Essay of UIUC : From a film editor to a computer scientist.

Prompt: Explain your interest in the major you selected. Describe an experience related to that area of study, what first introduced you to this field, and/or your future career goals. Limit your response to 300-400 words.

Having been a film editor in high school for over two years, I've always made contact with computers and been curious about their power. Through what magic can the computer shape videos into graceful movies? How does the editing software function? Therefore, in eleventh grade, I took some computer science courses online to find the answers.

In those courses, as I learned more and more basic programming skills, I gradually realized that computer science is a creative process which allows me to apply those skills in my own way. With this understanding, I formed the idea of creating something by myself. Since I always edited video pieces and I learned that a video is just a combination of numerous pictures, I decided to start from designing a simple picture editing software. At first, I wrote a group of simple codes to control the color of pixel through changing the strengths of red, green and blue by various degrees. However, because an image may contain millions of pixels, I found it would be impossible to write millions groups of codes to control the color of every pixel in a picture. To solve this problem, I searched online and found a powerful tool-For Loop which could run a group of codes millions of times to let my codes function in a whole picture. Therefore, with a combination of my codes and the For Loop, I successfully made my own picture editing software which could work as both a color filter and a brightness regulator through controlling the color value of pixels by different rates, quite simple but still with its own grace.

My simple picture editing software let me realize how powerful a few lines of words, punctuations and numbers can be in computer programming, and it made me eager to delve deeper in this field. For my personal future, I hope to combine my love for computer science and filmmaking to design my personalized film editing software. Moreover, I also hope to build my own filmmaking studio through some interdisciplinary collaborations with other engineers. The College of Engineering at U of I would definitely be the place where I can realize my dream.

(362words)

Edward, when you start discussing your last paragraph, I believe that it would be best if you focused solely on your future plans instead of continuing a partial discussion of what your experience with the computer software was like. By removing the line "My simple picture editing software let me realize how powerful a few lines of words, punctuations and numbers can be in computer programming, and it made me eager to delve deeper in this field." and placing it at the end of the previous paragraph instead, you will find that the sentiment will have been better placed within the overall set up of the essay. It does not serve well as the introductory sentence in the next paragraph because this sentence does not relate to your future career plans and goals.

With regards to your future plans, make sure to mention if you plan to take a masters degree course in the future. Such kinds of plans often help to impress the reviewer because it delivers the impression that you are serious about your academics and you will take your career preparation path all the way to its ultimate goal. Present the idea of developing your personal film editing software as a stand alone paragraph so that you can fully develop and present the idea behind that ambition. If you can convince the reviewer that you have some pretty feasible plans for your future that the university can help you to accomplish, it will be easier for you to gain consideration as a future student at the university.

You did some pretty good work in responding to the prompt. Each requirement was addressed with clarity,despite the word count limitation. In fact, that particular paragraph is really the longest in the essay when it can actually be shortened for content and relevance to your application. If I were you, I would try to shorten the paragraph about the way you used that pixel software so that you will have more word count left for the thorough or at least partially informative future plans discussion for yourself in the essay.

- ThroughW hat magic can the computer shape videos make into graceful movies?

- In those courses, as I learned more and moreon basic programming skills,
- SinceAs I always edited video pieces and I learned that a

- My simple picture editing software letmade me realize how

Edward, as you can see I made a few corrections on your essay, I hope it helped. More over, I see your essay as a process of how your interest evolved from film editing to computer, however, I hope that you can strengthen your essay to be more inclined towards the academic side of the purpose of this essay.

Thank you so much. You guys really helped me a lot.

Thanks a lot, but could you be more specific on the "academic side" you mention? Do you mean my academic goals or the courses? Can you give me some examples to let me get your idea better?