Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes
you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?
(350 words)
I have experienced the best of both worlds. I live in Mianyang, my place of birth,
and study in Chengdu, two different worlds connected by a two-hour drive.
From the beginning, my time spent in Chengdu was rewarding. Stepping into
the classroom of my high school, for the first time, where classmates were talking
with accents of the local dialect, was a little intimidating. “Hi”, I said to a girl who had
turned around and smiled to me. That was how I met my first friend, Chang, and got
to know many others. Thus, Chengdu became familiar and comfortable to me.
Actually my high school soon made me feel at home. I was more than happy to help
my peers learn science, to prepare ourselves as a team for competitions. Chang and
I founded the school science club, and initiated a science fair in the past summer. I
enjoy passing my passion in science to all my schoolmates in our loved community.
Reaching the other end of the highway that connected my two worlds, I
returned to Mianyang, observing the familiar bright neon light billboard ad, for the
city’s ecological agriculture program, which towered over the exit road. I went to a
popular local café, Mica, to meet my old friends from middle school. We ordered our
favorite coffee and enjoyed our time sharing our anecdotes, and sometimes asked
for advice for any challenges that one needed to overcome. To my surprise, I found
that we could offer much more help to one another when we are from different high
schools where diverse perspective are fostered. Though I do not see them every
weekend and, as the years go by, spend less time in Mianyang, I do not feel any
different yet.
Moving back and forth on the highway between two places, I enjoy this pattern
of routine migration because I encounter new things while maintaining my old life.
With much hope, I am anticipating a new migration pattern, over the vast oceans,
between China and the USA, to make my own impact to a brand new world.