevant to Harvard, to the program I am applying to, and to my subject of major interest within that program.
     The plan I have in mind is very centered on what I want to accomplish later on in life, namely, cancer research, as well as genetic research in general (i.e. genetic editing, engineering, etc.). Attending Harvard is a very necessary step in my plan for two reasons: I can get the best possible education, especially in the field of biological and medical research, and the prestige associated with the school allows for me to gain a foothold and network with many like-minded people who may be able to provide assistance, because after all, two heads are always better than one.
     The execution of my plan involves three essential steps. Step one would be to learn all about genetics and genomics at Harvard, and to start my cancer research as an undergraduate lab worker. Step two in my plan would be to complete the MD/PhD dual degree program so that I would have the qualifications to find good work to continue my research after graduating. The final step in my plan would be to establish myself and finish what I have started, and once I have completed my cancer research, to move on to other subjects of personal interest specifically concerning genetics, genomics, genetic engineering, and genetic editing, specifically in humans.
     The research I hope to do after completing my cancer research is with regards to how we could potentially engineer a new species of human capable of thriving on a new world, especially seeing as nowadays, we are fast approaching our “point of no return” and don’t seem to be stopping or even slowing down at all. I personally believe that the future of humanity is in space, and that as humans are now, we physiologically are not fit to live anywhere but on Earth, so a possible solution would be to engineer an entire new species of human to carry on the legacy of the human race.
     This, however, begs the question: what about the great minds living on Earth today? We would need the minds of our scientists in order to thrive on the new planets, which leads into my next area of personal interest that I would like to research even later on: how would one go about quantifying human consciousness such that it is a tangible object you could, say, transfer from one body to another?