Entry 56: Big Apple

Our university is "In and of the City" and "In and of the World." What does the concept of a global network university mean to you? How do you think studying in New York City, Abu Dhabi, or one of our global sites would change you as a person and equip you to build cross-cultural relationships at our university and beyond?
--NYU

• A global network university is a very appealing concept to me. Why? Because it means that I will have many advantages compared to people who do not attend a global network university. I will be able to experience many new cultures around me. I would have to adapt to a new environment first, since I would be studying abroad from my country. Then, I will be able to interact with a variety of different types of people from different cultures all over the world. What a global network provides is diversity. I will be able to meet new people, and I will learn how to cooperate with them in order to complete a superordinate goal, despite our ethnic, or any other, differences. The other advantage of being in a global network university is that I will be able to work with other universities around the world/globe because many of them would be connected to the global network university. Finally, the best advantage in my opinion would be that I would be able to acquire and attain the newest information and ideas from all over the globe, because a global network center means very, very advanced technology. I believe that in present day, one of the most important things to success would be information and technology, all of which a global network university would provide me.

Entry 55: Public Interest

Respond to the quotation below. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.

“It seems to me incumbent upon this and other schools’ graduates to recognize their responsibility to the public interest...unless the graduates of this college...are willing to put back into our society those talents, the broad sympathy, the understanding, the compassion...then obviously the presuppositions upon which our democracy are based are bound to be fallible.”
--John F. Kennedy, at the ground breaking for the Amherst College Frost Library, October 26, 1963

• I believe that graduates of any college must put back and return their talents to society, for the public interest. The people who go to school and receive an education must at least return sometime back to the society and neighborhood that allowed them to grow and succeed, as well as prosper. As the quote mentioned, the people within a group are the most important part of democracy, and without the people, the democracy will fall. Another situation where the democracy might fall may be when the people constituting the democracy do not contribute and sustain the democracy. Therefore, as the quote mentions above, the talents of these educated people must to placed back into society for the wider, public interest; they have to contribute to society.
• The main way that people can contribute to society would be to enter the work force and get a job that will be able to put their talents to good use. I would most likely get a job that has to do with mass communication and psychology, since these two fields are the ones that I am most interested in. To be more specific, I would most likely be concentrating on consumer marketing and advertising, since these two are most closely related with psychology (so I can out my psychology to good use).

Entry 54: Literature and Death

Respond to the quotation below. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.
“Literature is the best way to overcome death. My father, as I said, is an actor. He’s the happiest man on earth when he’s performing, but when the show is over, he’s sad and troubled. I wish he could live in the eternal present, because in the theater everything remains in memories and photographs. Literature, on the other hand, allows you to live in the present and to remain in the pantheon of the future. Literature is a way to say, I was here, this is what I thought, this is what I perceived. This is my signature, this is my name.”
--Ilán Stavans, Professor of Spanish, Amherst College

• I would agree with the quote above. Literature is indeed a way to say, I was here, this is what I thought, this is what I perceived, this is my signature, and this is my name. It is something that will keep us in the present and help us remain in the pantheon of the future. There is, however, one thing that I disagree with concerning this quote. This quote gives me the feeling that the only way to overcome death is literature. I believe that there are other ways to overcome death. Examples may be in any form of media. A few examples of media include television, drama, music, and other forms of entertainment. People leave legacies after they become famous through these media. Though the message conveyed by the people differs from media to media, all of the following above does overcome death because a part of the person is left behind even when the physical body dies. In television and drama, a person's visual images, acting, speech, and other physical aspects or characteristics are kept. In music, a person's music melody and rhythm, lyrics, and a person's voice are kept. Since we have digital files now, music can be shared and kept for a very, very long time. Basically, any media that involved video or audio recording can be similar to and perform similar functions to literature - it helps overcome death.

Entry 53: Reasoning and Insight

Respond to the quotation below. It is not necessary to research, read, or refer to the texts from which these quotations are taken; we are looking for original, personal responses to these short excerpts. Remember that your essay should be personal in nature and not simply an argumentative essay.
“Rigorous reasoning is crucial in mathematics, and insight plays an important secondary role these days. In the natural sciences, I would say that the order of these two virtues is reversed. Rigor is, of course, very important. But the most important value is insight—insight into the workings of the world. It may be because there is another guarantor of correctness in the sciences, namely, the empirical evidence from observation and experiments.”
--Kannan Jagannathan, Professor of Physics, Amherst College

• I agree with the quote above, that both rigor and insight are important roles in mathematics, and that insight is actually more important than rigor despite the fact that rigor is very important. Why is insight more important than rigor? This is because when people need insight in order to look into the workings of the world. And this can best be seen in one of the most important and fundamental processes of science: the scientific method. This method asks a person to first think of a question that he or she is curious about and wants to know about. This is insight, because it helps us find the questions that we want to solve. Without the questions, there will be no scientific process. Only after the question is voiced can the rigorous reasoning take place when the person is trying to create a reasonable experiment to test their his or her hypothesis.
• I believe that that insight is also important to solve problems. A sudden insight may help a person solve problems that he or she has been working on for a long time, such as a puzzle.
• Generally, to get the empirical evidence from observation and experiments (which is also known as the "rigorous reasoning", one must have insight. Insight provides the basis of science because it is the first step of the scientific process.

Entry 52: Life of Service

Tell us how the integration of faith and learning can prepare you for a life of service, and discuss the impact service-learning can have on the renewing of your mind, spirit, and community.
--Pepperdine

• Faith and learning can help prepare me for a life of service because it provides me with an incentive to do things that I am supposed to do, or things that are right and should be done. Having faith in myself, my friends, my family, and other people I interact with helps me in many situations. One of these situations may be when I am in a dilemma during the process of learning and I need somebody to give me a hand so that I can continue to learn without giving up or letting go of my academics. Having faith in others provides me a strong pillar by providing me with a social life and confidence. Service learning can renew my mind by changing how I think. In other words, service learning can change my attitude towards many different things. Service learning might also increase my spirits because I know that I have the ability to do many good and right things as well as the ability to help other people. Finally, service learning may change the community that I reside in because I will learn to actually do things to help my community, and the people within my community who need my help. One example of this is community service such as recycling and helping elders.

Entry 51: The Best Laid Plans

Tell us about the most significant challenge you've faced or something important that didn't go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?
--MIT

• One of the most significant challenges that I faced is actually something that happened just today. It is the taking of my AP Human Geography test. The test was really difficult and I had a hard time completing the exam. For the multiple choice question, I managed the situation by going through the questions slowly and thoroughly, and I separated my time into three sections. The first time period, I went over the test as a whole and did any and all questions that I am confident I know the answer to. Then, during the second round, I go over only the questions that I left blank in the first round. I do the question that I need to pick on answer of out two, and I try to use the process of elimination for the other questions that I didn't eliminate until I only have two answer choices left to pick from. Finally, during the third round, I pick answers from the remaining questions. This method helps me increase the probability of picking the right choice to a multiple choice question. As for the essays, I can only try to answer the question that I know the answer to first and try to buy some extra time so I can think of a more appropriate response to the other essay questions that I initially don't know the answer to.

Entry 50: My World

Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?
--MIT

• The world that I come from is actually very small. For example, my social circle consists of basically only my family and people from my school, and coincidentally, these are the two things that influence my aspirations the most. Notice I didn't say dreams, because my dream is influenced from something that is completely different. School is my life, seeing as I am a student, and school has guided me and given me a direction to life (of course, it's mostly academics, but there are also some social aspects such as clubs and other school activities). School is also the place where I will be applying for colleges, and it is an important turning point in my life seeing as it is helping me start a new stage in my life. My family plays the more important part. My parents provide me with education (which is my school) as well as shelter, amongst many other different things (for example, food and other basic needs). My brother had a prominent influence because I have to follow his path (that's basically means that what he does, I have to do). I would also like to go to the college my brother is at, and one reason is because my mother would be more relieved to know that there will be someone in America to take care of me (sometimes she thinks I'm retarded; maybe...).

Entry 49: What I Am Proud Of

What attribute of your personality are you most proud of, and how has it impacted your life so far? This could be your creativity, effective leadership, sense of humor, integrity, or anything else you'd like to tell us about
--MIT

• The aspect of my personality that I am most proud of is my effort to finish work and hand it in on time. No matter what events I have or what activities I have, I always strive to hand in my homework on time. For example, when I have model united nations meetings outside of the city or abroad, I will always try to finish my homework beforehand and hand it in early. When I know that I will be late and not be able to hand in homework on the day it is due, then I will try to know the assignment beforehand and bring as much homework as I can to my destination so I can work on it as well. The last hypothetical situation may be when I won't be able to bring the material outside of the city or abroad. Then, I would have to come back and do it. In this situation, I would try my best to finish my homework and hand it in as soon as possible. I know that sometimes I am not as disciplined as I would want myself to be, but I do try my best to control my impulses. For example, I love to read stories, and sometimes I would be too distracted to continue writing or concentrating on my assignment. I have ways to combat my impulses, however. For example, I will create a reward system that will make me do a certain amount of homework for a certain amount of reward, which, in this case, is reading novels.

Entry 48: Busy busy busy

We know you lead a busy life, full of activities, many of which are required of you. Tell us about something you do for the pleasure of it.
--MIT

• An activity that I do for pleasure is reading. However, when I am talking about reading, I am not talking about the very academic type of reading. I like to read fictional writing, stories that have very interesting plots that will be able to get my attention. Some of them may be nonfiction as well, as along as the plot is interesting and not too bland, repetitive, or predictable. Several themes or genres of stories that I love to read include action and fighting, detective, mystery, and romance (NOT the mushy one, but the ones with plot and actually MAKE SENSE). Another thing that connects to reading stories is that I like to write stories. Most of the time, my mind is filled with plots are trying to pour out of my hand. Sometimes I choose the plots that I like more, and write them down. I have started on many different stories already; the bad thing is that I have only finished one that I REALLY like. For the stories that I have not finished, I occasionally go back and add to the plot. So even though I started on another new story, I still progress, despite the progress being slow. Generally, I have about five to six stories that I am writing and still progressing. Currently, I am writing a fictional story that is mainly action (it's a military unit) but includes some romance. The ideas are all in my head!

Entry 47: More Art

How has a piece of artwork, a performance, a composition, an example of design, a piece of literature or a film affected you? Please describe the work and explain how it affected you as a person and artist. The piece you write about must be the work of someone other than yourself.
--Cornish

• The performance that affected me was not an official performance. Instead, it was just a few of my friends practicing their dance skills. However, that became a motivation for me. Seeing my friends dancing showed me their confidence, skills, and passion. They showed me how to have fun exercising, how to enjoy oneself when doing something, and how to love and have passion for an activity. As I started to indulge myself into the activity of dancing as well, I began to enjoy the benefits and advantages of dancing. First, dancing can help me gain the confidence that I used to lack. It also serves to teach me self-discipline, seeing that to learn a dance routine, one must put in a considerable amount of effort. Dancing is also a very good activity because it allows to me exercise when I do not have the amount of time or space to do other exercises - for example, playing basketball or jogging needs larger areas, while dancing can be done anywhere, any time. The last way that dance influenced me was that it helps me take away stress. Dancing until I feel tired and out of breath makes me feel relaxed and refreshed, and will make my day a lot better.

Entry 46: Art and Life

What life experience(s) inspired you to pursue the arts? How do you perceive that art school will prepare you for your professional career? Please describe your prior education and involvement in your art form. Describe the work you do and what influences it. What are your artistic goals, what are your passions and what has led you to pursue a career in the field? How will attending art school contribute to your plans and aspirations?
--University of Hartford
--Cornish

• The field that I wish to study is involved with communications and psychology. When I talk about psychology, I mean more specifically to consumer marketing, and most likely advertising as well. The life experience that made me want to pursue a career in communications is actually very simple, and may be experienced by anyone. I happened when I was buying a drink from a department store - HiLife - with my friend. When I went to the cashier, she had a very, very... unpleasant face that made me feel as if she had a grudge with me. It made me want to yell at her and ask her what did I do to make her make that face at me. After this simple experience, I began to pay attention to how people serve me. There have been people who excel at their job. However, about eighty percent of the people who I met who participated in service type services had very bad attitudes. I want to fix this, because I do not appreciate it when someone else takes away my content mood because of their own bad mood. To do this, I also believe that I need to know psychology, because know psychology will be able to help me find motivations as incentives to make people willing to do their job with their smile on their face, no matter when or how they are really feeling.

Entry 45: About Myself

Tell us something about yourself that isn't covered elsewhere in your application, some interest or experience of yours that you think we should know about as part of the admissions review.
Important factors considered by the review committee when evaluating the essays are:

• How the applicant ties his or her academic interest to the desired major or how the applicant explains his or her varied interests and need for exploration.
• How the applicant showcases his or her passion through chosen activities, work experience, research, or course selection in high school.
• How the essay reveals maturity and growth through past experiences, evidence of character development, cultural insight, community awareness, and/or leadership. Strength of writing is carefully considered throughout all the application essays.

--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• An event that most likely isn't covered in my college application is concerned with the younger me. During the periods from kindergarten to the middle of middle school, I had been bullied continuously for a very long time. In elementary, this was the case because I was the only Asian in an all Caucasian school in New Zealand - generally speaking, I was being discriminated against. In elementary, the bullying situation was as bad, but I was sometimes isolated by other, and sometimes people would spread rumors about me. It turned for the worst when I was in middle school, mainly because there were only a few people, and they were mostly from the "in" group (an analogy for me then would be a nerd or a geek). This situation may seem like a very negative one with no benefits; however, I did teach me an important lesson, and that is to stand up for myself no matter how small and insignificant I am compared to the others. If I continue to allow others to bully and take advantage of me, then I would always to like this, and it might turn into a vicious, never-ending cycle in the end. I learned that I must speak up my mind, seek help, and finally, I must learn to stand up against unreasonable and unjustified things done to me.

Entry 44: Past Experiences

How have your past circumstances and experiences (such as your upbringing, community, and/or activities) impacted who you are, your future goals, and your choice of major? If you haven't decided on a college or major yet, briefly explain your intentions and aspirations for your first year at our school.
--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• My past circumstances as a Model United Nations participator have influenced who I am, in a variety of different aspects. First, MUN introduced me to a world full of controversy and debate, and it brought to me the reality of the world, that there are many issues in the world that we, people who live comfortable lives, do not come into contact with. Second, MUN taught me the importance of being well prepared, which in turn trained me on my research skills concerning topic. Researching on controversial topics taught me to be objective and to look at many different sources with many different points of view before coming to a conclusion concerning the topic. Third, MUN taught me the importance of presentation and speech, as well as confidence. To be an active and successful speaker means that one must be able to speak with confidence, as well as being able to answer any questions raised (this, in turn, refers to research abilities). Last, but not least, MUN taught me the importance of social relationships. In international relations, diplomatic relations is extremely essential. These skills that I learned in MUN would help me with my major because communications has an emphasis on presentation, background research, as well as sight for many difference points of view of one single story.

Entry 43: Intellectual Vitality

1) Our students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.

2) Virtually all of our 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.

3) What matters to you, and why?
--Stanford

1.  The experience that is important to my intellectual development has to do with MUN, or Model United Nations. Why is it important to me? This is because Model United Nations taught me a variety of different valuable lessons. The first one is confidence; to be confident means to be successful (at least, to a degree, in public speaking). However, there is something in addition to this, and it is research ability that actually allows one to be successful. Good research abilities allows one to be able to understand his or her topic thoroughly and allow one the ability to answer the questions that other might have towards one when on stage. Having a wide base of knowledge also allows one to be more confident, because one knows that he or she will be able to answer the question posed to them.
2. Unfortunately, I must inform you that I have a serious obsession with being clean (it's might be obsessive-compulsive disorder). I also like to be organized, and I will feel a small degree of being uncomfortable unless I know where all my things are. I also have the tendency to sleep with absolutely no light, or in complete darkness. Therefore, I have to inform you that if you are going to study during the night, when I'm asleep, you may have to do so in some other place other than our room.
3. The thing that matters the most to me is music. Though I am not at all musically talented or inclined, listening to music had always been a huge part of my life, and it still is. I listen to music all the time: when I need to think, when I'm going to sleep or when I'm sleeping, when I need to pass time, when I need to concentrate on a task such as homework, when I want to dance or sing, or when I need to release all my pent up emotions.

Entry 42: School and Major

Explain why you have chosen this school and your particular major(s), department(s) or program(s). This essay should include the reasons why you've chosen the major(s), any goals or relevant work plans and any other information you would like us to know. If you are applying to more than one college or program, please mention each college or program you are applying to. Because our admission committees review applicants by college and programs, your essay can impact our final decision. Please do not exceed one page for this essay.
--Carnegie Mellon

• My major is aimed towards mass communication. To be more specific, I want to be involved with advertising and consumer market behaviors. I am also very interested in psychology, and also hope to make it one of my majors. Psychology would also be able to help me with mass communication and advertising. Knowing how people think and how people would act would help me understand what type of advertisement would attract consumers and how to create such advertisement.
• I used to be interested in biology, and I had wanted to be a coroner. However, after many different classes concerning human geography and psychology, my interests slowly started to change. I'm still interested in biology; however, I am now more interested in the workings of the media and mass communications.
• Another reason that motivated me to pursue advertising, consumer marketing, and psychology as majors was the bad quality of advertisements that I frequently see on television. Every time I spot one that is very bad, I immediately feel the need to criticize it. Most of the advertisements that I had criticized had to do with the advertisement not actually showing much of the product.
• One of my other interests has to do with hospitality. Yes, I have a very wide range of interests. What motivates me in this major is the lack of professionalism of people providing services. I have met many people who always had on an annoyed face that makes me want to scold them.

Entry 41: Leaders in the Making

Choose someone, fictional or nonfictional, historical or contemporary, whom you consider to be a leader. Suppose you are this person’s primary advisor. How would you advise this person and why?
--Claremont McKenna

• In my opinion, I would say that Sarah Liu, my classmate, is my contemporary leader. Why? This is because she is one of the best students in my class, and being friends with her motivates me to study hard so I don't fall so far behind her in terms of score and make myself feel bad.
• If I were to advise Sarah in anything, I would tell her to work as hard as she can, but still, she should spend every single moment studying. Instead, she should enjoy herself sometimes, and be more active and athletic. Why would I advise her in such a way? Well, this is because I believe that she already has good enough scores, so she doesn't have to be studying every single moment other than the times that she eats and sleeps. I would advise her to relax because relaxing will allow one to recuperate from stress, and I believe that this is something everyone should do, not just Sarah. Finally, I would advise her to exercise more and be more active and athletic because she barely exercises, and she's not exercising lately because of junior year, and this will have a bad impact on her health. She should work out some time to maintain her health and keep strong, or else her immune system might weaken and she might become sick. Then, all her efforts into studying would be wasted.

Entry 40: Spring Break

Write about how you spent your time over Spring Break. Did you do what you wanted to do, or were there things you wanted to do but didn’t get to? Write about how happy you are to be back in school.

• Basically, I did not spend any time relaxing during the break. It was all work, work, work. But that was to be expected. Saturday was the most relaxing days amongst the other days, even though all I did was work. The following days consists of a repetitive schedule that almost drove me crazy. Here's a brief overview: a full SAT practice test, AP practice test, full SAT practice test, AP practice test, AP practice test, brainstorming session and writing class at school, another full SAT practice test, and finally, two more AP practice tests. Sounds fun? I also had to memorize my SAT Vocabulary List every night because the Thursday tests are coming up. Still not done... And that's really not good...
• There weren't a lot of things that I wanted to do during the Spring Break. It generally consists of sleeping as much as I can to repay my sleep debt, eat as much as I want, and use my computer to watch videos and novels. Oh, and of course, going outside of the house to talk a walk around so I won't suffocate in my own house. Out of all these things, I only successfully completed repaying off my sleep debt and eat as much as I want. I also got to watch TV drama clips by peeking when my mother is watching them. I wasn't able to use my computer much, only for checking emails from school.

Entry 39: Lucky You

You have just won ten billion US dollars. You never have to work again, nor will any of your relatives for the next several generations. What will you do to fill your days? Why? What are you NEVER going to do again?

• I would say that I'm really lucky if I ever have the chance of winning ten billion US dollars. Though, I doubt that this will ever happen. However, under the hypothetical situation where I do happen to win ten billion US dollars, there are several things that I would like to do. Well, before that, I would just like to say that I'm going to continue my normal life, and continue to stay on a low profile (if that is even possible with me winning all that money). The main reason for this is because I'm afraid that I might be targeted by "bad people" if everyone knew that I happen to win ten billion US dollars. Anyways, with all this money, I would be able to buy anything I want, which would most likely be electronic and technological devices. I would not be buying too much new clothes since I'm not really one for fashion. One thing that I would definitely want to do is to travel the world. I would most likely want to visit Europe and travel in Eurasia. This is mainly because I want to experience what it feels like to be in those countries. Another thing that I would want to do is to take whatever class that I want to take, most likely dance classes. I would also like to read all the novels that I have been wanting to read for the longest times, but didn't have time for because of all the academic pressure. One of the musts that I will continue to do is to exercise. This is not only for pleasure, but also to maintain my body and keep myself healthy - I would not want to end up as an obese, because I might lead to a lot of diseases. I would also donate money to charities, as well as volunteer, since I have all this extra free time. There isn't anything that I wouldn't want to do, at least for now.

Entry 38: Opportunity Cost

As a student you have limited time and a lot to accomplish. Time management is probably the most important skill that sets successful students apart from unsuccessful ones. Opportunity cost is the sacrifice related to the second best choice available to someone who has picked among several mutually exclusive choices. Opportunity cost is a key concept in economics, and has been described as expressing "the basic relationship between scarcity and choice". The notion of opportunity cost plays a crucial part in ensuring that scarce resources are used efficiently. Do you think that your time is being spent the best way to ensure that you receive an education that is both broad and deep? What ways might you better spend your time to ensure that you develop key skills and subject knowledge? Try to break down how much of your time you spend on work that will have a long-lasting impact on your learning, versus how much time you spend on things like recreation or test preparation.

• My time is mostly spend on a few specific things, usually in a set routine. Academics is especially major, and it takes almost half of my time. The other major, essential, and important activity is sleeping and resting. This activity takes up more than half of my time. Other activities include a few "relaxation" activities for me to relax and not think of academics, as well as well as eating and transportation time.
• Within the academics category, I believe that most of the time spent on academics is worth it and pays off, because I learn knowledge and skills that I will need in the future. However, there are some parts of academics that I believe are not worth it, and are basically just wasting my time. An example is SAT. I am not saying that SAT is useless or worthless. Instead, I believe that the large amounts of preparation classes are not really worth my time. Though they help improve my score, they don't really help me in the long run. They also don't show that I know skills; these classes only teach test strategies that may help on standardized tests but not real life tasks. I believe that I can actually spend the time I use for SAT prep classes on other more meaningful activities, such as studying for other classes or learning other skills outside the classroom.

Entry 37: Test Prep Effect on Writing

Comment on this passage from an article in The Telegraph about the negative effects of “test-driven” education:

Bright students are starting university unable to structure an essay because of the “damage” caused by test-driven schooling, Cambridge academics warned on Monday. Many undergraduates are struggling to show their natural flair after being ordered to write in a highly-structured way to pass exams, it was claimed. Robert Tombs, professor of history at St John's College, Cambridge, warned that students were “drilled into writing” in a formulaic manner between the age of 11 and 18, leaving them unable to articulate their ideas on degree courses. David Abulafia, professor of Mediterranean history at Gonville and Caius College, also told how extremely bright students were “grappling with difficulties” that “would have been inconceivable” in the past, even among their weakest classmates.

What do you think about the findings of these university professors? How would you rate your ability to write? Are you able to show “natural flair”? Given that good writing is really the process of developing and articulating one’s own ideas in a coherent way, and not just filling in blanks in order to meet the requirements of a formula, how would you rate the training you have received in writing? What do you think you can do—on your own—to improve your writing?

• I believe that these findings are indeed very true - all the prep classes that students are taking are affecting writing because it restricts and limits students to write according to a specific formula. I believe that I am also influenced by this, because my essays also have a specific structure to it. However. I believe that there is still some natural flow to my writing despite all the lessons on how to formulate my essays; this is because there are times when I will write my own stories (most of the time for writing for enjoyment). This helps improve my natural flow of writing because when I write my own stories, I am able to write in any structure or form that I want. I am able to choose between narrative forms or descriptive forms, and I can also practice forms such as conversations and the changing of point of views throughout the story line. I believe that the training that I have received in writing might impede my natural flow of writing because it may block my creativity and prevent me from being creative about what I want to write about when I start on a new short story.

Entry 36: Cheating

Comment on this passage from an article in Forbes magazine on the recent revelations about the prevalence of cheating on college applications by Chinese high school students:

Many Chinese [people] don’t have any moral qualms about cheating, especially as long as it’s not within your close family and trusted friends within the guanxi networks. Many feel that the history of guanxi networks and even bribing often seen in the past three decades in China’s “economic growth miracle” mean that they at some points in their lives must cheat to succeed. Thus, many Chinese parents have simply been acting “normally,” ignoring or not even understanding that some actions might be unethical.
 
Do you think that the attitudes reflected in this passage might be applicable to Taiwan as well as to China? What do you think of cheating? Is it ever acceptable? If so, under what circumstances. What constitutes cheating?

See the full article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonma/2012/02/13/how-to-stop-chinese-kids-from-cheating-on-college-apps/


The article was written by Jason L. Ma (馬良傑), Founder, CEO and Head Mentor of ThreeEQ, Inc., an organization that prepares young leaders for top universities.

• I believe that in Taiwan, there are many places where this passage does reflect the attitudes of people in Taiwan. One example is the Taiwanese education system, especially the public education systems. Many students are cheating during their tests, and are also plagiarizing when they write their essays as well as applications (including both college applications and job applications.
• I believe that cheating is a very bad action that anyone can do. By cheating, one does not learn anything from cheating. It takes away the opportunity for one to learn new skills and knowledge, and slowly corrupts and person as cheating becomes a habit. I believe that cheating should never be accepted. People might be able to accept using clever ways to complete or pass a task, because they used their own knowledge and ability to create such strategy, but cheating cannot be accepted because one does not give any effort for the work that they produce.
• Cheating is mainly constituted of one person copying another person's work, and claiming it as his or her own. If one quoted their source, then that would not be considered as cheating, since the person does not claim the piece of work as his or her own.

Entry 35: Race to College

   At dozens of universities across the nation — including, in September, the University of California, Berkeley — Republican or conservative student groups have kept the issue of considering race in college admissions at the boiling point with “affirmative action bake sales,” where the price for cupcakes or cookies is based on race, with whites charged more than blacks, Hispanics or native Americans.
   Some institutions have blocked such bake sales, bowing to complaints that the price differences are inherently racist and that the sales create an unwelcoming campus atmosphere. But, wrote Shawn Lewis, president of the Berkeley College Republicans, “It is no more racist than giving an individual an advantage in college admissions based solely on their race or gender.”
 
What do you think about the above quotation (from a New York Times article)? Should race or ethnicity be considered in college applications? What about gender? Nationality? What do you think is fair for college admissions boards to consider when looking at potential applicants? Why do you think so?

• I believe that the above quotation can stir quite an argument concerning the issue of racism. I believe that race and ethnicity should not be considered in college applications. This also implies to gender and nationality. Instead, the economic status and situation of a applicant should be what is actually considered. This would be the most reasonable because the reason for race and ethnicity to be considered by colleges when looking at college applicants in the first place is because of the differences in economic status. It just happened to be that people who are ethnicities or races other than whites have lower levels of economic status. These people are usually immigrants or African Americans, and many of them have stayed in America because of either slavery during the past, or because of hopes for better opportunities. Therefore, the best way is to just look at the economic status instead of the race or the ethnicity.
• Even though it is important to consider economic status when deciding which applicants should the college accept, it is also import to put the majority of the college's focus on the applicant's actual grades and his or her qualities and characteristics, because that's what is the deciding factor is. It is only when two applicants have similar grades and qualities should the college consider economic status.

Entry 34: My Activity

Practice writing a mini-essay about your extra-curricular activity. Tell what it is, why you do it, and what benefits you derive from it. Try to include how it is something that makes you an attractive candidate for university admissions. Remember, the purpose of your college application essays is to sell yourself.
Limit yourself to 150 words.

• The extra-curricular activity that I enjoy the most is dancing. Sometimes dancing is an official extra-curricular activity, but other times it's just a pastime. Both dancing by myself and performing in front of others gives me a feeling of satisfaction of releasing and expressing myself. I am not limited to the usual rigid regulations of reality, and I get to practice my confidence on stage as well as in front of crowds and audiences. Dancing also helps me practice my self-discipline, since performing on stage is not something one can do well with one or two days of practice. By setting a well-defined goal, I can work hard and prove to myself and others that I can do something without the help of others and without the pressing of others.

Entry 33: Free Write

Write anything you want. Make it at least 200 words and use proper grammar, usage, and mechanics for standard written English.

• I'll be going to Beijing very soon for Model United Nations! And because of this, I am very, very excited! But, I am not prepared at all! I started my research on my issue topics already and I even found my solutions for my resolutions, but I haven't started writing my opening speech and resolution yet... Also, I didn't start to pack yet, and I also didn't go to the bank to exchange for the currency yet. The other thing that I am worried about is the amount of homework that I have to finish beforehand, as well as the amount of homework that I have to catch up when I return from my trip. I already know that I have two chapters of outlining to do for my AP classes... For the trip, we'll be in Beijing for five days. The first two days will be touring and registration (which means that these two days are the "relaxing" days). The remaining three days are the conference. After the conference ends, we'll leave immediately. It's going to be extremely tiring because the day we leave we leave extremely early, and the day we come back we come back extremely late. I am so going to collapse from all the running around I'm going to be doing.

Entry 32: Use Valid, Credible Sources for Information

Just because you have located a book, article, website, or other resource on your topic, does not mean you should automatically use it in your paper or project. You need to choose your resources carefully to make sure you get the best and most useful ones.
How can you tell if the book, article, website, or other resource you located is a valid, credible source? It may be helpful for you to ask yourself six questions:

1. Who? Who is the author? What are his/her credentials?
2. What? What information is available from this resource?
3. Where? Where did the author(s) get the information? Are citations provided?
4. When? When was the resource produced? (For books, check the copyright date. For articles, check the publication date. For websites, look for a "created on" or "last updated on" date.)
5. Why? Why does this resource exist? Is the purpose to entertain, persuade, inform, etc.? Is the resource biased?
6. How? How comprehensive is the resource? Does it go into the depth you need?

Pick one of the sources you chose for your issue essay and describe it (include the citation information). Then answer the six questions above for that source. After answering the questions, do you still think it is a good source?

• The citation for one of the sources that I chose is ""Sea Species Get a Move on as Climate Change Encroaches; SOME MARINE CREATURES MAY HAVE TO ADAPT FASTER," Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales) 9 Nov. 2011: 19, Questia, Web, 23 Feb. 2012." This source is written by Western Mail from Cardiff Wales. The information from the source allows me to write about the things affected by climate change, and it also allows me to prove that climate change is not only influencing humans, but also other organisms as well. There are citations at the end of the source, as well as citations within the source itself. The source was published on November 9, 2011, and it was taken and used on February 23, 2012, through Questia for use. This resource is produced as an informational text because it is informing people about the situation with the global climate changes and its effects. The resource is very comprehensive because it goes in depth concerning the topic, giving a very diverse point of view concerning the topic and its related areas.
• The other resources are very similar in terms of the six questions - who, what, where, when, why, and how. Therefore, it can be concluded that the other sources are also quite credential.

Entry 31: How to Impress

In your last journal entry you wrote about your extracurricular activities. Some of them might be impressive to university admissions officers. Some might not. Remember that some of the values that admissions officers are looking for in candidates are: ability to learn from mistakes, accountability, concern for others, creativity, defined goals, dignity, discipline, ethics, goal-orientation, honesty, humility, introspection, leadership, lucidity, maturity, positivity, self-awareness, team-orientation, uniqueness, and vision. Qualities that they aren’t looking for are: anger, arrogance, bad writing, blind ambition, ego, entitlement, immaturity, mediocrity, perfectionism, poor judgment, prejudice against race/gender, and vanity. Pick a few of the activities you wrote about before and write about which desirable values they might demonstrate. Are there any undesirable values associated with your activities?

• Basketball: Writing about basketball helps convey to others about my ability to work with others, as well as leadership when playing the game together. Both of these are necessary for a team to be able to play a game without having any negative feelings. It also teaches the important lesson of how important cooperation is. One can also learn from his or her mistakes when playing basketball. For example, when you lose the ball to the other team, you think back and try to find out why you lost the ball, and then you devise new strategies to fix that problem. Playing basketball also helps with one's discipline because of the necessary large amount of constant practice to maintain one's level of skills. Basketball, however, can show one's poor judgment when one is making a move. This may cause the team to loose the ball to the other team, and eventually even lead to the loss of games.
• Dancing: Dancing is an activity that helps to discipline oneself because to be able to dance well enough to perform, there must be a lot of effort dedicated to practice. It also shows that one has a defined goal, as well as show the uniqueness of a person because each person has his or her own unique dance style. Dancing, however, may show one's tendency to perfect everything, which is sometimes a bad quality.
• Community service: Community service helps one define his or her goals and discipline oneself. It also shows others that one is dedicated to society and is contributing one way or the other. The bad thing is that community service is sometimes done just for entitlement in order to show colleges that you actually did it.
• Model United Nations: MUN allows one to practice his or her creativity and discipline. It also helps one to define his or her goals as well as help him or her learn from the mistakes made. MUN, however, sometimes results in being too egoistic and too arrogant because of overconfidence.

Entry 30: Extracurricular Activities

Use this journal entry to brainstorm on your extracurricular activities. First, just list as many different activities that you have taken part in that you can remember. Include any clubs, volunteer work, performances, community service, sports, hobbies, jobs, and so on that you have done, including as far back as when you were in elementary school. List current activities as well as ones you don’t do any more. Once you have exhausted your memory, go over your list and begin to narrow it down. Write down which ones you think might be appropriate for your essay and why. Also write why you think others won’t work. Which of your final choices do you feel most strongly about? Why?

• Basketball team
• Dance club and dance performance
• Community service
• Model United Nation (MUN)
• I believe that the options that would work the best when writing a college essay are the dance club and dance performance and Model United Nations. Writing about dance club and dance performance shows that I am not a student that only concentrates on academics, but also one who values exercise. By performing on stage, it can also help express myself and show others that I have the confidence to actually perform in front of others. It also shows that I can put in effort to practice something enough to perform. Model United Nations is an educational activity. It also shows to others that one is very involved with current events and international news. It also allows a person to express themselves when they are speaking at the podium. When one is at the podium, one must work hard to improve their public speaking, as well as increase their confidence.
• Basketball team is also a possible topic. It tells others that one has engaged oneself in exercise and is not just one who focuses on academics. On the other hand, community service might not be such a good idea because the community service that I did was either because of club at school, or because of my mother telling me to go to community service with my brother.

Entry 29: Valentines

What does the word "love" mean to you? It's a big idea, and it carries very different meanings for different people. What is your personal definition of love? Does this definition change for the many relationships in your life – your family, your spouse, your children, your friends? How do you express your love? How do you want others to show you they care?

• The definition of love differs depending on a person's feelings and point of view towards love. My definition for love is that it is a feeling where people feel warm towards the person they love, where people feel happy when they are with the person they love, where people feel hurt when the people they love are hurt. Sometimes loves brings other negative feelings with it, such as jealousy and hatred. For me, the definition of love above accounts for every person that I believe that I "love".
• There are several ways that I use to express love. Generally, it means that I care for others. I will help them when they need help. I will comfort them when they need to be comforted. I will be there to listen to what they will say when they want to talk. And the list continues on. Sometimes I will also do some things that may seem cruel at first, but they are actually things that may benefit the people I love (so basically this is like sacrifice because they may hate you if the things you do appear to be really cruel).
• Similar to how I express love, I believe that if people care for me, then they are expressing a type of love. For example, they enjoy their time, being with me and doing things such as chatting. I also would like people to respect me. For example, they will give me time and space alone when I need to be alone and they will comfort me and listen to what I have to say when I need to talk to someone. The last way may be that they will give me advice that benefits me, and help me when I need help.

Entry 28: Sources?

Consider the issue you are writing about. Your decision to write about that particular issue shows that it has some importance to you, and probably to others as well. But how much do you really know about the issue? Can you write intelligently about it? Can you convince your reader that you really know what you are talking about? One way to increase your knowledge about your subject is to do some research. For this journal entry, write about the possible sources of information you might use to learn more about your issue. Try to write not only about general media types (like “newspapers” or “TV”), but try to think of specific publications or programs that might be helpful. Speculate about which sources might be more useful, and which might not be.

• I believe that I have adequate information on my issue topic. I say this because of several reasons. First, there has been many news on the television concerning the disasters caused by the recent climate changes as well as the geological changes. Also, my own experiences concerning the weather has notified me and made me aware of what's going on. Second, the internet has been a wide source of information concerning the climate patterns (you know there are these websites where they give you the statistical information concerning temperature, humidity, etc.) and geological changes such as earthquakes. I am especially aware of the frequent earthquakes that have been happening recently because many of them are close to where I live (which is Taiwan), for example, the devastating earthquakes in Japan that caused a chain reaction of tsunamis and extremely cold weather.
• If I were to conduct even more research on my topic, I would most likely go on the (all-knowing) internet and research. Questia, the online library that was supposing our school library, may also help me with research. The last option would be the easiest option, but also one of the most useful and efficient option, and it is just watch the television.

Entry 27: Personal, But Not Selfish

When talking about your issue topic a number of you expressed its importance to you in terms that, on the surface, might seem a bit selfish. Remember that the goal of the issues paper is to impress the college admissions officer that you are an engaged person who is aware of the world around you and concerned about other people. Use this journal entry to try to extend your interest in your chosen interest beyond simple self-interest. How can you use it to show that you care not only for yourself, but for your fellow human beings?

• The issue topic that I expressed during class was actually both personal and international. It can seem selfish on some certain levels, but it can also include the international world. My issue is not directly concerned with global warming and its effects, but mostly with the climate patterns of the last decade and exactly what is happening in the present day, and how people are reacting to it. It is personal to me because in the future, I might be one that has to go to these places that are strongly influenced by the weird, irregular, and unpredictable climate patterns. I do not want to be influenced by the climate then because one) it is very cold and I will have to wear lots of clothes (maybe layers of clothes that will make me look like an oversized onion) and 2) it would be extremely uncomfortable not only because it is very cold (or actually, it can be very hot), but also because wearing that many layers of clothes when it is extremely cold is hard to move in. This does not only apply to me, but also to others internationally. For example, the currently trend of snow in Japan is making it hard for the people in Japan to move about through their own neighborhood, and they also have to wear large amounts of clothing and shovel the snow away so that transportation and communication is actually allowed. Therefore, even though this topic may seem to be on a very personal or selfish level, it is actually also on a very international level since many people in the world are affected by it.

Entry 26: The Worst

What was the worst part about your winter break? Why was it the worst? What was the cause? Is there any way it could have been better? How?

• I believe that the worst part of my winter break was doing SAT practice tests everyday. Well, it wasn't really that bad, but compared to the other things that I did during my winter break, it can be consider the worse part of my winter break, with homework and the preparation for upcoming tests following close behind it. Anyway, why was doing SAT practice tests the worst part of my winter break? This is because it was very time consuming (therefore I can't do anything else relaxing that I wanted), it is a neuron killer (because my brain cells are dying at an incredibly fast rate), and finally, if I get a bad grade on it, I get scolded (like any other test that I have). What was the cause for me doing SAT practice tests? Easy: I have to prepare for the real SAT practice test coming up June and November (I believe this is when I have my real SAT tests, when I'm in junior and senior year, respectfully). And if I get a bad grade on my SAT tests, then I can't make my college applications look "presentable", which then influences and causes a terrible domino effect that I don't even want to think about. I believe that there wasn't any way that it could have been better because in a sense (in my sense, actually), SAT is necessary. Necessary for what? For me to get into the colleges that I want to get into. So, let's continue working hard!