Student profile

Accepted into UCSB, UCI, UCSC

GPA: 3.8

SAT/ACT: 1530

Extracurricular activities: Internship with debugging code and learning their language and editing for them, and editing for them

 

Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to group efforts over time.  

 

Tick. Tick. Tick. The hands of the clock seemed to speed up, adding to the stress of the moment. Frustration emanated through the silence, tension building as we attempted to brainstorm fundraiser ideas. ‘What about a NERF war?’ I said, somewhat jokingly.To my surprise, I was met with looks of relief instead of ridicule. 


As an officer of Harker UNICEF, a newly started club, I was confronted with the many logistical issues that accompany a newly created organization. As a new club, we were not allocated any resources to develop our budget and funding. However, we were determined to prove our worth and demonstrate the need for a club that made a larger scale difference.


Motivated by the positive feedback, I elaborated on my unconventional plan. Our officer team would pool money, bring our own NERF guns, and gather other supplies to make a NERF war possible. I checked the resource problem off our whiteboard. Next, the location. I sat down and emailed the supervisors of nearby parks to find a location for this event, and even friends with large backyards that could support a decent number of people running amok. With several days of work, we found an area for a grand total of ‘free’.


As we sold tickets throughout the week before the event, we discovered that we had almost double the turnout we had anticipated. This was unfeasible with the resources we had. I suggested extending the event over the weekend and having different time slots for students to sign up with their friends. The next day, we huddled together, awed by the contents of our cash box. Proudly, we made our first donation to UNICEF. 


Inspired by the feeling of accomplishment of our first successful endeavor, my fellow officers and I went on to continue our journey through Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF and the annual UNICEF Bay Area Snowflake Ball. By embracing creativity and my position as a leader, I rallied my team and a wide variety of other students to support a worthy cause and set a plan of making a real difference into motion.


WC: 350 

 

Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side. 

 

Walking onto the makeshift stage for an improv dance class, my stress melts away. As the ground begins to pulse from the bass of the music, steps come together in my mind and flush away even the most minute of worries. The movements flow rapidly and forcefully, a reflection of my previous mood, yet I feel relaxed. Dancing is my favorite way to express my creative side. 


I have always been fascinated by watching dance, and admire the confidence and beauty that skilled dancers exude. Starting off as a shy and insecure child, immersing myself in performance and theatrics helped cultivate a sense of pride in my work and self-confidence that can only be drawn from showcasing your talent. Performing always served as a creative outlet for me, and I often found myself retreating to the studio when academic/personal life pressures were getting out of hand. 


More than just a creative outlet, being a dancer also brought me closer to another community. The other girls in my dance company became like a second family, the studio like a second home. Having a space in my life where I had the ability to connect with other people who shared my creative passion gave me a set of lifelong friends who I would never have known otherwise.


Being part of a team was the most important factor in my creative growth that I absorbed from being a dancer. Reconciling creative differences while maintaining artistic integrity did not come easily. While dancing with others who were as invested as I was, choreographing together felt like a competition, and shook the sense of community I fell in love with. However, the solution to creative differences is born in creativity. As we began to improvise our routine, we naturally began to work off of each other’s movements and created a piece that incorporated all of our stylistic choices in harmony. 

As the song ends and we collapse onto the floor, I appreciate dance more than ever: a release from stress, a tightly-knit community, and a problem solver.

WC: 350


Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

 I inched into the classroom, trying to open the door as quietly as possible to avoid being noticed. At first I thought I might be able to sneak in, but as I entered, I knocked over a box of textbooks with a loud thud. all eyes flew to me. Then the whispers started, and I could no longer hear anything else. Saying something that I didn’t understand, the teacher motioned for me to sit down. 


The panic and discomfort I felt in that moment was all-consuming. Suddenly, everything I had come to know disappeared. This exact feeling translated throughout the transitional period, even after I had made friends and adjusted to campus. 


Being uprooted from my life, friends, and academic structure during the middle of my junior year was a jarring experience, and, consequently, a difficult transition to undergo. My mom’s company was ‘downsizing’, and with her job in scrutiny, switching to a public school was the best option to keep finances afloat. The timing was less than ideal. Thrown into the thick of AP and finals season, I spent my first week dazed and confused, attempting to figure out a way to regain control of my life. In most of my classes, my grades sank as I frantically searched for the fastest way to adjust to the change in pace and teaching styles I encountered. 

My grades dropping so intensely was a rude awakening for me. Shaken by the thought of months of hard work being lost, I quickly snapped back into my typical routine of determination and hard work. Along with this came the added benefits of spending all my free time catching up, teaching myself to fill in the lessons I missed, and practicing constantly to ensure that I had grasped all the material. Day after day I devoted myself to work, spending sleepless nights hoisting myself back up. Tiring as it was, the exhaustion was worth it, and I reached a mostly successful end. Despite the upheaval of my life during my most strenuous academic year, I was able to adjust, and eventually overcome.

 

WC: 346

 

 

Describe your favorite academic subject and explain how it has influenced you.


Locking the door behind me, I snuck into the bathroom with the last Harry Potter and climbed into the bathtub. Bored with the meaningless drawl of distant family asking me if I remembered them, which I didn’t, I wanted nothing more than to escape with my book. Loud knocks and a jingling doorknob jolted me out of my daze; I bolted out of the bathroom, guiltily smiling at my mom as I failed to sneak past her en route to my room. This was only the beginning. 


I often found myself in trouble at home for reading at the dinner table, in the bathroom, and at family events. My propensity to read whenever possible is what drew me to English. Through reading, I could do anything from getting lost in a fantasy world, going on adventures, and slaying dragons to immersing myself in the lives of people who inspire me. Naturally, English classes became my favorite.


Growing up, English was the first class that made me feel excited to learn. I have always been fascinated by of writing and language, how arbitrary strokes of a writing utensil can encapsulate the meaning of tangible objects and the most abstract of ideas. Through reading and writing, I place myself in the shoes of anyone else, and feel connected to a broader human experience.


As a result of my natural excitement about the subject, my confidence blossomed through English classes. When I first read ‘The Awakening’ I passionately hated Edna Pontellier. Yet, through class discussions, the highlight of any class, I learned to look at everyone, characters or people, with an open mind and multiple perspectives. Funnily enough, she became one of my favorite characters. She was a woman who craved freedom and a chance to be remembered, but burned out in a society that stifled her. Similar in my passion to achieve my dreams, but less limited by society, I drew inspiration from her strength, and the qualities and personalities of many other characters I got to know. From fantasy to non-fiction, every genre teaches me how to become a better human.

 

WC: 350