Undergraduate / I played with my Legos; Columbia Supp- Why Engineering? [2]

For applicants to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, please tell us from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) what attracts you specifically to the study of engineering.

Everyone had aspirations when they were young. Whether it was to be a fire fighter or an astronaut, everyone had dreams. I wanted to be an engineer. While every other kid played with a toy car or baseball, I played with my Legos. I saw the chance to be creative and a myriad of possibilities. From then on, my interest in engineering only grew.

My father used to take me to his job and it felt like going to Disney World. I remember my father used to carry me on his shoulders and explain to me how everything worked. He taught me everything I knew and I developed a love for math and science from what he used to show me.

This year, I took Physics Honors, where I saw math and science meet for the first time. This past week, we found out how the imaginary number "i", which I thought was just a number that existed in only theory, was very common in the real world by using Taylor Series Expansions and transcendental functions. Physics is all about making sense of the world around us. My teacher showed me how to use familiar tools in an unfamiliar context.

To me, engineering is building something that's greater than the sum of its parts. From taking a couple of interlocking pieces of plastic and making a way to express creativity to using math to understand the world around me, I've always tried to use what I have to make something more. Engineering will make something more of me.

Undergraduate / Why Columbia? 'I felt at home. I felt part of the community' [3]

Please tell us what you find most appealing about Columbia and why. (1500 Character limit)

As soon as I stepped through the gates at Morningside Heights, I felt at home. I felt part of the community at Columbia, but Columbia's community is not just Morningside Heights or New York City, it's the world. Columbia's environment is a place that champions diversity and innovation. Columbia provides its students with the opportunity to work with distinction. From the environment and opportunities Columbia provides have come some of the most significant leaps forward in history, such as the laser and the FM radio. Albert Einstein, who was a part of the Manhattan Project at Columbia, said, "In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity," and Columbia seizes those opportunities. While some attribute adversity to dissimilarity among people, Columbia uses that difference and diversity to its advantage. While I walked around the campus, I knew that any student there could be anyone from a concert pianist to an Olympic athlete, but everyone was a Columbian. In all the diversity and distinction is unity; Columbia is a family, a home.