Free Write 5
This is a free write. For Purdue app.
Prompt: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences.
I first started learning taekwondo in 6th grade. Over the years, I've trained, tested, and rose to acquire a second-degree black belt. I enjoy taekwondo because
One of my favorite activities is taekwondo. Over the past six years, I've trained, taught, and tested to get the second-degree black belt I have today. Taekwondo is a great exercise for my body, but just as important are the other skills it has taught me. I've grown my perseverance through taking long, physically taxing belt tests. I've gained courage by committing to kicks and strikes to break wood boards. I've also learned to communicate and teach, as I helped teach younger students to learn tricky techniques or weapon disarms. Since I plan to study computer science, which involves a lot of sitting and looking at a computer monitor, I value taekwondo as a way to stay fit and active. I'm excited to continue this sport in college as well.
Prompt: How will opportunities at Purdue support your interests, both in and out of the classroom?
Since elementary school, both computers and space travel have captured my imagination and curiosity. I would like to study computer science at Purdue and grow my programming skills. My long-term goal is to write code that allows humanity to explore other planets.
I also want to find new friends in this field, and collaborate with them on fun coding projects, growing new relationships. I think Purdue is the perfect place to grow my knowledge so that I can further my career and achieve my goals.
Prompt: Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the major you have selected.
Programming has been my hobby ever since elementary school. I love thinking of random program ideas and turning them into functional products. I want to take the next step in my journey. While I've learned a lot through the internet, I found limits on how deep the courses went. I want to learn and understand the fundamentals, along with high-level concepts. I believe my major in Computer Science will allow me to reach that goal.
Prompt: Briefly discuss your reasons for pursuing the second choice major you have selected.
More recently, I encountered the field of cybersecurity through capture-the-flag puzzles and competitions. I enjoyed the problem-solving and satisfaction of finally breaking through a system to find the flag. I know that cybersecurity is a growing concern, especially as hacking presents itself as a threat to both businesses and nations. I am interested in learning more about this complex field.
Prompt: Explain your vision, ideas, or goals for how you hope to shape your honors experience while at Purdue. Please put this in the context of the four pillars which are the foundation of the John Martinson Honors College.
Outline:
1. Interdisciplinary Academics
2. Undergraduate Research
3. Community & Global Experiences
4. Leadership Development
Space is so incredibly vast. Millions upon millions of galaxies, each with their cloud of twinkling stars, each with their rocky planets and gas giants. Of course, all of them are completely inaccessible to us. All of those planets, except one. Every single human to have ever lived did so on Earth. I want to help change that. The next step right now towards that goal is to focus on my college education. I believe the honors program is the right step for me.
My future major is Computer Science. Computer Science is one of the most interdisciplinary fields in existence. Computers and software are used in basically every field, from surgery robots to the brains of rockets. As I'll elaborate on in the next essay, code is used for a wide variety of purposes. Studying a wide range of topics would allow me to apply my computer science more effectively.
One of my goals for entering the honors college are the research opportunities available. My dad was a scientific researcher at a few universities, and I remember watching him go through the process of running an experiment, writing the paper, and finally publishing it. I am excited by the prospect of contributing to our collective knowledge through research. I do not yet know what computer science research looks like, but I'm enthusiastic to find out.
As a Korean who has also lived in Delaware, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Montana, and Indiana, I feel that I have gotten a lot of global and multicultural experiences. I miss the international environment I had during elementary school in Saudi Arabia, and joining the honors college community would be a great remedy. In addition to meeting a diverse range of peers, I also aim to meet peers with a similar passion for computer science. Connecting with new people and making new friends is a high priority of mine.
Being the programming subgroup lead at my robotics team has shown me a lot about organizing and guiding our team, but I know there is more to learn. I would like to grow my skills in communication and motivation in order to become a better leader for the future. Being part of a team is a quintessential part of life and study, and I'm excited to meet and work with fellow students at Purdue.
I hope expand my knowledge, expand humanity's knowledge, share my experiences with my peers, and grow my leadership with my peers at the Honors College at Purdue. Through this process, I'll be one step closer to having my code bring people to Mars.
Prompt: Please describe the interdisciplinary nature of your chosen field of study and how it complements or supports other fields. (Examples: You might describe how your work in a liberal arts career may impact or inform the work of an engineer.)
Outline:
So many things around us have become computers. Phone? Computer. TV? Computer. Car? Computer. Personally, I believe that computer science is the most interdisciplinary field.
One of my other interests is in space exploration. I love watching rocket launches and groundbreaking missions. The rockets are the product of engineers and physicists, but computer science is a large part of it too. The physicists first ran computer simulations to calculate and validate the flight paths of the rocket. Engineers used design software and more simulations to test their creations. During the mission itself, computers control every aspect of the rocket from life support systems to igniting the engines. My dream is to contribute in this sector, using code to explore space.
In my free time, I also do graphic design work. Computers have had a large effect on art as well. I can create as many designs as I want, without having to worry about running out of paint. Development of art programs could create a whole wave of new art. One of the ways this could happen is through development of AI related to art. Recently, I tried out DALL-E 2, a text-to-art algorithm. It was amazing to see quality images in such little time. These tools could act as inspiration, mock-ups, or starting points for more creative works.
Another hobby is playing video games. I find games very interesting because they are the intersection point of so many different fields and jobs. Some people program, some create the art, and some write the story and dialogue of the characters. Any game that only excels in one aspect cannot succeed. A game is built around the outline created by the game designer, with limitations in scope from hardware and software limitations, which can inform level and art design. All the fields mix so tightly, and any one field affects the decisions of another. Computers also allow the clear and convenient communication of all these groups as well. Chat apps, calendars, and email are the backbone of business communication.
One of the reasons I am pursuing Computer Science is the wide variety of fields that I can contribute to. There will always be a way to use computers to make the process easier.