Undergraduate / "The tale of Mr. Vandal"(undecided) common app essay [5]

Hey! I am new here. This is my personal essay written recently for common app question. Any comments and criticism would be greatly appreciated !(Oh, by the way, I am a foreign student, so some of the language in this essay will sound a little...wierd. Forgive me!)

[i]"Go your own way. Let others talk!"--Dante.
"Formulation of a question is far more essential than its solution." -Einstein
"Learning stems from thinking. Thinking stems from questioning." --Confucius.
"Rules only have two functions: first, to be our guide, second, to be challenged"--Mr. Vandal[/i]

Among his classmates, Mr. Vandal is a truly eccentric man. He has been known as a skeptic and rule-breaker. His love of debate and critical thinking earned him the comically translated nick name "Mr. Vandal." "We NEED NOT follow the hidden rule "one should only make positive remark on meetings or seminars". Once we have question or different opinion, we have to speak out; this is self-evident."He always says.

Everyone can recall many of his anecdotes.

Anecdote 1
"Sir, I believe your approach was very absolute and inaccurate." Without even a single sight, everyone knew it was Mr. Vandal speaking. During a seminar on Confucian philosophy, Mr. Vandal was questioning a celebrated scholar who argued that "we should befriend our betters but never our inferiors." while others were complementing the scholars' theories to show "good manners". Regardless to others' stupefaction to the breaking of the mood, Mr. Vandal continued: "If we only befriend our betters for their being superior, we assume the position of inferiority and, according to your absolutism, our betters would never deign to befriend us. People are equal and that society would not survive very long if it is merely divided in to absolute group like 'betters' and 'inferiors'". ...Like this case, Mr. Vandal's questionings are omnipresent in every seminar.

Anecdote 2
"I keep thinking, Mr. Vice Minister," Mr. Vandal's voice appeared behind the vice Minister of China Statistic Bureau, who had given a speech about economy to our school students and was about to leave, "that your speech was filled with professional idiom and concept which were so distant from our ordinary life that our school dissuaded us from asking questions. Thus I advice, Sir, that you tell us something imminent: what academic preparation should we middle school students make if we were to study economy in college?" Again, the Vice Minister's entourage, our principal, knew that Mr. Vandal not only broke school's rule "Better not to ask questions in case of appearing amateurish", but also questioned prestigious minister's speech face to face without any fear.

Besides, Mr. Vandal wrote" good writing is an articulation of one's own creativity, not a stitching together of borrowed fragments" on his assignment when our teacher asked us to begin compiling a notebook of citable quotes and passages. He sharply claimed "the garbled, muddy sound quality of our school's P.A announcements was seen as a joke" while others were speaking ingratiatingly to the principal about their achievements at school meeting. He seemed "enjoy" questioning everything, from what he called "trite" theories in textbooks to conventional ways of behaving.

As you may assume, 'Mr. Vandal' is me. Others always characterized that I questioned everything because I wanted to be "funny" or to "show off". However, unlike what they said, I have my own reason of being who I am.

I deeply value our country's most inspirational historical era, the May 4th Era, which marked the beginning of the modern Chinese Renaissance. Student demonstrations against the government sparked a long-suppressed hunger among Chinese youth nationwide to "think, speak and act independently." I took this statement as my motto. Alas, the spirit that was the heart of this era has already departed. Today, a Chinese youth's entire academic life is based on preparation for exams; students are not trained to think independently but to adhere simply to the maxim: "The students' task is to study." I wanted to resurrect the spirit of May 4th.

But I was not, as many claimed, "the vandal". The youth of the May 4th Movement were not at all skeptics of the old world, but innovators of new, more humanitarian China. My skepticism towards convention and regulation stems, also, from a need to CREATE rather than to destroy. Therefore, I organized a volunteer group called the Smiling Society which was designed to take student out of the Ivory Tower to under-privileged children of migrant workers. During an interview with CCTV, I held that by inspiring a group of school students to actively help and identify with people truly in need, we were making progress on our respective roads to self discovery. I knew I broke the rule that "Students' task is to study", but I also knew I was CREATING a path to a social scope.

Among my classmates, I am truly an eccentric man; they call me "Mr. Vandal. But I am 'Mr. pursuer-of-my-own-way' rather than 'Mr. Vandal'. I question, therefore learn. I break rules, therefore I discover the spirit of youth. I come to be my true self, therefore I create my own path. This is who I am: Mr. Vandal, a.k.a, Mr. Creator-of-a-new-way.

Undergraduate / Chemistry teacher, my father, chess game, volunteering：why Brown+interest+ideas. [6]

Why Brown
I enjoyed talking with our chemistry teacher about hybrid orbital theory as a LIBERAL ART student for half a day.I followed Minister of Statistic Bureau and kept questioning views in his speech until he drove away.I valued pursuit of interest is more important than results and studied java programming and psychology which are not taught in school.But teachers always criticized my not paying attention to required and major courses.Others always ridiculed my free-thinking as "showing-off".I need a school in which I would not be viewed as heresy and would find a community of free-thinker and pursuer.However,there does exist a school which is said to be the last institution to "leave the 60s,"in which students stocked sleeping pills to be used for suicide in response to President Reagan's "Star War" proposal,in which student studying literature can take the most challenging atomic physics courses.That school is Brown University, the school in which I would thrive and contribute greatly.

Interest:
My father runs a managerial consulting firm and my cousin is enrolled in the Wharton School at UPenn. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by their conversations about management and finance. I started reading serious works such as Securities Analysis and Securities Transactions when I was a teenager. Later, I interned with The Great Wall Securities, a prominent Chinese investment company. Through countless analyses on topics such as purchasing futures and blue-chip stocks, I realized that management and finance were my career goals. However, I also found the great difference between the two subjects. It means that management is not a homogeneous area and a manager must be flexible enough to adapt well-learned principles to new situations. At that time, I discovered Brown's "Commerce, Organizations and Entrepreneurship" course. I believe it will allow me to combine my interest in management with specific new ventures in technology for a successful future career.

Intellectual idea:
"Just like these chess-men, things cannot work together effectively if they are not placed in a harmonious relationship," my father told me after a Weiqi game. "Following the ways of Nature" is the essence of Weiqi, a traditional Chinese chess game.

Our conversation suddenly piqued my interest in the relationship between freedom and restrictions. Given my long-term interest in management, I immediately thought about employees in a company. Would they prefer to be managed strictly and know exactly what should and should not be done, or would they prefer to have freedom and use their own judgment? Also, our school and its various divisions stipulate many regulations for us in the name of "ensuring organizational efficiency." But some of these seem to suppress our instincts, such as the freedom of thinking and questioning.

I decided to do an experiment with the volunteer organization I founded---The Smiling Society. I stipulated the following principles:

1. Members may disregard any limiting regulation and work in any manner they please;
2. If anyone disagrees, refer to stipulation 1.
The results were significant and eye-opening. People seemed happy and enthusiastic. I started getting new perspectives from them instantly. I recall meetings in which members completely disagreed with my plans and proposed their own ideas. They took the initiative to recruit students with artistic talents to design our own advertisement flyers, saving budget and creating a fresh profile for our club. Other clubs often ridiculed ours as "a place of disorder", but I know our members are free-thinking and high-spirited. The inspirations they gave me were endless. For example, as leader, I thought we needed to separate the Society's humanitarian concerns from environmental issues, but one member thought that by combining the two, we could attract more attention and increase funding for all our activities. He immediately started a campaign addressing both concerns by providing environmental education to underprivileged communities. The project was warmly welcome by the society. We got "Beijing Outstanding Student Club" and our Society was invited to participate in China Central TV's environmental forum.

Thus, I found my own answer regarding freedom and restrictions in management. But I also realized that one experiment with a small organization could not speak for all. Nevertheless, I still found this experience inspiring, through which my interest in management was deepened and I also formed a grand plan to apply the college education I am about to receive, i.e. to create an unrestrictive work environment in my company when I found my own business in the future. In fact, I believe that finding a lifelong aim to fight for is more important than being solely obsessed with theory.

Undergraduate / Leadership Program known as L.E.A.D - My why columbia essay. [4]

Youlan Fung, a Columbia PhD in class of 1923, is my favorite Chinese philosopher. He always said that after more than 60 years, he could always recall his days in Columbia University and the words of his mentor John Dewey. Following his descriptions of Columbia University in his books, I gradually became interested in Columbia University.

Later, in my further research, I came to be drawn by Columbia's Leadership Program known as L.E.A.D. As a leader of my high school volunteering club, I am disappointed that there was no formal training of leadership in my high school. So I am excited that L.E.A.D will offer me a complete leadership training track: from "Emerging Leaders Program" for new leaders to "ADVANCE!" program for experienced leaders. Also, L.E.A.D offers leadership in diversity training where a host of identity groups can come together to practice coalition building and prejudice reduction work, a chance for me to fit in the Columbia community known for its cultural diversity.

Furthermore, studying comparative literature and society in Columbia is also gratifying. Literary study needs frequent discussions and quiet meditations, so Columbia's ubiquitous small seminars for undergraduates give me perfect chances to study on my major. Also, built in multi-cultural Manhattan, Columbia embraces great cultural diversity, which will let me know more about different cultures in my comparative literature study.

That's why I love Duke, a place with unique culture, exciting venture, and perfect literary education.