jasonwonton
Mar 8, 2017
Undergraduate / Help on Common App - My Life Background and Business [2]
Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to
adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
I earned millions. I controlled everything in the markets and set the prices. I did what I wanted, whenever I wanted. The world revolved around me. I was a ruthless monopolist. This big fat jerk is me-in Madden Mobile, that is.
I thought my life sucked. Living in the heart of the Silicon Valley, many of my peers' parents are affluent and educated. In contrast, my parents, two immigrant custodians, work tirelessly day-to-day for us to make ends meet, so money always lingers in the back of our minds. My parents both worked the graveyard shift at San Jose State University. My father still worked even as his ability to use his leg declines due to polio. I wanted to repay my parents, but I knew that as a teenager, there wasn't much I could do. Nonetheless, this didn't stop me from trying. The day I helped my parents invest in the stock market is a day I will never forget. As I pressed the "trade" button, their faces beamed with pride and my heart filled with inspiration. At that moment, I realized that developing my passions and using it to help others was a gratifying experience.
I'm a curious teenager with access to a galaxy of information: the Internet. Once hooked onto a topic, my hunger for knowledge cannot be satiated. Sacrificing sleep and food, I will spend hours surfing the web for the sake of research. In the summer of 2014, I fell in love with investment strategy and found the stock market. Coming up with sufficient capital was an ambitious goal for a kid not yet old enough to work, but my desire to obtain first-hand experience in the stock exchange was boundless.
Like many of my football teammates, I was obsessed with a mobile football game called Madden Mobile. I read about the control Big Oil had over the world economy and pondered, "How do so few control so much?" Monopolies fascinated me, and when I realized this strategy was applicable to the Madden Mobile market, my excitement grew inside of me like a young child discovering ice cream for the first time. Cornering specific markets, I earned millions in virtual currency. This quenched the competitive fire between me and my teammates, but I soon realized that I could use my success for a nobler cause: helping my parents financially. Accordingly, I developed the e-commerce website, maddencoinshop.bigcartel, and earned $4000 liquidating all of my virtual currency.
As a fourteen-year-old with a sizable amount of money, it would be easy to spend it on video games or computers. But my desire to invest in the stock exchange was limitless, and I recognized that my family could be better off a couple years down the road if we simply invested in the stock market. I gave my parents my money and convinced them to invest in some of the "safer" stocks, such as Amazon and Nike, ultimately satisfying my desire of investing in the stock exchange. This experience of acting on my passions made me realize that with enough forethought, a good work ethic, and a little bit of luck, I could turn my ideas into reality.
My passions will last me a lifetime. I've found a way to not only have fun doing what I wanted to do but to also help those I love. I hope this rings true later on in life when I continue to chase my ambitions and help others. I want to help those who are in the same financial position as I am, to look at the world from different perspectives and explore; knowledge is unlimited. I want to repay my parents for all they have sacrificed. However, desires are not self-fulfilling. I realize that as an adult, I hold my life in my hands. So no, my life doesn't suck. I still have the opportunity to keep climbing.
Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, that marked your transition from childhood to
adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
The ruthless monopolist
I earned millions. I controlled everything in the markets and set the prices. I did what I wanted, whenever I wanted. The world revolved around me. I was a ruthless monopolist. This big fat jerk is me-in Madden Mobile, that is.
I thought my life sucked. Living in the heart of the Silicon Valley, many of my peers' parents are affluent and educated. In contrast, my parents, two immigrant custodians, work tirelessly day-to-day for us to make ends meet, so money always lingers in the back of our minds. My parents both worked the graveyard shift at San Jose State University. My father still worked even as his ability to use his leg declines due to polio. I wanted to repay my parents, but I knew that as a teenager, there wasn't much I could do. Nonetheless, this didn't stop me from trying. The day I helped my parents invest in the stock market is a day I will never forget. As I pressed the "trade" button, their faces beamed with pride and my heart filled with inspiration. At that moment, I realized that developing my passions and using it to help others was a gratifying experience.
I'm a curious teenager with access to a galaxy of information: the Internet. Once hooked onto a topic, my hunger for knowledge cannot be satiated. Sacrificing sleep and food, I will spend hours surfing the web for the sake of research. In the summer of 2014, I fell in love with investment strategy and found the stock market. Coming up with sufficient capital was an ambitious goal for a kid not yet old enough to work, but my desire to obtain first-hand experience in the stock exchange was boundless.
Like many of my football teammates, I was obsessed with a mobile football game called Madden Mobile. I read about the control Big Oil had over the world economy and pondered, "How do so few control so much?" Monopolies fascinated me, and when I realized this strategy was applicable to the Madden Mobile market, my excitement grew inside of me like a young child discovering ice cream for the first time. Cornering specific markets, I earned millions in virtual currency. This quenched the competitive fire between me and my teammates, but I soon realized that I could use my success for a nobler cause: helping my parents financially. Accordingly, I developed the e-commerce website, maddencoinshop.bigcartel, and earned $4000 liquidating all of my virtual currency.
As a fourteen-year-old with a sizable amount of money, it would be easy to spend it on video games or computers. But my desire to invest in the stock exchange was limitless, and I recognized that my family could be better off a couple years down the road if we simply invested in the stock market. I gave my parents my money and convinced them to invest in some of the "safer" stocks, such as Amazon and Nike, ultimately satisfying my desire of investing in the stock exchange. This experience of acting on my passions made me realize that with enough forethought, a good work ethic, and a little bit of luck, I could turn my ideas into reality.
My passions will last me a lifetime. I've found a way to not only have fun doing what I wanted to do but to also help those I love. I hope this rings true later on in life when I continue to chase my ambitions and help others. I want to help those who are in the same financial position as I am, to look at the world from different perspectives and explore; knowledge is unlimited. I want to repay my parents for all they have sacrificed. However, desires are not self-fulfilling. I realize that as an adult, I hold my life in my hands. So no, my life doesn't suck. I still have the opportunity to keep climbing.