Undergraduate / 'voice technology and CSRP' - Cornell's interest essay draft [4]

Here is the prompt:
College of Engineering:
Engineers turn ideas (technical, scientific, mathematical) into reality. Tell us about an engineering idea you have or your interest in engineering. Explain how Cornell Engineering can help you further explore this idea or interest.

Because English is not my native language, my writing is not so good. Please help me edit my essay. Any suggestion will be welcomed.

The computer truly is a marvelous invention, but without us it is nothing more than a collection of bits and components. Like any good student, a great idea needs to be complemented by a good education which is provided by the outstanding schools with reliable instructors. I cannot hope to accomplish much without the knowledge, but Cornell is the place where all the components of a good education are available to me. I am impressed by the approachable and professional professors and the great curricular programs that Cornell offers to its students. In addition, community plays an important role in the Cornell education. The outreach programs at Cornell are practical and useful for its students because they help to solve real-world problem by linking people to Cornell's rich resources. Students, faculty, and staff share their expertise and energy with schools, businesses, government, community organizations, individuals, and families. This is an opportunity for me to go outside of my school, learning something new, and applying what I have studied from school into reality. Cornell also offers many laboratories and promotes the interdisciplinary research that can help its students learn by themselves. Through that, they can explore more things that they don't have opportunities to do in class experiments. More importantly, Cornell has concentrated on voice technology since 1997 when continuous speech recognition programs (CSRP) were first introduced. They were programs which could recognize users' continuously spoken speech and translate this directly into text processing software. Nowadays, the professors and students at Cornell are continuing research on this issue and this is a good opportunity for me to learn and bring my idea into reality.

Cornell challenges not only my creativity, but also my ability to perform in front of the others. Accompanied with those challenges, Cornell presents many opportunities for me to learn and pursue my dream. Now, I am ready to begin my journey and face all the challenges and opportunities are waiting for me.

Thank you very much for your consideration

Undergraduate / 'Knowledge exchange / uneducated family / Math award' - Tuft app short answers [5]

First question: Which aspects of Tufts' curriculum or undergraduate experience prompt your application? In short: ''Why Tufts?''

Tuft offers a lot of excellent programs and many research experiments for students who are majoring in computer science. My attention was caught by Tuft's studying abroad program which can be a good opportunity for me to communicate and exchange knowledge with other students around the world. In addition, Tuft has many approachable and professional professors who are always ready to help their students. Tuft's financial aid program is also an important factor in my decision to choose Tuft.

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Second question: There is a Quaker saying: ''Let your life speak.'' Describe the environment in which you were raised--your family, home, neighborhood or community--and how it influenced the person you are today.

I was raised in a traditional but uneducated family. Neither of my parents received high school diplomas. They spent a few years studying in some high school and then dropped out because they had to work to earn money to support them as well as me. In addition, I am their only child, so all of their hopes are placed upon my shoulders. Since I was a child, my parents told me that I needed to study hard in order to get into one of the top universities of the United States and to achieve the great degree in the future. Furthermore, they have encouraged me to help my surrounding community. My parents usually told me that it is selfish and arrogant to know only myself in this world. I can't achieve everything by myself, I need to learn to communicated and cooperate with others, to listen to their ideas and improve myself by gaining greater insight to the world around me.

Those honest words of advice always stayed close to mind. Every day brings an experience that helps to solidify the truth of my parents' words. Hard working is the only way for me to succeed in life. Because of that I study hard at school, finding as many as problems to practice everyday to keep my skill sharp, and hoping that someday I could be a successful person. However, not only I have to work hard at school, but I also care about my community as well. Since 9th grade, I have joined many clubs centered on helping the community. For example, I joined Red Cross when I was in 9th and 10th grade. I really enjoyed the program that it offered because it gave me an opportunity to help those that needed it, something I would appreciate if I were in their shoes. Every weekend, my club and I went to the community schools to help the disabled students learn how to read and write. In addition, we also encourage to others to donate money every month. We ourselves donate our blood every 2 months at our school. After I finished the program, I was so happy because it marked the first time I helped my community to have greater access to solving problems in life.

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Third question: Self-identity and personal expression take many forms. Use the richness of your life to give us insight: Who are you?

A vitally important accomplishment that I will never forget is the Math Competition Award which I achieved when I was in grade nine in Vietnam. In order to earn that award, not only did I have to rely on my talent, but also on my diligence and on the hard work that I had spent. For instance, I usually spent two to three hours a day at home practicing and solving math problems. I often borrowed books from the library in order to find new problems for me to practice. Whenever I was met with hard questions, I felt very interested and invested all of my time thinking about those problems until I figured out how to solve them.

The Math Competition Award made me proud of myself. Besides getting the best grade in my math class, I have also joined math team at Piedmont with whom I usually stay late after school to work together to solve tough questions and to help the other students struggling in Math.

With my talent, I want to attend a four-year university and become a computer engineer. Afterward, I want to open my own company and design a new program helping disabled students and other members of my community to have greater access to solving problems in life. For example, I want to create a program promoting the education of disabled students on computers. If successful, my program will help them learn about programming more easily, hopefully allowing them to someday see the same interesting qualities and marvels of computer programming that I myself have experienced

The Math Competition Award makes instills me with a sense of confidence in my math class and in other subjects relating to math such as physics and chemistry. This accomplishment encourages me to push even harder and provides me with a great asset and skill in my goals of becoming an engineer.

Any suggestions? Thank you for your consideration.