I am, first and foremost, a scientist. I treat my existence like a massive experiment, constantly questioning why things are—or simply are not. To me, anything that has not been proven is a theory. Secondly, I am an optimist of sorts; the glass is completely full, because air has mass, and so takes up the other half that the water does not. By those two ideals, I can believe that there is a God, if only because there is no proof otherwise...
At school, I play symphonic band pieces. But with friends, I play Jazz.Jazz is emotion. It is bebop excitement, ballad love, bluesy pain. Jazz is the music of the soul, originally meant to stir feet and hearts into happy dancing, later evolved into the cavorting of fingers on keys and notes in air. Duke Ellington took stiff, straight eighth notes and made them Swing. Charlie Parker swept those notes up into a flurry of speed and dexterity. Ella Fitzgerald joined the fray, smooth scatting scattering overhead...
I find that low student to faculty ratio offered by Columbia is very appealing because it allows me as a student to get the help I may need. Secondly, it allows me to get to know my peers better and form a close group of cooperative individuals, rather than get lost in the crowd of a much larger class...
I value efficiency in all that I do because I know that my time is limited and I intend to utilize it to the best of my ability. I admire intelligence because it enables people to accomplish just about anything, so long as they have the right resources. I believe in the necessity of the will to put in the effort necessary to complete a task. I believe in this because without the will to put in the effort to accomplish one’s wants or goals, nothing will ever be accomplished...
I have always been taught to do the best that I could with what I had. This has led me to do all that I could do to learn about what I have been taught. This has led me to take AP classes not just for the better grade point average or college credit, but because I knew I would learn a plethora of knowledge in AP courses, and not as much in non-AP courses. I have thought about the opportunities I have been given, to live in a country where an education is not just cherished, but expected...
The experience that is most important to me is working with my father. Working with with him, I have gained a plethora of knowledge, not only because of the work I have done with him, but because he uses words like plethora when he can to teach me all he can along the way. From plumbing to cars, I have taken on a wide variety of tasks with him, and learned something from every one of them. The time I have spent with him has instilled important values in me, as well as shaped my work ethic...
My family has a long history of being involved in the multiple aspects of racing thoroughbred horses. As a result of this I was given the unique opportunity to learn how to ride and gallop a racehorse. Beginning in tenth grade during the school year, my father, a farrier, took me to a nearby ranch to teach me about the basics of galloping and maintaining a horse...
My family has always been one of support and guidance, but it was made evident to me that if I desired something: I was ultimately the one who would have to put in the effort to make it happen. They have bestowed upon me an abundance opportunities and knowledge, but it was during the time spent working with my father that I became fascinated with machines and their inner workings. I have become intrigued by machines such as the world’s largest tunneling drill which can bore through the earth and simultaneously reinforce the ceiling of the tunnel it constructs, and by the ability of machines to convert chemical energy into physical energy...
That fall in English I was asked to parallel a summer reading book to my life. With Native Speaker the better question is: how doesn’t it parallel my life? It’s a book on the Korean American immigrant experience. I think of a cartoon I saw once in the New Yorker: a snarky guy walks into a bookstore and snaps, “I want something that’s aimed directly at me.” That’s how Native Speaker felt...
When others find out that I want to be a pharmacist, many times I get the question, “Why not a doctor?” Ever since I was young, I’ve been fascinated by how medicines work – how one tiny pill can make you all better. As a first generation Asian American, I’ve also wondered about Eastern medicine, which was a constant part of my life growing up. I always wondered how mixing various roots in boiling water or other kinds of Eastern medicines was capable of treating ailments that could also be treated with pills...
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