Undergraduate / 'Sharing information with Carliza' - personal statement.. to be ivy league worthy [2]

As a seven year old, I always quizzed my three-year-old sister, Carliza. "What is tree plus tuhree?" I asked her. She gave me an intelligent, profound stare. I imagined her as a machine with dials, axles, and wheels turning in her brain. I grinned hard, showing off the place where my two front teeth previous resided. She put up three fingers and counted them. After she repeat the process, she said with certainty, "Six."

Everyday, I would rush home from school prepared to share my newfound information with Carliza. Teaching her was an escape from problems at home or school. At times, I would take on the role of a tyrant, forcing her to count to one hundred or write in her journal. After awhile, I learned to modify my lessons, so learning could be fun for her. I studied her reactions and thought-processes, wrote lesson plans, and sometimes took her on field trips to the backyard. Though I cannot take all the credit, I motivated her and gave her a desire for learning. Ever since then, I have loved to teach, learn, read, write, silently observe, and debate, particularly about the brain.

The brain governs our body. It controls our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, yet I know little about the brain. I want to understand why some people are different from others. I want to know how our brain makes us believe that a robe hung in the dark on our bedroom door is a ghost, after we have watched a scary movie. I want to comprehend the difference between the adult and teen brain. If I can cognize fight or flight, attraction, addiction, impulses, bliss, stress, and mental diseases, then I can make sense of the world around me. Better yet, I can treat people with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or autism. I can even educate our society on how to foster our brains.

If it's true that on average, the human brain has 70,000 thoughts per day, then I want to use mine wisely. Definitely, my plan after high school is to major in neuroscience, so I can study, travel, and educate them public.

Scholarship / (music, books, favorite course, inspiration, weekday) short answer for scholarship [2]

I'm applying for a scholarship, and I don't know if my short answer questions are good enough..or grammatically correct..help! This scholarship is very important to me. I'm depending on it. The thing is my answers are limited to 225 characters. I don't want to seem like I'm sucking up, but all of my answers are real. It's for the questbridge scholarship. I really don't know what qualities their looking for in me!

What are your favorite types of music
--My preferred genre of music changes with my mood. If I'm angry or sad, I'll listen to an artist vent. Kimbra, Jhene Aiko, and Mali Music are a few of my current favorites. I'm still a fan of mainstream artists, like Bieber.

What are your favorite books or movies?
--I watched Sparkle recently. It moved me, but I favor books over movies. My favorite books are short and inspiring like, Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Breathing Underwater by Alex Flinn.

What is your favorite high school course and why?
--My favorite high school course is geometry. In geometry, I had so many eureka moments. I never understood math before geometry. I used to only memorize the formulas. Thanks to my teacher, I realized my true potential.

What is your favorite source of inspiration?
--My favorite source of inspiration is the Bible. I wish I took time to read the Bible more. Simply hearing preachers or teachers quote the Bible, reminds me that I am valuable and I can do anything with God.

How do you spend a typical weekday evening?
--My weekday evenings are spent completing homework. In between, I tutor neighbors, go to my extracurricular activities, and surf the web. On rare occasions, when my evenings are not busy, I'll rest or laugh with my family.

How do you spend a typical weekend?
--On Saturdays, I attend church. I'm either visiting a church with my choir, drama club, or signing group. If I'm not with them, I'm at my home church. On Sundays, I go to Master Guide Training. Then, I do my homework.

Who are your heroes? What qualities in them do you admire?
--My heroes are Jesus and my mom. In comparison to the rest of the world, they've sacrificed the most for me. I admire and try to emulate their selflessness, strength, and courage.

What things make you happiest?
--I'm happiest when I'm reading a book, when people notice my inner beauty, when I work out, and when I'm with my best friends. I'm also happiest when I see other people happy like, elderly people in love.

What is the compliment that you have been paid that you are most proud of? Who gave you the compliment?
--My friend told me that I'm athletic. I was proud of this because people think I'm not athletic. I'm picked close to last in P.E. The real problem is that I'm not coordinated, but I love to run for miles and lift weights.

How do you rejuvenate yourself?
-- When life gets too busy or I'm too stressed, I rejuvenate myself through writing, sleeping, laughing, jogging, eating, praying ,or drinking water. To experience peace, I do these things alone.

What do you consider to be your most significant achievement?
--When I was accepted to Boston Latin School in seventh grade, it was the best experience of my life. The acceptance letter was a letter of reassurance. My family's pride in me made me feel more blessed.

If you could change one thing about your high school, what would it be and why?
--I would increase the enrollment and the amount of teachers in our school. Our low enrollment is a discomfiture for the student body. Low enrollment translates into less teachers, less classes, and less money.

What historical event do you wish you could have participated in and why?
--I would've like to live in India when the Mughals reigned. I respect the progress that the Mughals made. They built the Taj Mahal. I would have liked to help create one of the seven wonders of the world.

What about college most excites you?
--I'm excited for college because it means I'm one step closer to helping my family. I don't care about independence as much. I just want my mom to feel successful vicariously through me. I get my dream, and she gets a house.