Undergraduate / An incident that happened two months back. LESSONS FROM FAILURE (COMM APP) [7]

The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

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Any type of review is accepted, try to tear it down and please help me in making it under 650 words.

I was walking out of a company with a smile on my face, happiness in my heart and a voice inside my head saying "this is what you are and you finally did it". Before I explain you why I was so happy and satisfied let me start with an incident happened 2 months back.

From 1 year I was working on my independent project to build a network system which cannot be hacked, I went to different companies to know the major issues they are facing with information security, and one day I came up with an idea to build a centralized network which acts like a brain which has no way to hack into. So I went to a company to meet the systems architect to confirm if the idea could work, he was surprised with the idea and said it will work if I can design the absolute network I explained. He gave me some of his research records and said if they could help, I returned home and started reading his work and after reading some pages I thought it was useless to me so I kept it aside.

After a few days I started searching for top universities in the world with best undergraduate research opportunities and I found out most of them were situated in America. I decided to apply to some of the universities, so I read the requirements and found that SAT score is a major part of the application. My father encouraged me to take SAT even though we found it hard to pay. I decided to take SAT in October so that I could apply early, I started working hard for SAT as there is only one month left. It's October 13 and I was confident that I could perform well, I reached the exam center and at checkpoint I was asked to show my ID, I showed them my government issued ID, but he said they would only accept passport as valuable ID in India, which I didn't have. I was not allowed even after requesting for long time and I didn't know what to do, I was in shock because I was never expected a hit like that, and it was replaying over and over in my head that I cannot afford for another registration and all my dreams of attending those universities were fading away.

I was inconsolably angry with myself. I spent the entire car ride home tuning out my mother's words of consolation and my father blaming me for my over-confidence and recklessness. For the next few days I was thinking about any last chances for making it right and I was angry on my father for blaming me because I thought it was an honest mistake. One day my father came to me saying about the option of changing test date even after the exam at an affordable cost, and I shed tears with happiness and thanked my dad for helping. Later my father said it would take more than 2 months to get passport, so the only option left for me to take SAT in January which I thought would be late for submission. I send emails to universities requesting to accept January scores and they replied positively, everything was back to normal and I am ready to apply to the universities.

But one day I was recalling all those nightmares and I started asking myself why I have gone through all these, so I opened the College Board website to read all the terms and conditions and I found out the line mentioning about specific countries was exactly below the line mentioning "any government issued ID will be accepted", and I was thinking why I didn't read that line, then I remembered the negatives my father used to point out in me, which I didn't care until I went through a break song. Yes, I had a habit of not reading completely and imagining what they would write next will be useless, I thought myself as genius while doing those but now see that behavior as nothing but immaturity. My father was right I was a lot over-confident in things I used to do, but I think that failure is not actually a failure, it gave me a second chance to change my attitude. I started seeing myself nothing but a common student like others, so I started reading the research work gave to me by the engineer and after working on it for a month I found a brilliant formula to build my project. I visited his company to thank him personally for giving his personal work for my project and he said he was very happy to see a passionate student like me, and this is what made me happy and satisfied today and maybe I needed to stopped entering the exam hall to see the other side.

THANK YOU

Undergraduate / YALE SHORT ANSWERS - THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE I LEARNED. [3]

Please suggest me your opinions.
If possible try to tear it down.

Why do these areas appeal to you?

I feel satisfied every day when I get off hands from a computer and believe that I am going to make a difference. I feel Computer Science and Mechanical as the ground breaking combination for changing the world in the way I believe. I see computer science as a formula for some of the unsolved problems in the technological world. And I was always interested in learning how people think, act, react and interact in different situations.

When I see a piano, I see bunch of keys and a box of wood but when Beethoven saw it he made sense that he can just play. What I wanted to say is when it comes to stuff like computers I can just play.

Why Yale?

When I was searching for universities with the best undergraduate research opportunities which would help me on the project I have been working, I found a few prestigious universities in the world. And When I came to know about Yale's residential system which is a very unique advantage, I felt like removing a thought of missing a family and was very excited to be a part of another. Yale's financial aid, research opportunities and faculty relationship with the students gave me a confidence that I can get successful result in my work and career with the support of a new family.

Genuine Excitement:

When I was 9, my neighbors bought a weird television with a board of alphabets connected to it for his son Abhi. Abhi called me to show me his new television which he named it as computer. After a few days we were able to operate it with the help of his father.

My enthusiasm for computers grew and his father was very happy to see me passionate about computers, So he taught me everything he got. It was summer and Abhi's family went on a trip. So I asked my parents to buy me a computer, but they convinced me by explaining our financial circumstances.

So I decided to save some money for a computer. When Abhi's family returned, I spent most of my free time with his father learning about computers and programming. When I was 12 finally one day I was able to buy a computer with my saved money. I was so excited to see my new computer because it took me 742 days to make my dream a reality. That moment taught me the importance of having hope, and also made me realize that I will succeed not immediately but definitely at some point of life.

THANK YOU

Undergraduate / AN HOMELESS PERSON INFLUENCED ME. PRINCETON ESSAY [5]

Tell us about a person who influenced you in a significant way?
Any type of comments are accepted and help me making the essay short, and even suggest me on what you feel.

Influential Homeless Person

Please check for grammatical mistakes and even for any corrections.

When I was 9, my neighbors bought a weird television with a board of alphabets connected to it for his son Abhi. Abhi called me to show me his new television which he named it as computer. Later his father explained me that it was a new piece of technology which was not named but called as computer. After a few days we were able to operate it with the help of his father.

My enthusiasm for computers grew when I came to know more about computers and technology, and his father was very happy to see me passionate about computers and he will started teaching me everything he know about computers.

It was summer and Abhi's family went on a trip. I couldn't bare the idea of not having access to a computer for 2 months, so I asked my parents to buy me a computer but they convinced me by explaining our financial circumstances. So I borrowed some of the books on computers and technology from my cousin so that I could read them in summer.

Almost all my friends were on a trip and I have no one else to play, and one day when I was playing football alone in a ground there was an aged homeless person on our streets who came to me and asked me if I needed some company. He started playing with me daily and slowly he became my friend.

He used to narrate me stories every day after the game and slowly I started liking him. One day after the game he started narrating his life story and suddenly he pointed his finger at a house on our street and said that it was his dream to live in that house. I asked him how you can buy a house of 15000$ if you don't have sufficient money to eat, he just smiled and didn't answer my question that day.

Summer was completed and every one were back, but I still spent some time listening to his stories every day. Suddenly one day while coming from school I saw some people near his place and I found out that he passed away. When the department people were taking his body they found 13000$ in his bag, everyone stood there were shocked to see that much money in his bag. Later I calmly returned to my room and I tried to stop my tears but I couldn't, I felt like I lost my grandfather.

That day he taught me most important things of life: hope and determination. Having hope on what you dream to become is the very first level to success and having the same determination till you achieve is what I believe. I don't know how many years it took him but it took me 742 days to make my first dream of buying a computer a reality, which moment made my 12 year-self realize the importance of having hope. From that day I started living my life with passion with some drive.

I always used to remember him whenever I feel like giving up on anything. When I was thinking of building a network that cannot be hacked at all so that no one else could face loses unnecessarily, I came up with an idea and started an independent research, and I went to some of the companies to find major problems they face with information security. When I explained my thought not showing my design to the system architect he was surprised to listen and said it can be built but don't know how much time and work it takes. I was very happy to know that it has probability.

Since 2 years I have been working on that project and I have hope that one day I can build a network which cannot be hacked. When it did work people will finally see me like I see myself and I can't ask for more than that. That day he left me changing me as the person I am today.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP

Undergraduate / Discipline your emotions, or they will use you - Common app Prompt 2 [6]

Common app Prompt 2 - edit my essay in your way and help me in improving it.

Discipline your emotions, or they will use you

I was suffering from fever and was seething on my bottom. My mother was asking me to take the tablets, but I wasn't because they taste bad. She was rushing to her work and before departing, she came near me and this time ordered me to take pills, still I wasn't. She was out of her patience so she took a belt and started beating me until I took them. She departed, and I started weeping because of that treatment towards me in my illness.

I know she doesn't like me, and no one else in my house did. Then I settled to leave- packed my purse and exited the home. After walking for some time I was hungry and tired, so I took some money and ate chapatti. I started walking and was thinking about her treatment. I determined not to come back again or catch their looks yet. After some time I was completely tired and wanted to get repose, but I thought back, I didn't save a bed as in the home. Even then, I decided to sleep on footpath rather than moving back home and then I set down on the pathway.

After waking up I saw 30 cents in front of me and I was ashamed of myself. I began walking, and it was near evening. I began seeing that I was sick and to feel good I need to take the tablets. My eyes were almost blurred and were ready to faint. I sat down beside the road and was losing consciousness.

Abruptly, I woke up in a hospital room which was occupied with my family. I was shocked to see them again and thanked god for doing that for me. I got home, embraced my mom and apologized, and she didn't say a word. I came in my room and recalled everything I did the previous day, it made me feel ashamed at first, but later feared me of what I have made out. The foolish decision I chose that day would have killed me; would have killed my dreams; would have taken away everything I have today if I haven't found beside the road at the right time.

Wisdom is what we get from experience, the experience is what we get from failure. I failed, I failed in making a decision. I have chosen that decision because I was emotional, I was angry at my mother because of her treatment, but I wasn't able to think what her real intention was behind that treatment because I was in emotional imbalance. At that moment I wasn't able to think positively or make a right decision because I was simply remembering about the physical pain I was living through, but not about the issues that I possess to face in future.

If I have not taken the pills and my mother has left me without any concern, I would have been admitted to the hospital the next day, and somehow I have to take other pills maybe even more. I had two alternatives if I selected a wrong decision all my ambitions, goals and life would have been messed up and I wouldn't excuse myself the whole lifetime. But if I have taken a right decision I would lead life the same way I dreamed of, by having some ups and downs. Option one is for those people who take emotional decisions and later realize they were amiss, and I am no more in that squad.

The emotional decision I chose that day later made me recognize that I was incorrect. I today found the prospect of reviving it, but if I hadn't faced it, I may not have that opportunity in the future. Yet, I am emotional but I learned to discipline my emotions, and I am not giving way to let this destroy me.