Posts by ootlink

ootlink

Nov 29, 2009

Undergraduate / UC #2... but it's not just one thing! [5]

First the dreaded question:
Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

My answer:
I honestly haven't written it yet. Yep, I'm writing it on the day of the deadline. I know, that's said to be the dumbest thing in the world to do... I'm not one for narcissism, and while I've read a lot of very nice, very good essays on here I'm afraid I haven't been on any sports teams (well, I was on an ACM programming team that placed horribly because we didn't know what to expect and didn't practice for it).. I haven't gone to any foreign countries - las vegas is the furthest I've been, ironically I've been there 10 times and never gambled..

I grew up with (and still live with) an autistic brother, he was high decently high functioning to begin with, but didn't talk much. Growing up around computers, I wanted him to get into them (as before that, he just played his video games in his free time). That started as an experiment, but it became pretty successful - he learned how to do all sorts of things, even shopping online. My mom felt it was a big enough deal that I should consider writing about it, but I don't know.. How did it shape me? You try doing homework with him doing what he does! I could get my homework done on the deck of an aircraft carrier!

Seriously though, I started highschool off on the wrong foot and it went terribly, but a year after I started, my mom discovered our school district had a home school program. It was a very rough 3 years, but I basically taught myself everything I knew from high school. Because of the bad year in high school, I didn't really believe in myself and had a hard time believing I was doing so much better in the homeschool program, until I started with a few community college classes I had to do in order to graduate on time.

I'm sorry I haven't written these into a formal topic yet, but I feel as if I'm stuck on the two topics - both are probably the most important things I could write about, and I feel almost as if one could twist into the other. I am indeed proud of the progress I've made, and the things I've experimented in to get there.

Would it be acceptable to write about both? I also want to remind you guys that since I'm a transfer student, I don't have the "tell us about your world" question and so this falling into that topic isn't that big a deal.

I'll post my 1st prompt later if you'd like :)

ootlink

Nov 29, 2009

Undergraduate / UC #2... but it's not just one thing! [5]

My brother Walter is a cool guy, he's 3 years older than I am, when we grew up I was constantly confused with him (not sure how, he was skinnier back in the day).

Anyway, I used to have a bunch of computers, and he liked playing with the one at my dad's office. Remembering this one day, I set up a computer at his desk - it was a bit too old, but he liked it until he got bored of it. Of course a few years later I had a better spare to give him, so I set him up with that, only this time it was connected to the internet.

He'd watch what I did on my computer, and got the hang of it very quickly. I'd put my music on his computer, and then he'd ask for stuff he heard on the radio - this was fine with me, though he does it a bit too much now.

Anyway, one day he discovered the joys of online shopping. This wasn't particularly a new concept, one time he got a hold of the phone and called Ronco to order one of those countertop rotissaries - they contacted me a few days later telling me that he said I was interested, and asked if I wanted to purchase one.

This was nothing - not long after, my mother got a call from a bus company asking for my brother Walter. He had filled out an inquiry form about looking into buying a used city bus! lol. When the guy found out my brother was autistic, he was totally nice about it and surprised, nonetheless it was a funny experience.

Anyway, we got him more oriented, the funny things stopped but he currently enjoys his iMac - it's like his best window to the outside world. He uses Hulu and Youtube among other websites to watch TV or whatever he finds funny, and has an itunes library as I do - I have yet to try it, but I think if I gave him an iTunes card he'd have a bit of fun with that.

It's funny, because nowadays he'll actually show me websites I've never seen before - like last.fm... The best part is he's such a good learner from example - and he can figure out stuff on his own too, I wish my oldest brother DJ could do that when it comes to updating his computer.

It is a pain sometimes, he likes to sing out TV advertisement jingles and it can be the biggest distraction in the world. None of my friends ever want to come to my house to hang out (particularly when studying is involved), because of that. The family arrangement is unbreakable (my father died 10 years ago and only my mother, 2 brothers, and myself live here). If I left, it would be a huge stress both financially and .. every other way imaginable.

Anyway, hrm.. I suppose I could stick the homeschool bit in the additional comments. Would it be corny to basically say this life has made me harder working and more dedicated, and I'm proud of that?

A little more backstory here, I will probably paste in what I made last night for prompt 1 (As I'm transferring from a community college in CA it's the one about what major you have decided on) - I'm interested in being an Electrical Engineer (of the Computer Science type...) for almost the exact reason.

I want to help make the world a better place, whether it be doing research on advanced human interface devices (those brainwave scanning devices), extended space travel research with some interesting new technology (I almost wanted to do aerospace engineering).. or just simple things like making the tiny powerful computers we take for granted in our ipods and zunes that were all but a pipedream just 5 years ago.

So that's in the first part..

9010.us/ucap11.txt
[This is going to get edited and you will probably see it change]

Thanks guys! :) Much appreciated.

ootlink

Nov 29, 2009

Undergraduate / Stanford Essay #2: Roommate Essay [6]

*really wants to do a stanford application himself*

I think your whole idea is wonderful! I can't really critique your writing to be more precise/appropriate as the masters here are able to (and I can't wait to see how they feel about mine when I'm done later tonight), but definitely.. I hope you stick with that idea of speaking to someone in the written form, it's something I haven't seen yet.

ootlink

Nov 30, 2009

Undergraduate / Homeschooling and Autistic Brother - prompt 2 [4]

Ok guys, here's my answer to prompt 2, I hope you like it!

Homeschooling Classes and Autism

On a cold day in November 2005, I walked out of an office proudly
carrying a puffy white envelope that had some weight to it. Inside was
one thing I am proud I was able to achieve: My high school diploma.

Homeschooling was hard, at first I would see my teacher, Mrs. Irvan once
a week, but I did so well that eventually became once a month. This was
because I learned critical thinking, in a sense that my focus was to
start with what I knew, but try to learn as much as I could. I never
wanted to follow the beaten path, my inspiration was to be creative, and
a question I constantly asked myself was if I could do better. I not
only met the goals that I was asked to, I exceeded them.

Naturally, I was a little apprehensive about the homeschool process. I
achieved wonderful grades - all straight A's, but I wanted a taste of
the real world. In order to graduate on time, it was necessary for me to
take college classes while in homeschool. Soon I was writing reports on
art history, making speeches in front of classmates in my college speech
class. When my astronomy teacher asked us to tell him what we had
learned as the only question on the final, I ran out of paper. Finally,
I had not just proven myself to my teacher, but to myself as well,
spectacularly.

The ability to learn on my own also made it easier for me to teach
others. My brother Walter is autistic, and while his doctor and the
school believed that he lived in a world of his own, I discovered one
day that he was very interested in what I was doing at my computer. I
decided to experiment by setting him up with a computer of his own; It
took me a while to pass on the values that I learned from teaching
myself, as practically everything I knew about computers (typing,
programming, web design), I had learned mostly on my own.

Today, when I'm doing something my brother finds interesting, he asks me
"What are you doing?" If he hears a good song on the radio, he'll ask
for the name of it, so he can look it up on the Internet; through me,
he's built up his own music library. Sometimes, I hesitate to think
about what he's capable of doing, because obviously he's just as bright
and capable as I am, meaning you never know what to expect.

Since I have introduced my brother to computers, even the doctors agree
that he is a much higher functioning person than they had ever imagined.
He doesn't scream anymore, he talks, and enjoys learning new things on
the Internet. Someday, I hope that everyone will see him as normal as I
am, and I will consider that the greatest accomplishment in the world -
one that I helped make happen.