Undergraduate / For thirteen years, I knew my parents only through their voice over the phone - UF "A good Life" [2]

prompt: We often hear the phrase 'the good life'. In fact, the University of Florida's common course required of all undergraduate students is titled "What is the Good Life?". The concept of 'the good life' can be interpreted in many different ways depending upon the experiences, values and aspirations of each individual.

In a concise narrative, describe your notion of 'the good life'. How will your undergraduate experience at the University of Florida prepare you to live 'the good life'?

Essay: (Begin) For thirteen years, I knew my parents only through their voice over the phone. For thirteen years, I had no memory of my parents except the two strange but familiar faces on the marriage photographs that hang in my room. For thirteen years, I felt like an incomplete girl who always afraid of people asking where are my parents. For thirteen years, my definition of a good life was simply having parents who can live with me. However, this vision of good life changed as I moved to America to join my parents. I remember the day I came out Kennedy airport, I was confused, shocked, and feared to see two strangers ran to me. I did not recognize them were my parents at first. Sadly, after knowing they are my parents who talk to me on the phone every day, I suddenly felt ashamed, embarrassed because of the way they look. That was my first impression of my parents after all those thirteen years of absence - their out fashion clothes, shoes, their funny hairstyle, the woman's sallow face, her sunken eyes and the heavy dark circle around her eyes, and the huge, terrifying scar on the man's left arm. I could not believe the two young, loving faces on the photograph have aged this much. I remember I could not understood why they want to leave their family to seek a life like that.It was not until I started to help at my parent's restaurant, working side by side with my parents and seeing how they commit to a job they don't like, I finally became understood their definition of good life: a dream of providing better education and better environment for their children. It was then I had a clear vision of my good life: a life fulfill not only excitement in the job, but also my dreams of financial security and good relationship with others. It is a life that I can have a job that I like so I can enjoy what I am doing every day; it is a life that I can have time to hang out with my friends, take my family out to have a nice dinner, and sometimes just relax on the couch to watch TV with my family.

University of Florida is not only a stepping-stone to set myself up for professional success, but also a place that fulfilled with new experiences, novel ideas, and diverse people. With its diverse population and 700 student organizations, University of Florida is a means to broaden my outlook and further redefine my interest. I see my life in University of Florida as countless opportunities where I want to make best out of it. (End)

Undergraduate / When I was three years old, my parents left me and my sister to our grandparents and came to the USA [3]

Any feedback/criticism will be good. I wasn't sure can I include my extended essay, is it too "show off"? And for the second essay, do I need to give example for the lesson I had learned from the restaurant? The word limit is 1000 total, right now I have 835... Thank you in advance!

Prompt: Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations

(Start) When I was three years old, my parents left me and my sister to our grandparents and came to the United States to seek a fortune. For the next ten years, I would never see them again. The only ways I knew them were by looking at their marriage photo that hang in the middle of my room and answering their phone every day. In those ten years, "family" is a word that I refused to talk about with other people. When I was thirteen years old, I finally got a chance to meet with my biological parents. I could not describe my feeling when I stepped out Kennedy airport and saw two strangers ran to me. At first, I did not recognize their faces but only the clothes the man was wearing - it was same cloth that I saw my father was wearing in the photo. In the woman's sallow face where her sunken eyes filled with tears, I could see a lifetime, both full and overwhelming. It made me feel shocked, pity, and sorrow all at once. How could such two young, loving, strong faces have aged and weakened this much! It was then I realized the importance of education; with only elementary education and some high school education, my parents had to leave their family and struggled to make a living and provide a better life for my sister and me. It was then I had a clear vision of my future: a life fulfills not only excitement in the job, but also my dreams of financial security and good relationship with others.

Since then, I started to digging deep down of my soul and tried to find out what my true passion is. However, with a smattering of English, I found myself in the middle of frustration and hopelessness. I devoted myself to every assignment and tried to translate every single word into Chinese to understand the material. During those time, I became in love with mathematics. It is a universal language and my ability to solve problems helped me gain confidence and strength as I learned English as a second language. Also, when I recalled back to my middle school in China, I found myself had become fascinated by math since then. I remember at the first lesson of geometry, I did a simple activity in which I drew many dots as closely as possible and they became a line and then several lines became a plane. I was amazed to discover that everything in the world started as a dot. I always feel that adventure of math fills me with joy and enthusiasm. I feel thirst about math, so I have completed every problem in the Math Higher Level textbook even though my teacher had not ask to. My extended essay of "The importance of Prime Numbers in RSA Cryptography" enhanced my interest in mathematics as I found out the amazing practical use of math in our daily life. I can always picture myself, in the future, struggling on but also intriguing by a single math problem and in the end come to a sudden realization with appreciation of beauty and elegance of solution. (End)

Undergraduate / I was different because I had a sister - Identity essay. [11]

I am not a native English speaker, so please check my grammar and context.
Also, I am not sure if this essay is off-topic...
Any feedback and criticisms are appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Prompt: Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Essay:
Title: I was different because I had a sister

I love my sister. I hope that I always have had, but there was times I wished that she was never born.

We were one year and nine months apart. She was not documented as a member of my family because she was a hidden child. She was illegal. Before she was six, we lived separately - I lived with our parents in the city while she lived with our grandma (from my mother's side) in the rural countryside. However, I still loved her and carried my big sister responsibility. I was told that when I visited her I liked to feed her and share everything with her. I would pull a whole bowl of chicken soup because I was afraid that she was not full.

However, this love distorted when my parents left us and came to the United States when I was three. In school, I began to realize that everyone else was the only child in the family. They had many cousins but not a single sibling. Every day watching the parents waiting eagerly outside the school gate to pick up their child, I felt that I was different. I have a sister, but I don't have parents.

Eventually this love became frustration and then hatred. It was two weeks after my sister moved in to live with me. We just got home from school for a lunch break. While waiting for Grandma coming back from food market, I saw her running quickly toward me. At first, I found it very funny because I never saw Grandma ran and she was such a strong women that would not allow herself for being weak.

But my laugh suddenly froze when I heard she yelled with a face of horror.

"Tell Nan to hide somewhere. Go! Hurry! Go!"

I was stunned and shocked. At that moment, I had feeling that something was totally wrong with my family and my sister was the reason. So I hurried up to find my sister and grabbed her hand to the wooden desk in grandma's room and pushed her under it (I used to play hide-and-seek under that desk).

I said in cold voice, "Stay there, and don't move."

She was trembling and looked at me with eyes filled fear and panic. But she did not ask why.

So, she knew this. She had this experience. I thought uneasily.

Little did I know that at that instance I had come to a conclusion: my parents' leaving was all because of her. She was the one that made me different from others. She was the trouble. This thought would follow me for next few years and eventually burst out when I questioned my parents over the phone.

"Why you have so many children while others only have one?"

It was then I felt such relief and happiness as I finally realize that my anger of my sister was all the fear of being different from others. Now, I saw my difference. I faced this difference. I had courage to accept my difference. I am proud to tell others that I am special because I have a sister. She was not a hidden girl anymore. I feel confident to tell others that I don't live with my parents because they are preparing a better future for their two children. I love to introduce my Chinese identity to others, I love to murmur a math problem as I taking a customer's order and ignoring eyes of wonder, I love to negotiate the price with AT&T representatives, with car salesman, and even with restate agents for my parents.

I love my sister. I love her the way I love myself as being different and appreciating this uniqueness.

Undergraduate / "The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence" [3]

Any criticisms and feedback are highly appreciated!

Prompt: Describe two or three of your current intellectual interests and why they are exciting to you. Why will Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences be the right environment in which to pursue your interests? (Please limit your response to 650 words.

Essay: One of my favorite quotes about math is "The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence." I am fascinated by math and its elegance. I always have been.

Ever since I was a child, I always have had a strong curiosity for math. After I heard the anecdote about Gauss, I would constantly add number from one to one hundred and still shocked by the sum of 5050. I would consistently draw a polygon and connect the each vertex to see how many lines are possible after my lesson on geometry.

This curiosity developed to passion after my first lesson on geometry. I did a very simple activity: I drew many dots as close as possible to form a line, then I drew many lines as close as possible to form a plane. I was amazed by the idea that everything in the world just starts with a simple, tiny dot. The formation of complexity from a simplicity and insignificance is a profound amazement that I cannot help but drawn deeper into. I started to learn about prime numbers as they are the building blocks of every other numbers, just like the dot in the lines and then in the planes. My extended essay research on the importance of prime numbers in cryptography further amazed me the roles of primes in today's world. The research also helped me to discover my other interest - computer science - as now my enthusiasms in math are not limited by only pure and theoretical ideas. I want to apply math in every day life. I want to turn the elegance and beauty of pure math into something practical to real world.

It was then I decided that Cornell is my perfect fit college. With its motto "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study" I believe my opportunities and knowledge are not bounded by the disciplines, but by the limits of the curiosity and the willingness to apply them to the real world. I want to take classes such as Math 1350 that lets me explore the art of cryptology from classical era to modern times, Math 3360 that enables me to learn more about concepts of number theory and its application, and CS 5830 that further enhance my knowledge on cryptography and the proofs of security. I want to join REU program to taste what a major mathematical research looks like. I want to work with professors such as Nicolas Templier on number theory and the randomness of prime numbers, Ari Juels on security and privacy of the data, and Camil Muscalu on theory of zeta function that ultimately connects to the distribution and prediction of prime numbers.

Just as Cornell prepares me to become independent, initiative, open-minded and brave in the face of new experiences, I can add a new perspective to the large population of Cornell. Growing up in China for thirteen years, I can share my experiences and teach Chinese to those who plan to study abroad in China. I want immerse others into Chinese culture by learning each other's stories and by getting past the stereotypes and misconceptions that too often divide us. Most importantly, I want to share my passion in math to others and help them build confidence in math and promote their interest.

Once I come to Cornell I will be challenged, supported, guided and prepared for a lifetime of meaning. I want to invest this place with the full measure of my curiosity, intelligence, creativity and human warmth and the returns will be priceless.

Letters / Remember the time you finally could not stand on other's mispronunciation of your name? Self letter [2]

Please check if there are any grammar mistakes or anything that you don't understand. Thank in advance

Prompt: Write a letter to yourself in five years.

Dear Jingle,
(Remember the time you finally could not stand on other's mispronunciation of your name? So you decided to introduce yourself in every new class as it went, "Please say my name as you would say like "Jingle", and that made you smile and others laughed.)

At the time you read this letter, I had become a shadow. Oh, no, indeed, I had forever become a part of your memory that you had lost or treasured. Can you still see a girl with a tight ponytail, standing behind the counter in her parents' restaurant and greeting shyly first time at customers? Can you still see the dim light reflects out her bedroom in the midnight as she struggles to finish her homework? Can you still see her odd quirks as she tries to gender every number - odd is male, even is female, and 2 is goddess - and admires passionately of prime numbers. Well, that girl is me, and you, too, in five years ago. That was one of your life's most wonderful moments, fulfilled with perspiration, creativity, motivation, and positive outlook on life.

Remember your first day of school when you came to the United States? Following briskly after a blonde girl who was asked by teacher to bring you to your next class, you desperately tried to search some greeting words in your smattering English word banks to break the silence. You felt frustrated, but not uncomfortable, because of your inability to express your curiosity and share your excitement in new environment. You would make fun of your friends' name "Catherine" as it sounds like "bathroom", even though it was only you who think it sounds like "bathroom"; you would laugh at yourself and others' wild eyes as you pronounced "restaurant" as "restroom" when other's your parents' job. I want you to remember those moments - with red face and red fear at time of embarrassment, your grin let you face every mistakes you make, so thereafter you can correct them. So, do me a favor, don't let your fear of failure stop you, you can laugh at them and move on.

Remember the day you finally confessed to your parents you wanted to be a mathematician instead of a lawyer as they wanted you to be? Standing in front of them and gazing at their shoes, you said dreamily and determinedly, "I always want to be study math, yesterday, today and tomorrow." I know it was another sigh of disappointment from your parents that you cannot endure from your parents who had worked all their lives and dreamed about their child's bright future, but I want to applaud you because you confessed your personal desire. I know you have come this far. Right now you might be a mathematician who immerse in difficult problems and mathematical concepts that make your imagination a playground of ideas. I hope that you still feel math is an endless adventure while it invigoratingly stimulates your mind and you soul. I know you know that it may take many years of thinking and learning to reach the sudden realization of one possible solution, as I often refer to "the penny drops", so you will keep working to fulfill your thirst for math.

Remember the dark, Z-shaped plastic desk you do the homework on every day at your parents' restaurant? You had your heads down and backs bend, hiding behind the counter while squirming awkwardly on the little plastic children chair with your so-called "oversize" body described by your little brother, you grasped every second you have between customers to finish one math problem or one history reading assignment. You were racing with time. Although you struggled, frustrated, complaint at first, you did not give up and managed to handle it in the end. I want to you to remember those moments - with your body swirling around customers, homework and fryers, you know what you want and how to get there. So, do me one favor, don't let your goal slip through and disappear in the wave of time, obscure and pressure. Hold it tightly as it grows into something more concrete and meaningful.

(I was thinking to wrote something here...)

"2019, Jingle, I will see you there"

Your one and only,
Jing

Undergraduate / Georgia Tech's motto is: "Progress and Service." What does that mean to you? [4]

Prompt: Georgia Tech's motto is: "Progress and Service." What does that mean to you? (Max 150)

While helping at my parents' restaurant and volunteering at local organization that fights against hunger, I experience the true value of service. It is serving to others that give me a better understanding of our people, our society, and our world as I embrace people with open heart and human warmth.

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