Eating at HoHo’s (a “Chinese” restaurant in Blairstown, NJ) was one of my favorite parts of being away at boarding school. I had grown to love American Chinese food. Whether consuming fried rice from an oyster pail, scientifically measuring the perfect ratio of soy sauce to duck sauce (which was certainly not served in Asia), or opening a pseudo-philosophical fortune cookie, I savored the experience. Before coming to the US, my parents had warned me about American Chinese food�...

Utilizing Brown’s curriculum, I will study nothing but everything I want to study. I will always be in class with peers enthusiastic to learn about their interests. Taking advantage of the unique academic freedom Brown offers, I will delve into all sorts of intellectual discussions with top professors and inquisitive, passionate students. I will debate the internal conflicts of nation-states in Nationalism: Problems, Paradoxes and Power, and analyze diverse states’ marketization with classmates in Economic Development and Social Change. ...

Political science fascinates me. More specifically, I am interested in the politicization of identity. Everywhere, citizens are divided over nationality and wealth, creating visible, coinciding societal cleavages. To understand this, I dedicated my summer to reading books like On Violence and Concept of the Political. I also want to learn how people make economic decisions. So, I am taking AP Microeconomics, learning about supply and demand, market structures, and game theory. I also use other opportunities to advance my knowledge....

The finish line is close. “Power ten!” my coxswain Gareth yells at the top of his lungs. Exhausted and gasping for breath, I grip the oar hard, dig into the water, and pull. Rowing practice is a nightmare. I often emerge with new blisters on my fingers and my toes; I have thrown up on the erg (rowing machine) multiple times a week; I have considered quitting on multiple occasions. But I have come to realize that the rowing team...

Political science fascinates me. More specifically, I am interested in the politicization of identity politics. Everywhere, citizens are divided over nationality and wealth, creating visible, coinciding societal cleavages. To understand others’ viewpoints, I dedicated my summer to reading books like On Violence and Concept of the Political. I also want to learn how people make economic decisions. So, I am taking AP Microeconomics, learning about supply and demand, market structures, and game theory. I also use other opportunities to advance...

My parents were raised as farmers, but left the world of agriculture for an urban lifestyle in a global metropolis, where opportunities seemed endless. I have made the opposite choice. After 14 years of living in the city, I travelled from Hong Kong to the idyllic, peaceful Blairstown, New Jersey. I miss the city excitement, hustle and bustle, and compactness, but I love the countryside peace, quiet, and vastness. Seeing the clear contrast between the two places, I have become fascinated...

I spent a lot of time pondering the book A Seventh Man by Jean Mohr and John Berger. Though I was not its target audience, I felt the volume challenged me, because it outlines and critiques a mindset that I have. The book uses photography and text to describe migrant workers’ lives. The authors argue that migrants work not for their families, but for an image of those people formed years or decades before. When workers return to the places...

I set my alarm to go off at 7:17am every morning. This is not an arbitrary choice. I am particularly fond of this number. Practically speaking, waking up at 7:17 maximizes the time I have to shower and eat breakfast, but also maximizes the amount of sleep I can get. 7:15 is too early, 7:20 is too late. More importantly, 7:17 is mathematically beautiful. 7 and 17 are both prime numbers. Moreover, 17 is the 7th prime. And, taking the two together, 717 is a number with interesting...