Undergraduate / An inscription to help a person I may be sharing an abode with know me better [3]

Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate--and us--know you better. =D (1800 character MAX, this is 1799)

As the rain splatters against my window-the translucent green drapes oblivious to this, of course-I try to imagine a similar situation at Stanford. While I doubt California will be plagued by tropical depressions as Florida is right now, the concept of precipitation is the same. Perhaps you and I would welcome the silent moment as a chance to tackle our work, while occasionally stopping to debate philosophy. Perhaps we will be roasting "smores" over a candle after a bout of nostalgia drives us to undertake this whimsical experiment. Perhaps one of us will be winning a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide who can eat the last chocolate chip muffin. Or, perhaps, you will be asking me why I mentioned such an apparently haphazard assortment of activities in that note I wrote to you a while ago.

As I left Chemistry and headed for Psychology this morning, happy for the momentary downgrade to light drizzling from furious pounding of rain, I thought about how only two steps remained for me to complete the problem my teacher presented in class. I laughed a bit after reflecting on how eager I was to solve it, but I also noticed how immensely happy I was at the moment. It was fairly strange-after all, how enthralling can finding how many grams of the excess reagent are left be? Happiness is normal and chemistry can be very interesting, but the cause of my joy is that I am extremely satisfied with life. I am delighted with all of my responsibilities and obligations-studying, running school clubs, writing essays for Stanford, to name a few. Although they were beginning to overwhelm me, at that moment and now, the reason I complete these tasks-I enjoy them and the products of my labor-invigorates me.

Perhaps you and I will have a similarly elated year sharing a space at Stanford.

Undergraduate / Favorite Plays: Importance of Being Earnest & Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead [3]

(One of the essays for the University of Chicago) Respond by writing a paragraph or two. Share with us a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, blogs, magazines, or newspapers? Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own.

If life could be a model of a literary work, it should imitate The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. With all the wit, puns, cynicism, Victorian repression, paradoxes, epigrams, Bunburying, and arguments over cigarette cases, this play would make for a Wilde-ly amusing existence. If people were more honest about reality and themselves, then the world might consist of less social ills through the deterioration of illusions and more meaningful relationships between individuals through the fostering of personas that reflect a person's true being. On a more existential note, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is an irresistible example of absurdist revelation. Following Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on a hilarious-and eventually fatal-journey showed me not only an unforgettable instance of a coin defying probability, but also a great reason to make choices and steer the course of my life. Until I read this play, I did not realize the danger of my passive attitude towards life; now I value the importance of being earnest about decision-making. For instance, a choice I am particularly earnest about is applying to the University of Chicago and, hopefully, attending it.

Scholarship / Centers, infinity, absurdity--they're exciting [12]

Last essay for that scholarship/admission thing:

Describe an experience that you have had or a concept you have learned about that intellectually excites you. When answering this question, you may want to consider some of the following questions: Why does this topic excite you? How does it impact the way you or others experience the world? What questions do you continue to ponder about it? 500 words max

Concrete objects, abstract ideas, and even humans' passions have centers. However, excitement lies in exploring why a particular center is a center, how the existence of this center is maintained, what works against its existence, what might happen upon the loss of the center, and so forth. I love combine my knowledge of the concept of a center with my fascination with infinity and absurdity.

With enough creative thought, a center can be found anywhere. For instance, while some argue infinity cannot have a center-since each point could be the center, surrounded on all sides by infinity-it can, indeed, be asserted that the center of infinity is absurdity. Of course this is comparing two unlike things, but that is the beauty of creativity. Why have I seemingly arbitrarily decided that absurdity is the center of infinity? Well, for the same reason that there are a number of words in that sentence which end in "y." When the property of infinity is applied, hypothetically, to something, the result is usually absurd. Take for example: an infinitely large piece of gum, an infinitely quacking marmoset, and an infinitely long list of hypothetical applications of infinity-ideas such as this might have been the frights that inspired advocates of moderation (or word limits, for that matter).

Absurdity remains the center of infinity under the condition that thought remains logical and is threatened when thought becomes absurd. Since absurdity is the antithesis of logic, the thought process must be logical in order to allow for a distinction between the result of infinity application and the original condition. If, in thought, absurdity is the norm, it would probably not be defined as the center of infinity because its quality would not have an apparent effect. The converse of this is true: if absurdity is not the center of infinity, then absurdity is the norm. The farther absurdity moves from the center of infinity (the less absurdity becomes a quality of infinity), the more it nears the norm. For instance, as an individual's readiness to accept what is typically perceived as absurd in the same way he or she accepts that which is typically perceived as normal increases, logically, the less likely he or she would find an infinitely large piece of gum to be odd.

At some point in my life, I learned of the concept of a center. This simple, elegant idea encompasses volumes of complexities yearning to be understood; I hope to quench their thirst for light and, in the process, my own. This topic excites me because of the enormity of the challenge it proposes-answering questions without absolute solutions. Centers are infinite in quantity and influence people in an infinite number of ways. Even what a person perceives a center to be can have a great impact. One day, maybe, I shall discover my true center. For now, my quest beckons me to investigate the possibilities for this center-life, earth, people, water, psychology, philosophy, absurdity, infinity.

*that is an allusion to Indiana Jones I felt like throwing in. Who thinks that's a no-no?
Alternative would be: "Thus, "centers" are not truly the subject of focus; rather, the crux is exploring..."

Undergraduate / Significant expereince-- 6th grade math class [18]

Another essay for a program that determines admission/a full scholarship to schools like the University of Chicago

Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you. (500 word limit)

The crack in the so-called window of my sixth grade math class always had the suspicious air of a bullet wound. The black-, no, greenboard bore a note instructing students to bring a novel to read-left over from another class. The lessons were usually easy and the plastic chairs were usually hard. The air felt cold and the chalky blue paint muffling the walls continued to peel. The teacher was kind enough not to mind my completion of homework for lesson 3.4-or whichever lesson we happened to be on-before or while he taught lesson 3.4. And the boy to my right seemed convinced that the best method of entertaining himself must be making me miserable; my physical appearance and nerdy grasp of mathematics were the chief areas of attack. Lachrymose and lacking self-esteem, I fell prey to quite a number of his taunts.

Many view learning as an unpleasant experience. I've always been odd enough to enjoy it and have found long division and Queen Elizabeth fascinating. Here I've mentioned topics one usually comes across in school. While I value what I have learned from my textbooks and my teachers I am also indebted to my peers, my surroundings, and even myself for what I have learned from them. In elementary school it was easy to recognize learning spelled out by a neat benchmark; but since then, I've realized that learning from experience can be just as, if not more so, important. For instance, the year I spent in sixth grade math was the source for one of my defining life lessons-no, not lesson 3.4, but personal value, or valuing the self.

I was fortunate enough to feel tortured by the boy to my right. At some point, wading through my tears grew too laborious and I determined that I must step back and reevaluate my situation. Although my thought process involved much more wobbling here and there, oscillating to and fro, and other sorts of motions resembling amateur performance art than that statement conveys, in sum, it is accurate.

Hair that is aberrantly puffy or curly is not a signification of an individual's inferiority and an aptitude for mathematics is actually a good thing. While this may seem obvious, in sixth grade, it was my revelation: self-worth should not be undermined by negative comments from malicious persons and reasonable pride in one's abilities is healthy. Since discovering this, I have continued to grow in my understanding of the importance of self-esteem and have developed a desire to help others with this as well. I plan to facilitate the realization of this wish by pursuing a degree in psychology and a career in psychiatry.

I'm always on the look-out for new learning opportunities, including those that are hard to find. After all, who would have expected that in a math class rife with stimuli and, of course, math, my most significant experience would come from the boy to my right?