Undergraduate / 'When I ran into the arms of my mother' - U Richmond - leaving the comfort zone [3]

Prompt:Tell us about an experience in which you left your comfort zone. How did this experience change you?

Comments/suggestions are welcome! Thanks~

The ten of us kept quiet in our dorm, till the superintendent had dawdled from this end of aisle to the other end, and left. It was 10 o'clock in the evening, and it was girls' secret talking time. "It was terrible getting into that shabby public bathhouse with another 100 unknown girls!" "Well, it was much more terrible getting out of it with 100 unknown boys standing at the gate waiting to get in!" Some of us giggled embarrassedly. I looked out from the windowsill next to my bed and saw that the sky was teemed with stars vaguely shining. I turned over and sighed, "Still tomorrow must be dazzling heat". The night grew quiet again.

That was during a military training summer camp, and everything was so hot and lazy, except the non-stop chit-chat. We managed to complain about all that was different from our ordinary school life, from scorching ultraviolet, the unbearable melting heat, to baggy military uniforms that became baggier after several washing. At last we agreed on the conclusion, that we were being homesick.

"Every single day at the camp has been elongated." I wrote in my diary, "June 13th, I checked it in the mirror. Lena was right. The whole back neck has been red and rough like scratched. I should have put more sun block cream there." "June 16th, The adjacent girl kept punching me on the hand while we were marching. I know it's inevitable, but uh, the pain at the wrist drives me crazy now." "June 18th, Instructors told us that all has to be learnt from the start, and that when you fail at first attempt, it's no harm attempting again 'til you perfect. I felt my back neck to see if it got better, and it did." "June 21st, another rainy day, but I have found ways to make the best of a vacant session. Daisy has lent me these wonderful books, and now I could really use some time to draft a paper for the speech making competition. Just the first attempt. Don't panic." "June 24th, I have to wash my clothes and Rebecca's. It was part of the bet. I mean how can you depend on anyone but yourself for real knowledge? Above all, rumors are rumors. But, people grow up by missteps and corrections." "June 25th, in font of the podium the presenter made a request for the final candidates to line up. Surprisingly I found myself to be the tallest of the seven! And we were ascending onto the stage" ...

June 30th was the last day of the month, the last day of the summer camp, but the first day of my new life. At the closing ceremony, the commander addressed the floor. "To survive in a new environment one must adapt; but to thrive, it takes courage, faith and sense." His fingers erected. "The courage to take the first step out of your too familiar life, the faith to build a better self, and the sense to distinguish between a mistake and a wrongdoing" I saw my tanned skin was glowing under the sun. I knew the inside was also radiant with energy and determination. The scar at the back neck had faded with the rebirth of skin, and what had hurt so much at the wrist was now holding the laureate cup. With the experience I got from military training, I became positive for whatever the future has in store for me, for I have built in myself courage, faith and sense that enable me to survive and thrive outside my comfort zone alike.

When I ran into the arms of my mother, I decided not to tell her that I cried hard in the first few days.

Undergraduate / 'a vigorous and all-embracing environment' - Why Wellesley [NEW]

Prompt: When choosing a college, you are choosing an intellectual community and a place where you believe that you can live, learn, and flourish. To this end, the Board of Admission is interested in knowing your reasons for applying to Wellesley College and how Wellesley will help you to realize your personal and academic goals.

Comments/suggestions are welcome~ Thanks~

Wellesley is known for her commitment to providing a vigorous and all-embracing environment where students will be able to find out about themselves and the answer to their inquiries of the world. To be exact, the emphasis on interdisciplinary and interdepartmental studies throughout the campus particularly attracts me. My interest in economics derives from an intense curiosity to understand the world. By adopting mathematical and other scientific methods, economics help me interpret human behaviors in daily life. Economic phenomenon is knotted in our life, and I take delight in relating economics to real life experience to explain the seemingly abnormal phenomenon. Moreover, I have developed a deep love for the nature all these years. I have kept mountain climbing since I joined a Mountaineering Club in grade 6, and I have also set my foot on many countries and places over the world. I dived into the blue sea and swam with the colorful sea fish in Thailand; I canoed along the Whanganui River of New Zealand; I visited the Village of Gurna in Egypt, where the villagers totally relied on one well for living; I danced with the Tibetans by the side of Namtso Lake. Although I was strongly impressed by the beautiful natural scenes, I could not help feeling sad that many places might be ruined gradually along with the development of economy. I wonder if we can find ways to balance the preservation of nature and economic practices.

At Wellesley, I will be enlivened and enlightened, and given the chance to pursue my quests to discover the answers. The Economics Department highlights the Goldman Lecture and the Calderwood Speaker series, where distinguished lecturers present invaluable observations and insights. From those preeminent speakers, I will be led to in-depth thinking about problems previously unnoticed, such as labor relations in Korea, measurement of the cost and benefits of environmental policy, and issues related to trade and immigration. Furthermore, the Wellesley Environmental Studies, an interdisciplinary program, feature special walks such as Trip to Noanet Woodlands and Dump Free-cycling Field Trip that serve to combine the real world experience with what has been learnt in classrooms. Through first-hand experiences derived from these amazing research projects, I will be able to understand and address environmental issues at hand with a more practical approach. Based on economic conceptual interpretation of case studies, such as the assumption of perfect rationality to make the optimal choices, I will be able to find advisable and feasible ways to promote sustainable use of resources and optimize decisions of consumers and producers, thus promoting a better life. On top of all that, Wellesley is my dream school, a place where I can develop my academic interests as well as my personality to the fullest.

Book Reports / 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' - Columbia-a book that's meaningful to you [5]

Prompt: Please tell us what you found meaningful about one of the above mentioned books, publications or cultural events.

Comments/suggestions are welcome! Thanks!

"Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth." In The Picture of Dorian Gray, the truth is masked with crowds of exquisite lies and enlightening nonsense. The title character Dorian Gray has a perfectly charming appearance that does not wear away with time. Add to eternal youth, his wild passion and peculiar tastes also enable him to indulge himself in every possible bodily pleasure. But his soul, as revealed on his portrait which is locked in a secret attic, has to bear all the sins and depravity. The separation of body and soul on the surface quite contrarily mirrors the bond between the two, as every time Dorian commits a crime, certain masks are made on the portrait, either a cruel curve on the lips, or a drop of blood on the hands.

Though Oscar warned "those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril", I can't help trying to decode the morality behind lines. As manifested to me, paradox itself is the motif. Dorian is given the freedom and courage to discover his own self and to create an art out of his life, yet it is these hands of cultivation that would eventually crush his throat. In addition to that, a large number of words are devoted to showing the paradoxical nature of human beings, as in "each of us has a heaven and a hell in him", and "each man kills the things he loves...the kindest using a knife". But if I were given the freedom to explore the wilderness of life I would definitely pack this book.

Writing Feedback / 'English classes' - Favorite academic class [3]

Prompt: Please tell us what academic class has been your favorite and why. (no more than 1500 characters)

English is endearing to me not merely as a foreign language course, but it is the magical shovel that scoops the invaluable treasure of English speaking world. In the class, I used to be led into the wonderland of poems, novels and lyrics. By discussing Charles Dickens, I could catch a glimpse of the chaos and pandemonium of the nineteenth century; The Beautiful and Damned calls up my memory of those vivid student life images; I could picture the dull yellow eye suddenly opening from the introduction of Frankenstein. These lights and shades, loves and hatreds, truth and falsehoods are conveyed with their most potent only in its original volumes. From the English literature classes, I know more about the past existences, my present life and the future visions.

Moreover, English classes also teach me a way to receive different cultures with an open mind. Last winter, while my partners and I planned to do a research on how New Yorkers see the Valentine's day, we turned out to have investigated a lot of people from places other than New York. But luckily they all speak English. While the Turkish man weighed kinship way over relationships, an Irish newly-wed gives love the credit of being an integral part of life, and a Spanish couple claimed that true love is not about a bunch of roses, a candle-lit dinner, not a sparkling ring, but it's all about heart, the only reason of all existence... Thanks to English classes I am able to communicate not only across time but also across space.