Undergraduate / Going abroad, my lifelong dream [3]

MIT - Tell us about the world you come from, how it shaped your dream and aspiration. (200 - 250)
--
Going abroad is my lifelong dream that guided my life so far.

Going abroad is a symbol of wealth in Indonesia, something out of my family's reach. I grew up in Lombok, a tourist island where people from all over the world arrive and leave everyday. I made some foreign friends and felt envy; why can't I go abroad and explore the world?

When internet started to penetrate people's life in 5th grade, I learned to use it to explore places I wanted to go. The world 'scholarship' popped in my mind, as it is the fastest way to go abroad. I often spent hours (and the money for a week) googling 'full scholarship [country name]' for hours.

As I grew up and discover the wonder of science, my pursuit of scholarships abroad became no longer about going abroad alone. It grew to be a pursuit towards excellence, as there are few science developments in Indonesia. Here, universties are built to prepare youths for labor, not to understand the universe. I want to learn and research, not for the sake of getting high salary, but learning itself. I became no longer satisfied with formulas alone without actual forms in textbooks. In 11th grade, I independently studied precalculus just for satisfying my curiosity. I found myself unsuited with the education system in Indonesia; I have to study abroad.

MIT is my dream campus; I want to research with Prof. Poggio, Prof. Gifford, and turn the great dome into giant doraemon.

--

does this answer the prompt? Tnanks

Undergraduate / The world I come from : small city / digital world (Two ideas - choice) - MIT [6]

Prompt :Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations? (200-250)

This is for MIT. I have two ideas, would you tell me which one is better? Or, do you have better ideas?
Thank you!

--
Idea 1 :
My parents wanted me to be a doctor very much. Here, being a doctor is a dream profession, honorable yet prosperous, but extremely hard to finance for government-paid teachers like my parents. They always encouraged me that I would reach the top 2% of students in Indonesia, so I can get scholarship to medicine schools. Whenever my father returned from taking his students to university visits, my father always gave me medicine school memorabilia : keychains, posters, brochures, etc.

Being a doctor had been my dream and life orientation for years, as it was the only objective I knew. When I was in TV interview for my highest national examination score, I didn't have any other answer when I was asked about my dream.

However, the limit of dream is the world you see. As my world expanded through internet, my dream also expanded. I discovered that researching something new and cool is more interesting than simply prescribing patients with medicines I already know. I found my interest in computer and tons of resources to satisfy it (tutorials, online courses, etc.). I found that many things I previously thought impossible is possible. Even my applying to MIT now wouldn't be possible if I hadn't found the blog of a MIT student from Indonesia, as MIT seemed to be out of my reach. Internet also shaped my view the most through online resources and discussions.

So, that's the world I come from : the online world.

--
Idea 2 :
I live in Madiun, a city consisted of about 300,000 people, which I surprisingly felt small in high school. I couldn't find a coach for my debate team, while none of my english teachers had capability in debate. My school couldn't find a trainer for informatics olympiad. These conditions taught me to be a good fighter and manager, but I still wish that I lived in bigger city with bigger opportunities.

The feeling struck me most when I'm applying to American colleges, pursuing my dream; I have absolutely no resource and reference except the internet. I have to fill "I can't find my school" in ACT and SAT registration forms because nobody from my city have taken them before. I have to train my teachers about the online application system, as none of them have done it before. So far, being under small resources indeed reduces my chance.

But being under small resources drives me to be the best in my field, so I can bring resources to my community. I don't want my sisters, my future children, and my future member of my community feel the same dilemma in the pursuit of their dreams.

Undergraduate / Debate Team that I built from scratch [3]

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (About 150 words)
---

In my junior year, I established Debate Team and became the first chairman.

I found it hard to build a winning team from scratch. When I looked for a debate coach in the beginning of junior year, I couldn't find any, while none of teachers in my school had capacity in debate. We self-coached.

In our first tournament, we didn't even make it through the qualification round despite we'd been self-trained and researched for weeks. Fortunately, the adjudicators told us how a debate should be, which became our guide in our next tournaments. Since then, we started winning, with experience as our only coach.

Until now, the team still doesn't have expert coach. However, I've given my juniors the foundations in debate strategies. I couldn't be happier to see the juniors that I trained now have won many tournaents and become one of the best debate team in the region.

(word count : 150)
---

Does it answer the question? Do I sound self-absorbed? Any suggestion?
Thank you!

Undergraduate / Surviving limited resources in Madiun [2]

Describe the world you come from; for example, your family, clubs, school, community, city, or town. How has that world shaped your dreams and aspirations?(*) (200-250 words)

Madiun, my city, has very limited resources : no good university, no accessible public library; it doesn't even have public transport. My school is either : no proper laboratories, no budget for conducting events, and almost no sport facility.

Independence is the common trait that most students in my school have developed in order to survive under the limited resources that we have. For us, lack of resources doesn't mean lack of achievement. No laboratories and expert trainer does not mean that we cannot win science olympiads. No sport facility doesn't mean that we cannot be good athletes. No coach doesn't mean that my debate team cannot win.

However, there are certain things that we still cannot achieve, such as international science olympiad medals. What chance do we have compared to those who have resources? I can go to National Science Olympiad in Informatics with only 4 months of programming experience, but to win and go to IOI, what chance do I have compared to those who had learned robotics since kindergarten?

The failures that I have endured due to the limited resource has given me my utmost objective : my community should have better resources than I, so they can reach their maximum potentials. My sisters, future children, and neighbors should have the chance to win IOI and the likes. As for me, my chances for international medals are already gone, but excellence is still up there to reach.

(word count : 240)

Undergraduate / 'resource limitation has always been a problem for me' - New York City - Why Columbia [8]

Prompt : Please tell us what you find most appealing about Columbia and why. (300 words or less)

--

New York City.

Being from a small city in a developing country, resource limitation has always been a problem for me. I had to self-train my debate team because there's no hire-able coach. I and my peers had to find private sponsors to conduct activities. I had to self-train for science olympiads as there was no hire-able expert; with only 4 months to learn everything from zero, it took me hard effort to go to the National Science Olympiad in Informatics.

[...]

Undergraduate / Informatics Olympiad Prep Camp, how I became interested in Comp. Science [2]

For applicants to The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the field or fields of study that you noted in the Member Questions section. (300 words or less)

--

Before the Provincial Science Olympiad Preparation Camp in May, computer science was just another field to try. But then I found it to be my passion, the field that I would love to be engaged in for my entire life.

The first time I arrived, I thought the camp would be cramming and boring. It was indeed a cramming camp, as I was learning from almost zero, but my newly-discovered passion in Computer Science turned every bit of boredom into excitement. I learned about knapsack, dynamic programming, and other algorithms - difficult puzzles that demanded to be resolved. I found that solving the problemsets and generalizing the solutions into algorithms as challenging task. As a polyglot, I found joy in translating my solutions into a new foreign language : Pascal, then C++.

Hours of classes passed by as I became absorbed in my courses, and still I spent another hours to study on myself. As I learned more, imaginery of things that I could create with piles of boolean values sparked. I learned the strong resemblance of brain and program: pedalling bike to school was a recursive process, reading book was inputting data, intelligence is a nested function-how would that function be written in computer language?

I discovered that Artificial Intelligence was not merely to be applied in robots. Without realizing it, AI is everywhere : social networks, games, and other automated programs. I started to imagine the algorithms behind programs that I use; something that I previously took for granted.

In the end, I made it to the National Science Olympiad. Unfortunately, my morning coffee betrayed me-it made my heart beat too fast on one of the test days, thus I couldn't concentrate. I failed. Nevertheless, computer science, especially AI, remain as my primary wonder until now.