Posts by tastpom

tastpom

Oct 24, 2018

Undergraduate / "Picture perfect" kid - Common Application Prompt Number Two [3]

I think that this essay has great potential after some editing. I understand what points you are trying to get across, but it may be helpful to shorten your backstory a bit, to make it more sharp and interesting. Reflecting on your past is good, but don't dwell on it too much as universities likely want to know more about what you learned instead of what made you learn those things.

tastpom

Oct 11, 2018

Undergraduate / UBC Personal Profile Answer - 'kindness is a virtue??'? [4]

Thank you for your help. I went back to revise this short essay and I hope that it's better, although I'm not really sure that this is a good topic to discuss in the personal profile as it might seem a bit naive to think that kindness is one of the most important things??

Why is it so difficult to be nice to people? Why do some people have so much pride in making others feel terrible about themselves? These questions are ones that I think about a lot and I think that everyone deserves a little happiness in their life. A simple compliment is not only free, but it might be the highlight of someone's day.

I have had enough experience (...), and this is just wrong.

So, if I had to choose something that is so substantial to my life, it would be kindness. As stereotypical as it sounds, it's free and you'll also be benefiting yourself from one nice thing that you've done, and it's one step closer to a more congregated society.

tastpom

Sep 24, 2018

Undergraduate / UBC Personal Profile Answer - 'kindness is a virtue??'? [4]

what is important to you, and why?

Here's my answer to the question "what is important to you, and why?" from the ubc personal profile, which is supposed to be a maximum of 250 words. I wrote an answer that is slightly over the limit (256 words), but it would be helpful if someone could read this and suggest any possible changes, or if I should just scrap this whole idea in general if it's too stereotypical? I wrote this when I was really angry at something someone did to me recently, so it might not even make sense???

Anyways, here it is:

When we were kids, we would constantly be reminded to be nice to each other, and a lot of us listened. But why is it that now that we're older, it's normalized to be mean?

I've had enough experience in this area of life to know what should and should not be tolerated. Adolescence is a period filled with subjective and judgmental actions that can easily alter another person's life, depending on how hurt they feel. We can't stop people from being rude to others, and we should be ignoring them if they really are that insignificant to us, but all of this is difficult when it's not just one person being mean, but a whole group of people. Somehow, society has taught us that in order to prove our worth in the world, we have to make others feel inferior to us so that we can climb a nonexistent social ladder. The social media age that we are 'so lucky' to have only makes it easier to spread lies about innocent beings, and this is just wrong.

Why is it so difficult to be nice to people? Why do some people take so much pride and joy in making others feel terrible about themselves? These questions are ones that I think about a lot, so I think that the most important thing to me is being kind to each other. Everyone deserves a little happiness in their life, and a simple compliment is not only free, but it might be the highlight of their day.