I know the deadline is quickly approaching so I hope someone can answer asap.
This is what I have so far, any feedback and advice will be taken, be as harsh as you like.
Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate - and us - know you better.
Hey!
These first few weeks are going to be rough but I'm sure we'll get through them together. I like to feel my music more than I hear it so if you see me with headphones, chances are I can't hear you, just give me a tap on the shoulder instead. If I can, I like to work on projects ranging from electronics to woodworking to metalworking during any extra time I have. I also spend a lot of time on the computer, playing video games obviously but also checking on the news, looking for interesting websites or even doing homework. I happen to use both Windows and Ubuntu on almost all my machines and even ChromeOS and the Windows 8 preview. On the weekends I like to do martial arts on Saturdays, teaching a class in Mountain View, and get any school work I have to do out of the way. Even though I may be shy or hesitant at first, I usually warm up to people pretty quickly.
I'm always ready to learn and if you ever need help with anything feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer or can't think of a solution, I will do my best to try and find one. Worst case, we can work it out together or even call some friends to help. I'm usually a pretty agreeable person and if we do get into a tiff, just give me a little while to cool off.
I really hope that we get along and I can't wait to meet you,
Tom
What matters to you, and why?
At first, I was eager to learn how to do a back flip and how to break through a wooden board but that is not what Aikido, a Japanese martial art, is about. Instead I learned how to relax, control my balance and stop a fight from ever starting. After a few years of development, the teachers asked me to help teach some of the younger students. Soon I was tired of teaching kids who didn't know what I knew and I wanted to quit.
My parents convinced me to continue training and I soon realized that by teaching, I had been given the best opportunity to learn. Every piece of advice that I gave to somebody else I could apply to my own technique, I was no longer just teaching somebody else how to be better but also myself. It didn't matter that I was not being given instruction, it mattered that I had been given a chance to help others and myself at the same time.
Now, I assist with as many as four classes, not just to teach others but to make myself the best I can be. Being able to learn from what I teach others matters more than learning for myself ever did. I love being able to spread the knowledge that I have and learn from what the other students didn't have. They may not know it, but they are helping me learn more than I am teaching them.
Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development.
It's almost eleven and I'm all alone in the cold, dark garage. I have spent more than twelve hours working on a six foot tall, 120 pound, mechanical beast. Before our robotics competition, the dedicated members of the team such as myself put in at least fifteen hours a week to make sure that our robot can move, sense, and manipulate the challenges put forth.
When I joined the robotics club freshman year, I never imagined spending more than one or two hours a week in the cold, cramped garage that we call out robotics lab. Instead, I spent ten or more cutting metal, drilling holes or bolting parts together to ultimately create a competition ready robot. I had found my passion. I wasn't forced to stay in the lab and I could have left at any time, but I loved the work that I was doing and I never wanted to stop. My passion for robotics has grown since my freshman year, leading to my position as board member for two years and my current role as president of the Saint Francis Robotics Club.
I have learned many different skills from using power tools to welding and even some programming, but the most important skill I have learned is self motivated learning. We were left alone for the most part and only students worked on the robot. We learned from one another and did lots of research on the internet, Google was our friend. I know that my friends and I have continued to push ourselves to learn outside of robotics because we wanted to, not because we had to.
