What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?
No matter what challenge I face or what setback I experience, I am always able to approach the problem from different angles and look for new ways to address the problem. This skill has been very useful to me and I have been able to apply it to situations both in and out of the classroom.
One instance where I used this skill was when I was in band. While I was tuning my instrument, I noticed that although my tuning notes were correctly pitched, most of my other notes were pitched too low. Instead of listening to the two tuning notes like I was taught I made a decision to adjust my instrument so that the tuning notes sounded wrong but the majority of my range sounded in tune. In this case, I was able to analyze the situation and instead of having to bend the pitch of many notes to play in tune, I only needed to watch out for the pitch of two notes. This was the beginning of the many times I would approach a problem from a different angle.
I would eventually develop this skill further in my academic classes. For example, in calculus there are problems involving derivatives that have to be solved using the quotient rule. Using the quotient rule can be complicated because it often involves denominators with complex expressions. I thought of the idea of bypassing the quotient rule by rewriting the mathematical function in a form without the fraction. The new function was multiplied by the inverse of an expression instead of being divided. This method allowed me to keep all the components of the problem in the numerator and made finding the derivative less confusing. Having the skill to recognize easier ways to solve a problem has helped me significantly in my classes.
Throughout my time in high school, I have utilized my analytical skills fruitfully. I am sure my talent will be put to good use at UCLA.