1.) Describe the world you come from - for example, your family, community or school - and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.
Growing up in a Korean-American family, I lived my entire life up to this point in quite the affluent family. During my childhood and in my teenage years, I've always had plenty of toys, games, and any other entertaining gizmos a kid could want. You could say that I, as the younger brother, was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and my parents, while the strict Asian parents they were, unfortunately ended up spoiling me, and repeatedly told me that I am a smart and intelligent child who will do well in school. My older brother, however, experienced the opposite, in that my parents were extremely hard on him, and forced him to put out 110% effort. I still performed well in school, until a certain point that is. My grades were nothing to write home about, but my performance was just a couple places short of exceptional. However, as I entered high school, things took a turn for the worse. Sophomore and Junior year caught me with my pants down as my performance in those years was disgustingly horrible. When my parents began to notice my grades suddenly take a dive, they were extremely disappointed to say the least. They compared me to my brother, who did exceptionally well when he was my age, and continuously asked me as much as they did themselves: What happened to the intelligent child that got good grades as was expected? Everything changed as my reputation suddenly flipped from the 'smart kid' to the 'absent-minded idiot.' It was absolutely humiliating. I asked myself what caused me to screw up. It wasn't until midway past my Junior year that I realized why. I grew up completely spoiled with little sense of discipline. I grew up with my parents telling me I am smart and would always do well in school, and therefore, because of this "reassurance," I effectively did not even study. I then saw the glaring contrast between my brother and I, in that he grew up with the typical strict Asian parents, while I experienced the more lenient side of our parents. I had to do a serious reality check: Was I going to live my entire life with no discipline and work ethic, or work to improve my work habits for the future? Obviously I chose the latter. It was much easier said than done, but regardless, I have taken great strides in improving myself in terms of grades and work ethic. I have worked out different studying methods and stuck with what works best for me at the moment. I have, however, experienced quite a few setbacks at the same time though, don't get me wrong, but I know I have taken more steps forward than back, and I will continue to improve myself throughout my life. I like to see my reality check as a much needed slap in the face, that life doesn't hand you success on a silver-platter. That you have to work hard to get what you want, and that nobody is 'too smart' to get through life without putting forth any effort.
2.) 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?
Placing high in the Geforce Starcraft II online tournament was one of the few goals I had during my junior year. Starcraft II (SC2) is a real time strategy game for the PC, and though it may be laughable that I took a computer game tournament seriously, it played quite a huge role in my life. I was decent at the game, and when I found out about this tournament, I decided to try and place at least in the top 10 in order to be eligible for a prize. With 10,000 total competitors, this was not going to be easy. My first couple matches were a breeze, but I knew that my tournament group had a high level player whose skills were a substantial amount greater than mine. When the day to face him came, I had butterflies in my stomach. It was a feeling no different than visiting the doctor's for the first time. When the match started, I was afraid to be aggressive, this guy was ranked in the top 2% of the country, I had almost no chance. Just when I was about to slouch my shoulders and play a weak and pathetic game, I thought of a famous SC2 player, who goes by Jung 'MVP' Hyun. He is well known for being able to turn a game around while at a horrible disadvantage, and he also suffers from Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but he consistently wins the GSL, the toughest SC2 tournament in the world. Even when he has forces working against him, he never gives up, and is able to maintain his status of the #1 player in the world. I thought I was in a sort of similar situation. But I was against someone who greatly outclassed me, and I was nervous and shaking. I was afraid to lose. But maybe, just maybe, if I try my best, I can at least take a game off him. So I gritted my teeth, looked fear in the eye, and pulled no punches against my opponent. I emerged with a 2-1 victory in a best of three series. I continued to play with this mentality of never backing down in my following matches. Eventually, my efforts propelled me to the 'Tournament Phase' which was made up of about 300 people out of the 10,000 that first joined. The competition here was gruesome, and even with my best foot forward, this was as far as I could go as I was subsequently eliminated in the second round. I may not have gotten to the top ten. But I did learn something. I would never have gotten this far if I never buckled down and did not give up. You can't do well in life if you give up at the first sign of trouble. Come hell or high water, I will not give in easily.
