The one thing that compelled me so much about Carnegie Mellon was the programs that are offered. I am interested in taking classes in both business and medicine, and when I spoke to an admissions representative at a college fair, she had just the right program that fit for me. In addition to that, being from a very urban area, I was looking for something similar when I moved away. Being in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania, I couldn’t go wrong with moving to Pittsburgh...
I live in Singapore, a highly meritocratic society that places a strong emphasis on academic success. Academic grades are seen as objective measures of a student’s ability and identity; the competitive education system otherwise grants little recognition to success beyond academic performance. In particular, the arts are seen as fields for the “less accomplished” students who do not perform as well in school...
When I was four, my “Tiger Mother” brought me up in a completely traditional Asian way – my childhood was filled with a multitude of lessons in violin, piano, ballet, and swimming. It was through this upbringing that I discovered my passion for the violin. Since then, I’ve performed with the Singapore National Youth Orchestra for 7 years, not only on local platforms, but also in international festivals such as the 10th Florence International Youth Music Festival and the 46th Aberdeen International Youth Festival...
A few years ago, in my Music Theory class, I learned about the harmonic series – a basic concept in the study of music that essentially explores the multilayered nature of sound produced by a vibrating string. A year later, to my amazement, the same content turned up in one of my Physics classes, and consequently, I learned the scientific reasoning behind the multilayered quality of sound...
"I thought you were our friend," Tim muttered, only half-joking. I asked the guys on the tennis team to gather the balls and was met with groans and murmured jabs. They picked up the balls, dragging their feet as if they were laden with bricks. I thought being captain would be an enjoyable experience, but I couldn't have been further from the truth.
It was a difficult transition towards leadership...
When answering the question "Why Northwestern?", I can easily resort to the myriad facts offered on the university's website and in the school's viewbook. I can cite the fact that the overall student-faculty ratio is seven to one, or I can drop the names of a few famous alumni, such as Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and Stephen Colbert. I can praise the school's social, yet erudite, atmosphere, or the student body's rich diversity, or the sheer breadth of study offered at the campus...
The game is not played with others but the self. They say ‘mind over matter’ but do they truly know what that requires; how much mind, how much matter? Umysł nad materią is how it would be said in Polish if one was so inclined. The body can do amazing things if the mind can be pushed enough. Who tells the mind when to go past its own limits? What shuts off the mind when it gets too boisterous, too easily swayed, too pessimistic?..
Strangely, I have never truly put into words what happened on December 3rd, 2011 and how deeply it has impacted me. I think about this race every day of my life. It has fueled my most intense workouts while also bringing me to tears without warning. It has had a profound effect on how I view most everything in my life.
The days leading up to this race were the most exciting and the most focused I have experienced in my short life...
Mindlessly jotting down formulas, variables, trigonometric functions, and such I pleaded with my myself to remember those minute details which, of course, were on my final exam. Putting the (somewhat) finished product down on the table and walking out of Jepson 104 I could not tell if I was happy or distraught. Yes, finally, I was done with this excruciating Calculus class, which for whatever reason I am required to take to be a Business school major...
I knew I had a problem when I saw the plastic water bottle atop a previously immaculate bush. I looked around knowing the only explanation for this was Angel, the fourth grade boy who within five minutes had already proven to be the trouble child. After spending the last hour teaching a lesson on pollution, I couldn’t believe that he had just done the exact opposite of what I had told him not to do...
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