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?
I love mathematics. My dad loves mathematics. Even my mom loves mathematics. My family gets excited over discovering the beauty of math. When I was young, my mom and I would sit at a desk and spend hours solving one or two problems from the Math Olympiad. My dad, then, would come out of nowhere and solve the question in a twinkle and quietly disappear while my mom and I are caught in awe. Whenever the word "math" comes up, my family unites. Math's real beauty lies in its paradoxical characteristics: it is simple but complex. Even though math has defined rules, it requires thinking outside of the box to solve the problem.
I have always wanted to spread the magic of mathematics. The passion has been deeply embedded in me for years when I finally found the perfect place to pursue my passion. The Gangseo Child Learning Development Center, a non-profit organization in South Korea, offered me an opportunity to teach mathematics. I noticed that most of the kids at the center were noticeably smaller than other kids their age: they were little, skinny, and infirm.
Despite my nervousness, I dove right in with the mathematical formulae I knew. However, I soon realized that the kids had never been introduced to the most elementary concepts of math. For example, they didn't know "PEMDAS," an acronym for the order arithmetic takes. Continuously confusing the order of operations, the children kept getting lost while solving problems. I adjusted my teaching plan and decided to give them a solid foundation in the basics. I taught them how to survive in the realm of basic math problems. After a week went by, I was pleasantly surprised to find the kids actually interested in mathematics! They were all learning far more than I had anticipated.
As I watched their progress, I saw the meaningfulness of serving my community and found clarity in the joy it gives me. I discovered that the blend of education and my passion for math is a promising combination. I started thinking about how I could turn the combination into a profession. Teaching requires a complete understanding of the taught concept. Even though I was teaching basic skills, I benefited from reinforcing the essential mathematical ideas in myself. Though I cannot say how big of an impact I had on the children, I know that they have greatly influenced me - they helped me discover my dream, what I want to do in the future. Dedicating my skills to my community has become a vital component of my life.
Having successively taught young students how to analyze pure math, I realized that math and education were the areas I wanted to expand upon in my future studies. Perhaps I could be a professional educator at a higher level, or an applied mathematician with a base of engineering. Regardless of where I end up, I am confident that the passion and motivation I gained from teaching math will stay with me and continue to inspire me.
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?
I always felt sorry for my dad during my childhood because I was not a boy; I felt like I left him to be the lone male in the house. My dad had dreams about the things he would do with a son: cycling around the whole country; staging impromptu taekwondo matches in the living room; relaxing on a Sunday evening watching a live broadcast of a national soccer game. Unfortunately for my dad, these turned out to be dreams and no more. As a child, I was a girly girl, and my dad had to cultivate his more tender side to embrace the "girly things" to get closer to me. Nonetheless, my dad never gave up and invited me in his "manly activities," one in particular, cycling.
On a nice summer day of 2012, my dad unexpectedly invited me to go on a bike ride. My father's undying zeal for cycling was successful in dragging me onto the bike. I secretly prayed for a storm or a hurricane warning that would end the excursion. Being monsoon season, it was a very humid day in Korea. The heat was unbearable, but the cycling trip was unavoidable. Since it was unavoidable, I decided to savor the experience.
Riding a two-wheeler for 159 kilometers is not an easy task, especially for someone who has never ridden one before. The experience, though, was different from what I had initially expected. The first 50 kilometers were more than manageable; working the treadle, I easily rode my bike forward. The machine was fantastic! So I led the way, teasing my dad's slowness and puffing. Nevertheless, as expected, the next 50 kilometers was disastrously challenging. Dad did not help me. He stayed behind letting me set my own pace. Although dad was within sight, I was essentially by myself. Alone, with my earnest zeal, I was successful on keeping myself on track. Checking my whereabouts on the trail, I challenged myself. As the summit came closer, I pedaled more vigorously. My ardor and patience did not let me down. My back was bent like bamboo, my legs were about to melt, and my face was drenched in suffocating pink sweat. Nevertheless, I kept peddling.
Suddenly just as I was to about give up and walk beside my bicycle, my mind unlocked like Pandora's Box spilling out an epiphany. The journey was like reaching in and finding a treasure. The bicycle trip was my first experience of self-discovery. Despite the 60 kilometers ahead of me, the evening of the first day of the trip, I felt a sense of newness, wonderment, and completion. I realized that on that day, my dad finally got what he wanted - a child, now a young adult, who he can share his passions and make dreams come true: his dream of cycling around the country with his child had become true.
For the record, I still hate cycling (not really).
Wow thank you sooo much! Yeah some people said the exactly thing that you just said. I think I did not elaborate who myself is in the second essay. I should work more. HAHA Thank you so much by the way.
And I believe that for UC supplement "both" (1+2) essay should be no more than 1000 words.
UC application says, "Personal Statement 1 and 2, when added together, can be no more than 1,000 words."
Anyways, wow, I really appreciate your comment! can you keep looking forward my essays??????????
As you know, I am not an American, nor person who speaks english as a first language, I need a lot of help...
I will think more about these essays and show you! Thank you soooooo much!!!!
Can you look this essay? for second question.
This is about my challenging experience. Does this fit to second UC essay prompt?
The election for school president was coming. Six years ago in South Korea, I, with full of pride, prepared for the election. With posters and pamphlets that had a nice pretty picture of me, my friends and I campaigned until the election day came. Because I had been class representatives for six years in my school, I was pretty confident to be selected as a school president. I believed that I had built up trust with many friends. It was a time to bring a successful conclusion in my last year of elementary school. Being a leader was my ultimate goal.
I lost an election by four votes. For a young girl, it was a miserable moment in my life. After I failed in an election, I could have a time to look back upon my past treatment toward others. When I collected my useless poster, I saw the scribble on my poster "pretentious" I burned with shame.
Afterwards, my characteristic was changed. I became timid, afraid of what I heard from others. However, this was not a solution after being defeated. It was the time to realize who I was: I had always wanted to be the leader that everyone turned to, but I didn't realize how many people working behind the scenes it took to make a great leader. I finally grasped what is more important than just being a leader. I started appreciating those who serve silently out of view from us. It was not all to be confident and directing people. Thus, I started helping the school representative by participating in the broadcasting club: I consistently checked microphone's quality on a representative's platform and filmed morning assembly led by the school president.
The leaders were quiet useless without supporting people. I had tried to be a leader without supporters. As a supporter, I myself became more valuable person, recovering my past confidence. Through trial and error, I made myself straight. I am so proud of realizing how valuable supporting others is. Even though such event is challenging to me, this made me more precious human being. Now, I am as confident as anyone else is.
I am not sure if this fits because the value of supporting others does not relate to the fact that others failed to support you in your election. At the same time it is hard to see how it relates to you as a person. A good example of something fitting this would be placing in the top 15 at a cross country race. It fits well because it requires you to fully exert yourself physically all summer and constantly try and improve your race times. It also fits because it may high-light your determination as a person because previously maybe you were not the fastest runner but was willing to do whatever it takes. A good example fitting a personal quality could be your helpfulness towards others. So for prompt two you can talk about how you want to share the experience of math with others.
E.g.
One time, I was chilling with the NHS math tutoring with the Bros Seong Hwa and Justin Bartell. When we were not practicing calculus together we were helping others with topics from algebra II to calculus. It felt good to give back to less-advantaged students who apparently sat through a lesson without the solution "clicking" in their heads.
With the deftness and slightness of hand, I picked up the dry erase marker. Dong Sun, my mathematical differential equations professor at the university, always had a clear cut, no-bullshit explanation for the seemingly complex concept. I always admired the way he would glide across the room with the marker making swirls and other curvilinear shapes that dotted the board.
His confidence so beautiful in deriving differential equations with Euler's method. Every day was a new set of cursive letters or advanced methods of differential equations. I felt the same ease as he did while describing logarithms to TJ Rowetta. I consider it my job to simplify specific types of math problems into 5 or so steps. It dismays me to see students who try and invent their own math. I tell them, this has been around for hundreds of years. Follow these steps and go through the same problem solving and you should be good on most problems.
This is just an example...see how I expanded this? and made it me.
This isn't the best...haven't done essay writing in a while. Wish I could help more but I have a few hours of hw to finish up
