I started playing chess when I was six. Even then, I could feel the tension loaded in every move. It seemed like fun. Plus, the pieces were knights, kings, castles, queens, and I had always been a lover of myths and heroic tales. Chess couldn’t have held more appeal.  I started by just moving the pieces, alone, when no one was watching. When my father saw me, he showed me the basics, and soon I was off and running....

During a training session in New York City for the top scholastic chess players in the country, chess legend Garry Kasparov told me, “Chess shouldn’t consume your life. Studying the board means nothing if you do not study the world.” With this idea in mind, I began my college process. My first tour was at Columbia University. Walking up the steps to Butler Library, I was struck by the diversity throughout the student body that extended far beyond purely...

Why engineering? At my Columbia Engineering information session, the speaker wrapped up his talk with a striking comment: “Engineering is unlike any other profession. It requires you to think in another dimension and link seemingly unrelated topics. We need you to become tomorrow’s engineers, to solve the problems that will become critical for the world’s future.” I realized that an engineering degree would give me the skills to solve real world problems. My first encounter with this type...

Something you find meaningful about a book. The book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell was the most intriguing book I have ever read. The author focuses on a technique called “thin-slicing,” or unconscious mental processes that operate quickly from a small amount of information. The book discusses the presence of this technique in a wide array of fields ranging from science to sales, politics to art. When Gladwell began discussing how instinctive decisions could be more beneficial than drawn-out considerations, I...

Favorite class and why. Ever since my early childhood, I read. I read books, magazines, papers, whatever I could get my hands on. I didn’t watch television like other children (this was probably because I lived in an Asian household - the TVs were unplugged anyway). As a result of television deficiency, when I went to American school for the first time, my learning style was largely text-based, so it was no surprise to me that English was my...

For the first sixteen years of my life, I was sure that I was going to pursue a career in engineering. I excelled in the math and sciences ever since grade school and after I was admitted to the top math and science high school in the country, it seemed pretty clear what my career path would be. Indeed, in the summer before my senior year, I applied to be a research intern under Dr. Thomas Papathomas, the director of...

I would say that you shouldn't shy from embellishment in your college essays. The most successful college essays I've seen tend to be a bit more on the bombastic side. You also want there to be a story that ties everything together. Your essays should paint the picture that you want the readers to see. From these essays, the reader will think that I'm a student who goes to an engineering high school who loves the humanities, who has grown...

Definitely send additional materials after...

The interview is pretty important - don't be...

Most of my scholarships came...

I had a lot of extracurriculars in...

I turned down MIT, Columbia, and a few other schools to attend Princeton. For me, it was...

Location, suburbia,...

My research professor whom I spent two summers with. Doing...

My extracurriculars, namely...

Do research and...

Work in...