Undergraduate / JHU Supplement essay 2: "Freedom Writers" [4]

Tell us something about yourself or your interests that we wouldn't learn by looking at the rest of your application materials. (While you should still pay attention to sentence structure and grammar, your response is meant as a way for us to get to know you, rather than a formal essay.)

Movies are my guilty pleasure; I could watch them all day without getting bored. I watch films from various generations, nations, and genres---except horror. I think films are portals to different worlds, and they are also mirrors of the society, the people surrounding me, and me. I often have my reflection time while watching movies.

Freedom Writers is one my favorite movies of all time; it is about the lives of High School Students from Long Beach, California in 1994. Although I barely cry in Romantic Films,

I cried an ocean for this one. Some of my tears were caused by the students' loneliness and pain which pierced my heart, while most of my tears were caused by guilt. Yes, I was feeling remorseful for how ungrateful I had been of my life. It made me see how superficial my problems were, and how I absolutely have no right to complain: Biology overload is definitely nothing compared to trying to struggle to survive every day.

In the movie, the students faced so many adversities: every day was a constant struggle for survival, one step into the street and a gun is pointed on their head. Every single tinge of hope seemed to have shattered, nevertheless, they still dreamed; they persevered. It lifted my spirits, and it inspired me to stop being so cynical of life.

Although movies only last from one to two hours, their impact to my life last for a lifetime.

Hi, please tell me if it's too cheeky or if I chose the topic correctly...

Thank you :)

Undergraduate / 'high Calcium concentration' - JHU Supplement [9]

Question: ïJohns Hopkins offers 50 majors across the schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering. On this application, we ask you to identify one or two that you might like to pursue here. Why did you choose the way you did? If you are undecided, why didn't you choose? (If any past courses or academic experiences influenced your decision, you may include them in your essay.)

I was about to grab the remote control to flick through other channels while my cartoon show was having a commercial break, however a strange illustration of a human's invisible outline with only his back bone showing appeared on the television screen. The person bended down and his back bone broke. Then a doctor appeared and explained everything that was happening. That was the first time I found out how milk with high Calcium concentration could be beneficial in reducing the risk of osteoporosis. I was four years old by then; although it didn't convince me to drink more milk or even become fonder of it, it elicited a spark of curiosity in me of Human Biology.

So, when I started going to school I became engaged in studying Sciences, and my favorite topic is the Circulatory System. I think it's partially because of how my grandfather died of a heart malfunction and how a close friend of mine had a hole in her heart when she was born. Thus, it made me seek for answers and explanations on why is Circulatory System so important. At first I only read my textbook and other online articles, however, upon reaching Year 10 I discovered through our Biology class that we could also perform experiments in order to investigate our inferences. I found it exhilarating when we had to write an investigatory paper about the effects of exercise on heart rate, because the answers were already presented before me through charts and graphs, I only had to interpret them. Likewise, when I took A-level Biology I learnt how we can also apply such methodical approach in explaining environmental phenomena by using Statistics and various research techniques. I thought it was like deciphering a secret code, and I love how we can combine Mathematics and Science in order to make sense of the world around us.