Undergraduate / Two words that describes my community is a bubble and exclusive: RU Supplement Essay [3]

Two words that describes my community is a bubble and exclusive. Scarsdale is my new home and it is small town that have diverse mansions, country clubs, reservations, parks, and even schools. However, the one thing it lacks is diversity. During the time I lived in Scarsdale, I realized the importance of diversity.

After moving to Scarsdale in the seventh grade from Queens, I realized that the community was predominantly Jewish. As an Asian American student, I felt awkward to live in this environment. Fitting in to a group in my new school was especially hard because no one was Asian and some of my classmates have never associated with Asians before. I was always the only Asian student in every class and felt like I didn't belong in this community.

However, after entering Scarsdale High School, I felt an urge to defy the norm in my community. I suddenly did not want to try hard to fit in a clique nor did not care what others thought about me. I was my own independent and confident self. I was proud to be a Korean American and showed my pride through my active involvement in the International Club and the yearbook. As vice president of the International Club, I was able to learn about different people's cultures from all over the world and share my culture as well. I realized the importance of learning about different cultures through this club because it helped me develop my personality and widen my perspective of the world. By learning about other cultures, it also lessen the ignorance that exists in many closed communities.

After being elected as the "rare" Asian editor to be in the yearbook, I believed that the social norm in my community started to fade. After looking at past yearbooks, I had noticed that there wasn't much diversity in it. As the current editor in the yearbook, I poured my energy into learning more about different groups in my school such as the Japanese international students and the Spanish students and took many pictures of them.

After hearing about Rutgers's long embrace for diversity, I was extremely excited to apply because I knew that this was the right college for me. Its diverse environment would be beneficial to me because I would be able to experience the cultures that I've learned about from my club members and also teach others about them. Rutgers will definitely further my education and knowledge, and create wide friendships with diverse people. Not only will this college help me learn about different cultural aspects and widen my education, but also I can welcomed and not feel left out.

Undergraduate / 'becoming more forgiving' - Personal Statement for Common App: Betrayal [5]

"Hey Erica! Let's work on this social studies project together. If we work together, we will definitely ace this," said Sammy.
Immediately, I responded yes. Sammy was my best friend ever since I moved to Scarsdale in the 7th grade. Moving from Queens to Scarsdale was a huge shock for me. I had a hard time adapting to this new community. It was also very arduous to become accepted into the social life- where cliques and groups existed and rarely welcomed newcomers.

However, one person named Sammy came up to me and asked if I wanted to eat lunch with her. this incident bloomed our friendship.
She gave me confidence and hope that I was going to be happy in Scarsdale.
However, our friendship changed when we were working on a project. When I went over to Sammy's house and worked on the project, she would always sit back and relax. At first, I asked her to write a summary about World War II, but instead, she watched an episode of Gossip Girl. I warned her the second time that this project was huge and that we needed to complete most of it by this week- since I was busy with extracurricular activities such as music, community service, and sports. However, Sammy nodded and continued to watch the episode. At that moment, I was furious. For two hours, I was the one researching World War II, interviewing alive members during that time, and creating a nice poster to attract my teacher and classmates. However, Sammy was the one watching episodes of Gossip Girl and other shows.

I wanted to complain about this. However, if I did, I was going to lose my only best friend. I couldn't afford to lose a precious friend. So, I just finished the project and claimed that we worked together.

On the day before the project was due, I received a phone call from Sammy's mother about how Sammy and I couldn't work on the project together and that Sammy would take the project. I remembered precisely where, when, and what I was doing at the moment. I was in a church barbeque party at a park and was about to leave back home. I was utterly shocked and furious at what Sammy's mother told me. I argued that I basically worked on the project and that she just watched television. Sammy's mother accused me of lying and stealing. After two hours of arguing on the phone, I couldn't take it anymore. I told her to take the project and hung up on the phone. The fact that my project was taken away from me by my best friend, just made me devastated and heart-broken. It destroyed my confidence, my pride, and overall, hope.

I couldn't understand why my best friend would do such a thing; but whatever reason it was, I was disappointed in her. This incident made me question our friendship and wonder if it was really a lie. It also made me become more reserved from the community. I began to become a negative person; and started to think about ways to hurt others and myself to ease my pain of losing my only best friend.

Until recently, I began to let go of this grudge. I became more forgiving.