Describe your favorite academic subject and explain how it has influenced you. (350)
It was the 2nd semester of my junior year, and I was sitting in math class attacking an especially challenging calculus problem. The rest of the students scratched their heads and flipped through our textbook as if they had given up. I racked my brain for answers to no avail. As I saw some people leaving out of the corner of my eye, the gears in my head finally started to spin at an unimaginable speed. Before I knew it, I was frantically writing various equations and solutions down. I kept going and refused to stop. Forty minutes later, when I was the only one left in the classroom, I went to go check my answer and my teacher was surprised--I had solved the problem but had spent all of lunch doing so. At that moment, I knew that my future would be filled with math.
Although I love math because of it’s various interesting concepts such as integration, and the fact that you’re driving toward one clear solution, I’ve realized over the years that many other students don’t. It seems that many of them do not have a complete understanding for the subject, but they start to hate how difficult it is before getting to the fun and interesting parts. On the other hand, I work on a math problem the way others get engrossed in a book.
I wanted to share this passion and to help people not only understand math, but also enjoy it. During my sophomore and junior years, I became a math tutor at a local elementary school. At the same time, I spent countless hours during my lunch, study hall and after school time, helping friends and classmates think about math from my perspective. I am now working as an independent tutor to two girls from Singapore who have previously struggled with math.
I hope to be able to expand my tutoring to other students during my college years so that more people can learn to love this profound subject.
Word Count: 336