Undergraduate / 'Hardware issues' - MIT Creativity Essay (a time you used your creativity) [5]

This is my MIT creativity essay. I like my topic, but i think the essay sounds a little stiff. Feel free to make suggestions. Its exactly 250 words right now. Also do any of my fellow computer geeks out there think MIT will get the reference to Richard Stallman and his insistence on using the term GNU/Linux?

Tell us about a time you used your creativity. This could be something you made, a project that you led, an idea that you came up with, or pretty much anything else. (200-250 word limit)

I have always been passionate about technology and its ability to profoundly affect the world around us. Thus, when I noticed that my school was tabulating grades by hand, by all accounts a very inefficient process, I set out to change it. I decided to set up a computer server to automate the process.

Since I am an avid supporter of open source software, I decided to design a server that would use the GNU/Linux operating system. I selected a set of applications that I thought would fit, and set up a prototype on my laptop. After showing the principal and teachers a demo, I received their enthusiastic support as well as a desktop on which I was allowed to experiment.

The first complications were hardware issues. Most of the hardware at the school was near obsolete. Fortunately, only the network drivers and the graphics configuration file needed to be fixed. The next problem was to show the teachers how to enter data into the server. Their apprehensions had to be overcome so that they could go about entering grades without issue. After a bit of patient explanation, they did come around and have made the server their tool of choice.

What I valued most about the experience was that I identified and engineered a solution to a problem no one else had even seen. I was able to put my skill at analyzing problems and my knowledge of computers together into something that benefited the school as a whole.

Undergraduate / MIT Pleasure Essay - Rubik's Cube [7]

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. (100 words or fewer)

I swiveled my wrists, mentally running through the algorithms and trying to keep the motion of all the pieces of the puzzle in my mind. I slowly opened my eyes hoping that this time would finally be the one. I was overjoyed when I saw in my hands the prize I had been hankering after for nearly a month: I had, after nearly three weeks of practice, solved the Rubik's cube blindfolded. Although most view it as a trivial toy, the Rubik's cube contains worlds of mathematical complexity. It is this intricacy that I enjoy.

I actually just cubing a few months ago, but so far its really been a lot of fun. Is it okay if I list an activity I haven't been doing for very long? This is just a rough draft, so harsh criticism is welcome.

Undergraduate / Common Application: A Historical Figure, Richard Feynman [4]

This is the essay I wrote for the common app topic about a historical figure, Richard Feynman and his influence on me. It's currently 600 words, so it needs to be trimmed a fair amount. Also what are your opinions on the poem at the end? Brutal commentary welcome.

The personality of the famous physicist Richard Feynman has made a great impact on me. As I watched his interviews and read his books, the sheer force of his persona made me feel as though he had reached across space-time, through the barrier of death and was speaking directly to me.

One of Feynman's most interesting ideas what he called the Freshman Test: he believed for any topic to be considered properly understood it needed to be explainable to a college freshman. Feynman, as a scientist and teacher, was renowned for his ability to see complex equations and theorems and by way of analogy simplify them into something comprehensible, even to those lacking a formal background in the subject. After watching his brilliant lecture on the connection between spin and statistics, I was so intrigued by this idea I decided to try it for myself. I took every topic that I had learned in physics and tried to explain each one to my little brother. The result surprised even me. As I explained the laws to my brother, I began to see them slowly transform from a set of strange and forbidding symbols to something vastly more elegant. One incident stands out vividly in my mind: when I tried to explain Gauss' law for magnetic fields to my brother. I still remember laughing aloud as I slowly came realized that at its core, the law simply stated that a loop has no end. I learned to appreciate not just how useful the laws were at explaining phenomena but also the brilliance of the thought that went into them.

Another of Feynman's distinguishing characteristics was his attitude towards scientific investigation. He was committed to applying the the rigorous standards of the scientific method not just to his field of work, but also to other areas and in turn, using it to solve problems. A famous example of this is when Feynman helped uncover the cause of the 1986 Challenger disaster. Although trying to apply the scientific method to one's daily life can sometimes seem a strange thing to do, the rewards are palpable. When my mother came for a routine medical checkup with a report that her sodium level still slightly above high, she decided to adjust her diet. But despite sticking to her diet for a few weeks, her sodium level remained high. At that point I realized that since the sodium couldn't be coming from her food, it had to be coming from the only other thing she ingested: water. After investigating further, I learned that our water softener worked by replacing the calcium in the water with sodium, making it suitable for washing, but inadvertently driving up the sodium levels.

But perhaps Feynman's most powerful quality was his appreciation of beauty of nature. This aspect of his personality spurred me to learn and understand the universe, and by extension the principles which we use to study it. From the graceful waltz of the stars to the incomprehensible chaos of the sub-atomic world, studying science has opened me up to the profound and awesome nature of this beautiful cosmos in which we reside. And because it is so easy to get lost in the deluge of problem sets and exams, it never ceases to amaze me how far humanity has come in understanding the world around us. Perhaps Feynman expressed this sentiment best in his poem the "Value of Science:"

...Atoms with consciousness; matter with curiosity.
Stands at the sea...
wonders at wondering... I...
a universe of atoms...
an atom in the universe.

Undergraduate / 'Technology systems' - MIT Describe Your World essay [3]

Harsh criticism welcome

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?(*) (200-250 words)

My teachers have often told me that they have never seen anyone as curious me. I believe the reason for this is the unique upbringing I had. Because my dad and many of my uncles are engineers I have always been taught to be unafraid of experimenting with technology. My first experience with technology came in elementary school when my father and I put together a demonstration of the how the first telecommunication systems were constructed, and how they evolved into today's ubiquitous network. I also remember that day, as the day I first learned about MIT, when my teacher suggested that I should one day apply. Eventually, my fascination with phones, combined with what I had learned about circuit design from my uncle led to the art of phreaking, or manipulating the telecom network. I still remember getting a thrill from learning how phone lines were tapped and traced, and how CallerIDs could be spoofed, things I'd thought only the geniuses in Hollywood movies could do. I was even able to talk to engineers at BSNL, the Indian national telecommunications provider about the intricacies and quirks of the system. Exchanging ideas with them has been an richly rewarding experience; finding out that there were people as passionate as me was extremely exciting. My family's constant encouragement of experimentation, as well my experiences, have led me to seek out challenging and interesting systems and learn as much as possible about them.