Mathematics and technology: University of Illinois Essay (Academics/Goals)

In an essay of 300 words or less, please discuss your academic interests and/or professional goals.

Important factors considered by the review committee when evaluating the essays are:
ˇ How the applicant ties his or her academic interest to the desired major or, if applying to the Division of General Studies, how the applicant explains his or her varied interests and need for exploration.

ˇ How the applicant showcases his or her passion through chosen activities, work experience, research, or course selection in high school.
ˇ How the essay reveals maturity and growth through past experiences, evidence of character development, cultural insight, community awareness, and/or leadership. Strength of writing is carefully considered throughout all the application essays.

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Mathematics and technology have been fields of interest for me since childhood. In fact, the only subject that truly interested me before high school was math. During my sophomore year in high school, I decided to take a course that sparked my interest, Computer Science. The process of making programs and then utilizing those same programs to solve complex problems amazed me. After excelling in the course during my sophomore year, I wanted to continue with the subject, and decided to take AP Computer Science A the next year. I was easily able to grasp new concepts and come up with unique ways to solve problems by writing programs. However, many of my friends struggled with completing programs on time and consistently scored poorly on tests. To help the struggling computer science students, and dwell even further into the computer science field, I started a programming club. Being the president of the club, I gained much needed experience as a leader.

During the summer of my junior year, I pursued my interest in computer science further by doing an internship with "Vivare", a software development company. This experience allowed me to gain insight on how programming and computer science are applied in the working field.

The next step to get closer to my goal of pursuing a career in the computer science field is to attend a university that offers a high-quality computer science major. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is the perfect choice for me because it is one of the top ranked schools for computer science in the nation. I can't wait to learn more about programming and explore the computer science field even further.

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ANY HELP IS APPRECIATED, THANKS!

elaborate a bit (maybe a sentence) on how did you become a leader. University boards are looking for such descriptions.

oceanus, I maybe no expert but I think you change some of your words to more interesting choices like say instead of

To help the struggling computer science students

To facilitate the distressed students

Make it seem more WOW, you know. Try and put it short and sweet so that way you can explain yourself more.

Use a colon here:
...a course that sparked my interest: Computer Science.

This is going to be great! You seem so smart and humble.
The process of making programs and then utilizing those same programs to solve complex problems amazed me. ---I like this sentence.

After excelling in the course during my sophomore year, I wanted to continue with the subject, so I decided to take AP Computer Science A the next year. I was easily able to easily grasp new concepts and come up with unique ways to solve problems by writing programs.

I can't wait to learn more about programming and explore the computer science field even further. --- this sentence is good in a way I cannot explain. It has naturalness.

Thanks alot for the input guys!

Whatever you do... please do not say "I want to go to a school because it is highly ranked." It might hurt your argument and make you seem shallow. Although honesty, from the content of the essay, I think you can get in.