Undergraduate / Common application, the evolution of Yu-Ju Huang. [5]

Please do give critical feedback. I need it. This is my fourth attempt to write the common app essay...

While most people believed that the extinction of dinosaurs resulted from the collision of six miles in diameter meteor that forced large about of debris into the atmosphere and prevented sunlight to penetrated, the asteroid theory can also apply on my life. The meteor that suddenly struck into my life was, however, too large to calculate. At the end of grade eight, my father sledded a one way airplane ticket to Canada in between the pages of my textbook "Aiming for Perfect Score in the Competence for Junior High School Student". The next think I recalled, I was standing at the airport with a red suitcase and my cello. The meteor, according to the conversation with my father after a year of departure, held the intention to destroy my nerdy-tendecy symptom. As a result, the maladroit dinosaur that dominated my behaviour was replaced by the well-adapted and mellow fern, like the fern spike in the K-T boundary, but K-T stands for kill the tedium in Yu-Ju world.

The evolution began as the debris of unknown covered my senses; Canada was different from I had known. As I was struggling to survive, I knew I had to change. At first I thought the ability of effectively communicating was the key. After moving to Kingston, I realized there must be a deeper modification within myself. I abandoned my pride and worn on the coat of humor with a sense of buoyancy and humble, hoping to live through and even warm up the plunging environment. "My name is not Yu-Ju; it should be Yu-Ru, but Taiwanese immigration did not translate it correctly and now according to my passport I am Yu-Ju, forever." "Sorry I did not do this problem right, I am the Asian who can not count." I said in a joking manner. I wrote in one of the letters I wrote to my father "I will smile at strangers- less cynicism, more amiability." I developed my audacity of openness by reaching out to the poor with the key club and arranging fundraising activities at school. Like a fern, I was able to survive in every niche of the community.

A while after the K-T boundary, the centre of my life was not like an obtuse dinosaur aiming for prey, in my case a perfect score. Instead, through with the activities I participated in and the diverse people I have interacted, I gradually evolved from a placid fern into a human being with compassion. I swim competitively, but I acted as a role of supporting in my swim team. I tutor upper classmate mathematics and claimed that I am genetically programmed to excel in the area. As the cello soloist in the school musical plays and orchestra, I enjoyed volunteering at honor roll breakfast and school masses. Now as the executive of the school key club, I envisaged meteor with respect. The one way ticket performed as a wake-up call, calling my inner mammal-an endothermic creature with the ability to think.

Undergraduate / Why Oxy, Campus visit, characteristic, book for Occidental College Supplementary [NEW]

Please edit them and constructive advices are strongly appreciated! Thanks in advanced.

Occidental College Supplementary
1. If you've had the opportunity to visit campus, please indicate when and in what capacity, and briefly describe your visit experience.
It is rare to have the opportunity to explore the magnificent Occidental Campus due to my current location. However, I was able to access to one of the various useful resources on the occidental website; it displayed a virtual tour of the campus. Through watching campus tour videos from different angles and doing copious amount of research, I found myself drawn to the exquisite structure of the campus and concluded that I belong at Occidental. I pictured myself studying for examinations in Clapp Library, enjoying musical concerts at Throne Hall, doing Yoga at Lower Herrick and participating in scientific research projects at Hameetman Science Center. Although I have not gotten the opportunity to visit Oxy, I know I will be able to explore self-identity and obtain college experience under the amiable and pleasant Oxy Campus.

2. There are thousands of colleges and universities. Why are you applying to Occidental? In your opinion, what distinguishes it from your other choices?
"An institution with intimate scale and infinite scope"- Ted Mitchell, former Oxy president. This statement truly embodies the main reasons why Occidental is my first choice of college. The "infinite scope", Occidental, provides well-rounded education and diversity. For me, coming to college is about learning how to think critically, expanding my perception and be able to develop my own epistemology- a true liberal arts education with peers that are from all different geological background is which Occidental College devotedly offer. The "intimate scale" refers to the opportunity of getting to know college professors on an individual level. It is uncommon for most of the colleges, but Occidental provides that to its student. It demonstrates that Oxy values its student a unique participant. With the nurture of affable weather and various opportunities in California; close-knit campus atmosphere and the liberal art education, I believe that is how Occidental students are able to stand out from the crowd, and these qualities distinguish Occidental from the other colleges.

3. Choose a book you have read-at any point in your life-that most affected you and clarify its effect.
I relish the joy books brought me; they helped me to dawdle the time that I spent waiting for my mother to pick me up from school. I dwelled at the school library with the librarian and books than at home with my own family when I was in elementary school. During that period, books often take place of the educating role, and Anne and the Green Gables affected me the most. A fiction of coming of age adventure and embracing one self's idiosyncrasy for young adult. My parents provided us that everything we desire within their ability; however, sometimes they forgot that the most precious thing they can provide was to spend quality time with us. I feet like that I am Anne, both sharing a sense of independence and blithe attitude. Her Protestant education is equivalent to my traditional Taiwanese family, a mold that impedes the progress of individual, particularly females. In the story, Anne manages to maintain herself as a fiercely independent and opinionated girl. Over times, she develops into a driven and well-rounded young woman with a clear vision of her future. Anne became my role model. Wise yet pure, ambitious yet compassionate individual was rooted in my mind and ever since I have determined to

5. Identify and describe a personal habit or idiosyncrasy-of any nature-that helps define you.
Adventurous is the idiosyncrasy that suits me the best. I crave for independence, innovation and investigating the inexperienced. At the age of fourteen, I decided to leave home and study aboard at Western Canada. At the age of fifteen, I decided to investigate Eastern Canada and moved there for two years. During those two years, I decided to self-study Spanish and volunteered in Costa Rica. At the age of seventeen, I applied for the merit scholarship at a boarding school and was determined to ascertain the life style between private school and public school. I enjoy encountering the unknown and the excitements that come along with the adventures. Life is precious; therefore, it should be cherished by stepping out the comfort zone with open-mindedness and gratitude. Make intelligent adjustment and enjoy the possibility in life, is my interpretation of being adventurous also the definition of myself.