Undergraduate / UC Prompt - "Skateboarding and Perseverance" [3]

Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

As a young boy, I remember sitting on the grass and watching the older kids practice skateboarding at the park near my house. I thought it must be so freeing to glide across the pavement and leap through the air so effortlessly. One of the skateboarders must have noticed how fascinated I was because he came over to me and asked if I wanted to try. I nodded my head eagerly as he smiled and handed me the skateboard. I planted my feet firmly on the piece of wood, but my skinny legs were weak and clumsy, and I soon found myself on the ground. I was discouraged, but the boy helped me to my feet and said, "Don't worry, keep practicing and you'll get it."

I resolved not to give up. My parents bought me a skateboard for my birthday and I practiced in front of my house every day. After some days, my legs would be so exhausted that I could barely stand, but I wouldn't let that stop me. Slowly, my legs got stronger and I learned how to control the board. I began imitating the people who could flip the board under their feet and do tricks. Sometimes I would spend months learning a trick, trying it over and over again until I could do it. Like the first time I stepped on a skateboard, I fell down repeatedly, scraping and bruising my legs. But even when I got hurt badly, I stood myself back up and persevered.

I have carried this sense of dedication and perseverance with me throughout my life. With every obstacle that I face, no matter how daunting, I tell myself that I can overcome it. I have learned that the most worthwhile things in life are the things that I have worked hardest for. Now, instead of being discouraged when I fall, I look forward to the challenge that is ahead of me, knowing that it will make me a better person.

Undergraduate / UC Transfer Prompt - Intended major: Physics [5]

What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the subject developed and describe any experience you have had in the field - such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities - and what you have gained from your involvement?

It was getting late. After eight hours of driving, my stepfather, my younger brother and I had just crossed the border between the United States and Canada and were northbound. Our dark and desolate stretch of road was a hundred miles from the light pollution of the cities, yet the surrounding landscape was alight with frequent and violent flashes of lightning. My brother and I were afraid that the metal car would act as a kind of lightning rod. At the time I did not know that electric current tended to stay on the surface of a conductor, making the inside of the car a relatively safe place to be. Our fears, however, turned out to be unnecessary; the storm passed and we were unharmed.

To ease our nerves and stretch our legs, my stepdad decided to pull the car over. The sound of the engine died down and we were immersed in the noisy hum of innumerable crickets. As I stepped outside to greet my chirping musicians, I was awestruck by what I saw. The sky looked like nothing I had ever imagined. The pitch-black background was adorned with thousands of twinkling points of light and accompanied by the magnificent glow of the Milky Way, stretching across the entire length of the sky. It seemed to me like a canvas where a brilliant artist had painted their masterpiece. I wanted to stay there and stare at that sight forever. In that moment, I fell in love with the cosmos.

My newfound passion could not have come at a more crucial time in my life. It was becoming increasingly difficult for me to find ways to pay for my education, so I took a semester off from school in the spring of 2010 to concentrate on earning a promotion at my job. At the time, I was still uncertain of what I wanted to accomplish with my education, and the prospect of returning to school was becoming less appealing. My well-intentioned mother would try to motivate me, but I was Newton's third law personified; the more she pushed me, the more I pushed back. It was the following summer, however, that I found my motivation and became enamored with physics and cosmology.

As soon as I could, I enrolled in my first astronomy course and changed my major to physics. For the first time in my life, I was excited to go to school every day. I could not wait to take my seat in the planetarium and learn about the universe. I performed my first real scientific experiment for a project in this class. Using only the shadow of a stick, I tracked the angle of the sun throughout the course of a day and used my data to determine my latitude and longitude. When I saw that my results were in agreement with my G.P.S. coordinates, I realized what a powerful tool physics could be for understanding the universe.

Being an aspiring astrophysicist has created an interesting dynamic in the way I view the world. Studying astrophysics fills me with a sense of pride, yet, at the same time, I am consistently humbled by what I learn. From seeing the rings of Saturn through the Zeiss Telescope at the Griffith Observatory, to looking at the overwhelmingly beautiful photos of galaxies and nebulae taken by NASA, I am always being reminded of how small I am. However, I am not discouraged by these realizations. Instead, they fill me with motivation to make the most that I can out of my brief time on this small planet.