Undergraduate / 'worked in a real estate investment trust' - Professional Achievement - 200 word [4]

I worked in a real estate investment trust XXXX this summer. My project was to modify the new investment model and use it for all our existing properties and future investments.

I was motivated by the significant responsibility, as all investment decisions would be based on the results from the model. Over the next two months, I worked closely with the department heads of Acquisition and Asset Management, to dissect the model, discuss about desired functions, and automate financial calculations. I also worked with people from IT and Accounting, to build in functions that linked our Oracle database directly to the financial model and automatically generated financial statements for each project. Without finance experience, I had to learn many accounting concepts on myself, and to read books after work to familiar myself with real estate valuation methods.

My diligence eventually paid off; I managed to finish the project beyond the expectation of my supervisors, and they gave me a cash bonus for my contribution to the company. This project offered me a chance to take on substantial responsibility and apply what I had learned into practice, and to test myself against a tough professional challenge.

Undergraduate / WHY? short essay on Why Engineering? [5]

"please tell us what attracts you specifically to the study of engineering"

In industrial engineering I find preparation I need to solve real world problems. In contrast to the curriculum of economics, the one of industrial engineering combines economics, computer science and optimization methods into one package, providing me a balanced mixture of intellectual discipline and technical skills under real world scenario. Most importantly, engineering teaches ways of thinking and the developments of analysis, which will be essential under today's globalized and fast-paced society.

I am switching from economics to industrial engineering. Hope it works! Any feedback will be appreciated.

Book Reports / Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, brief discussion on how it has influenced me [5]

It's a brief discussion on how Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead has influenced me... Any feedback is appreciated!
--The man that will stop the motor of the world.

Amongst the many books composed by Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead is my favorite. Widely recognized as the creator of objectivism philosophy, Ayn Rand molded two distinguished types of people in the book-the independent creators that created all the human civilization by their own effort, and the dependent parasites who lived second-handed, fed by other people's minds. The protagonist in The Fountainhead, Howard Roark, was not a popular person. But with honesty, dreams and clear individualism mindset, he finally broke through the convention of the world, erecting his own monuments.

I have been influenced by Ayn Rand's philosophy mainly in two ways. First of all, her objectivism viewpoints and the declaration that "work is worship" strengthened my determination to take my own path, encouraging me when I finally decided to put college off and develop my own business. More importantly, through the main characters in The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand showed an abiding faith in individualism, which I believe is indispensible for a charismatic leader. The appropriate amount of individualism conveyed by Ayn Rand granitized my belief in the power of man. Even if minimal, one man's effort can still make a difference.

Writing Feedback / wording problems in a paragraph [6]

This is a paragraph in the beginning of my essay. What I want to say is that even I need to accept what I don't like, I always compromise. Some of my friends said that the words resilient and alacrity were not suitable here. Would someone please give me some advice on how to revise them? Thank you very much!

I appear to be more easy-going than over motivated person in life; whenever faced with anything not to my liking, I always compromise, sometimes even to the degree of being resilient. I often accept disappointing facts with feigned alacrity, hoping my expectation will be met the next time, even if that means hard work and a busy life.

Undergraduate / Common app Short Answer (cyber competition) [17]

I am an international student from a Country whose language is a kind of hieroglyph, so I am conceivably bad at English. Help will be greatly appreciated.

here comes the thing:

"We have met before."

On the game channel of International Cyber Cup, the speaker of the sentence can be from any country in the world. I have played Starcraft for four years and I understand its value as an e-sport; it provides a platform for minds to compete in a cyberspace.

The developments at the beginning of the game are all identical: gathering minerals, building supplies and making defensive or offensive units. I put scout in a essential place of the war, as Sun Tzu said in his Art of War, "To know the enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles with no danger of defeat." Finding the balance point of the game is important too, as I need to scout, counter-scout, harass and attack while keeping up my own economic development. As the war escalates, multitasking becomes increasingly harder, and even one minor mistake can spell the end of the game.

Playing Starcraft helps me to develop a sense of balance and increases my multitasking ability: I learn to balance between student activities and academic studies, getting different tasks done orderly in real life.