Prompt 1. Many applicants to college are unsure about eventual majors. What factors led you to your interest in Engineering? (Feel free to elaborate on your response to question 2.)
2. What experiences beyond school work have broadened your interest?
While it has been four years since I arrived at America, I still vividly remember the embarrassing moment in the airport on the first arrival: I nervously wandered around the airport with my mother and struggled to understand the unfamiliar language that surrounded us. When we passed the security checkpoints, we had a close encounter with trouble due to our limited knowledge of the English language because we confused with the officer's instruction. From that day on, I realized that language barriers created difficulties and it was necessary to find a way to overcome language barriers among people. With this previous experience in America, I told myself, "I will change this when I grow up."
As technology develops rapidly, many IT companies have committed to developing translation and speech recognition systems, such as Apple Siri, Google Translator, and Microsoft Kinect. Even though these companies have made huge progress in the last decades, the new products are still plagued with problems. Error rates for arbitrary speech is still around twenty to twenty-five percent, a considerably high number. The imperfection in these products drives me to seek a chance to study in technology and improve these products in the future.
I saw the opportunity at Brown University due to its strong focus on programming. Brown has intense programming projects that allow students to gain more practical experience through the application of the knowledge. To me programming language is not only an essential part in the field of computer science but also an art of optimization. While building a solid foundation of programming language is necessary for developing software and systems optimizing the complicate structures of software is equally important. Since the Computer Engineering Program highly focuses on language implementation, program analysis and optimization, and software engineering, the School of Engineering will be a perfect place for me to obtain the knowledge of programming language and help me to pave the path to reach my ultimate goalďźto research in the field of speech recognition and translation.
Aside from the school work, I love to explore new things on different computer operation system. Particularly, I am obsessed with Backtrack system- a Linux based system that can perform penetration test and internet security analysis. With this system, I learn to perform basic internet security analysis on my own and I also expand my knowledge of security protocols through my exploration in this process. My curiosity in computer science has never diminished from my mind and I am eager to pursue my study of technology in Brown University.
The fantastic programs and rich resources embody the characteristics of my dream college. I look forward to become a student in Brown University and sharing my experiences with other students. For these reasons, Brown University will be the best place for me to develop as an individual and to discover opportunities that will enable me to succeed.
Wonderful essay. I love how uncliched your story was, and I like how you made the progression into why you'd like to study CS.
It's surprising that you didn't know how to speak English 4 years ago, your writing is impeccable.
Good luck.
Please help me with CommonApp essay.
