<p>YES! WWMS. :D! Who are you Noober?? God, I miss WWMS… Cali is… different :[ </p>
<p>edit: OH! ARE YOU NORTON?! I heard from Isleyn that you got into Cornell ED! Congrats! :)</p>
<p>Hey CommunistHunter, the thread was not directed at you; I just thought it was a coincidence how there were two threads about chances and they were both Russian publishers. I just couldn’t resist. xP If others are comparing us, then well, that’s their freedom of speech.</p>
<p>Haha yea, Majman, I certainly do hope GPA and ranking won’t totally disqualify me. :[</p>
<p>Here are my essays: (uhhh… just to say beforehand. they aren’t very good… I’m not really a solid writer ><" any suggestions welcomed even though I can’t really change it now xD)</p>
<p>Common App Prompt: </p>
<p>It was pitch black outside my window. I groaned as I looked up at the clock. 3 AM. Time to get up. I tried desperately to finish up my REM cycle by taking a shower with my eyes closed. Another Saturday; another flea market day.</p>
<p>This routine started near the end of my freshman year when my father found himself unemployed. Used to relative comfort and luxury, I did not easily adjust to the unexpected shift of my family’s economic status. Following a colleague’s advice, my parents decided to sell shoes at flea markets to maintain our lifestyle and to be able to support my aging grandparents. My weekends became fully absorbed with this newfound occupation, and I was left with little time for school and other activities. I tried to hide my embarrassment by attempting to fit everything into my weekday schedule, which deeply affected my grades and my performance in sports. I made up excuses when teachers and classmates asked me why I always looked so tired. I feared that I would be pitied and ridiculed if others knew the secret. I was simply mortified.</p>
<p>Yet in the course of a single day, my view of the situation changed. Instead of going to the usual location, we drove to the Annual Castro Street Fair in San Francisco that morning. By 4 AM, the freeway was already congested with cars. I was drowsy, but the smell of half-burnt coffee in the cup holder kept me alert. I smiled as my parents started our ‘‘car talks’’ which ranged from childhood memories to future plans. Bonded closely together, my parents and I tried to do our best to ignore the crisis we were going through.</p>
<p>When we arrived, we found our booth location and began setting up. I placed the shoes on display while my parents worked diligently to prop up the canvas canopy and organize the shoe boxes according to sizes. It was 6 AM just as we finished. The sun was up, and the crowd was trickling in. Within a few hours, dozens of people were visiting our booth, looking at styles, and trying on shoes. My parents and I answered questions, searched sizes and calculated total prices. We had never been this busy. Even though I felt overwhelmed, I was exhilarated by all the frenetic activity. I proposed a plan for a quick reorganization where I solely conversed with the customers, my mother managed the storage, and my father took care of cash transactions. This seemingly simple assembly line enabled us to maximize efficiency and eased the panic that ran through us as we saw the flood of people continuing to approach. Soon, we were able to handle every customer’s request without driving ourselves to the brink of insanity.</p>
<p>I cannot express the joy brimming within me as I worked and planned these simple tasks. For the first time in my life, I felt an unbreakable link between me and the business world around me. An elderly woman passed by, and viewing all this said with a smile, “You sure know how to do business, girl!” At that second, part of me lit up. That’s it! This is what I want to do with my life. This sudden inspiration grew into my deep desire to pursue the field of business. Whoever would have thought that this demanding burden was one of the best accidents that ever could have happened to me! I found great happiness in dealing with others and using my oratorical and organizational skills to manage a simple flea market booth. When the last pair of shoes was loaded into the car that Saturday, I smiled even as my body ached with worthwhile weariness. The day had been transforming, and I fell fast asleep on the way home.</p>
<p>Why CAS essay:</p>
<p>I dare to boast that human evolution, as it is proposed today, is nothing compared to the evolution that my interests have undergone.</p>
<p>As far back as I can remember, at age four, I was introduced to my at-the-time favorite toy, Barbie dolls. How I wished to be a twelve-inch tall and well-pampered model! At age five, I accidentally misplaced my Malibu Barbie, and she was lost forever to the Mystery Unsolved list. Desperately trying to find her, I changed my target job to detective. I pretended my mom’s make up brush was my fingerprint detecting tool, and I took a flat crystal plate as my magnifying glass. Clumsy as I was, I dropped the plate and it was shattered to pieces. As I watched my grandmother clean up the pieces, I wished I was a scientist so I could keep the world pristine through chemicals. This pattern went on for some time, with interests varying from doctor to pilot to lawyer to even acrobat. The dreams of a little girl…</p>
<p>This did not last forever. In the fourth grade, I began to focus my interests with more intellect and reasoning. I did not love money, but I did start to find a hobby in various money-related matters. For one, my piggy bank was my world. While all the other children at my elementary school used up their allowances on food or toys, I saved up my coins for relatively expensive items. Mathematics was definitely my favorite subject in school. Little did I know that I was already on my way to finding an ideal major and career in economics.</p>
<p>Although my piggy bank has transformed into a real bank account and my coins have changed into bills, the concept is still the same today. I still need to know how to manage, finance, and invest money. While my friends find it dull, to me, economics is an absolutely fascinating field. Successful economists like Gary Becker and Adam Smith have become my idols, and I find economic concepts everywhere, from individual matters to federal debt. With my growing interest in economics and entrepreneurial pursuits, I looked into business programs like LEAD and participated in conferences held by DECA. I was thrilled to find Economics a semester class in the senior year at my school. Together with my teacher and three other teammates, I am now a competitor in the National Economics Challenge held by The Goldman Sachs Foundation and the National Council on Economics Education (NCEE).</p>
<p>The unique opportunities offered at Cornell are designed for freedom, creativity, and truly a challenging liberal arts education. Along with a diverse group of students, I will be able to share my experiences and learn about theirs. These is no better place to study economics because at Cornell, I will be exposed to a wide variety of faculty-taught courses including the economic nuances of places like the “export-oriented ‘Tigers’”. Also I will be given research and traveling abroad options to enrich my college experience along with choices such as the Language House Program. Cornell is my ideal because, like Professor Larry Blume has said, I am a “student [who] can interact with knowledge makers”, and I am most certainly a “knowledge consumer” as well.</p>
<p>(side note: Professor Blume’s [who teaches Econ at Cornell] exact quote was “The advantage of a liberal arts college within a university is that students can interact with knowledge makers as well as knowledge consumers.”)</p>
<p>I was gonna use this Essay until like 4 people told me that it was too risky for Cornell, so I changed my mind and just used it for Chicago. </p>
<p>Topic of My Choice (Self-Made): According to the book, International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders by Alan Axelrod, a secret society is defined as an organization that is exclusive, claims to possess special secrets, and shows strong bonds between members. Tell us about one, a few, or all of the secret socities of which you are a member and how they integrate into your daily life. Note: Do not discuss real secret societies. Use your imagination to create a few of your own. Examples include: CIA (California Internet Addicts) or CSOHP (Cheerful Society of Happy People).</p>
<p>Most people know me as [my name], but few are aware of my real identity. Since on this application I must tell you everything about myself, the best way is to expose my deepest secret: I am actually a secret agent. On May 25th, 1990, I was taken away from my mother to live in a glass box for two weeks as a cover from the American Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) to inform me of my first real assignment. As I breathed softly and drooled on my pillow, two men dressed entirely in black approached my box and whispered, “Welcome, Agent 008. Your first assignment lies here in China where you will live for the next nine years. We wish you luck.” And without another word, the two disappeared. </p>
<p>The ASIS never contacted me again until the nine years were over when suddenly, without warning, the men in black approached me at midnight handing me a passport and ticket to JFK Airport in New York, USA for my real training. Although I was never informed by anyone who exactly I was, I knew I was different. Strange things happened to me every day, like when I discovered I could see everything clearer through dark sunglasses after sunset. </p>
<p>After a few days, I arrived in New York and was transported by another secret agent, known as Dad, to my new living space – Edison, New Jersey. Within twenty four hours, I received my new assignment – to learn English in an American Elementary School. The reasons were simple; one, all secret agents know at least three languages and two, I had to attend school to appear “normal”. Since before that day, I knew nothing besides the alphabets, a special language agent, called Mom, taught me a few useful English phrases such as “BA-SE-ROO-MUH”, which happens to be an expensive and rare Chinese mushroom, for times when I need to use the lavatories. </p>
<p>After four years of special agent training in New Jersey, I was ready to begin working for the Junior Division in its secret location in Fremont, California. Do not bother looking it up on a map. The ASIS has purposely put a 10 mile border of a magnetic force field around the area to prevent any intruders or satellite detection. I traveled to the new quarters with Agents Mom and Dad since their assignments were to protect me until I was of legal age. The weather was distinctively different, and I must confess that I missed the snowball fights outside of my old house.</p>
<p>Working for headquarters was difficult, and to test my capacities, they found various ways to push me to the brink. I was first told to master a third language, French, since all Special Agents must be able to converse in at least three languages. As if this was not enough, to test my durability and patience, the ASIS removed Agent Dad’s job for an unknown period of time near the end of 9th grade and giving us only a bunch of shoes to sell at a flea market every weekend to maintain our lifestyle. This forced me to give up valuable time for schoolwork and my own activities. It was tough, but Agents must know how to endure adversity and count change at the same time. After about two years, the center of operations decided to give Agent Dad a business to run to, again, “appear normal in society.” For the last test, I was to prove myself capable of persuading others and be involved in the community to hide my real occupation. To accomplish this, I went around the Bay Area and convinced minority groups to register to vote for an entire summer, until one voter suspected that I was a member of a political party. To cover up any clues, I stopped that project and went on to planning events instead. Together with several other non-Agents, I planned Heritage Day and Emergency Awareness Program, just in case the ASIS decided to have an earthquake to terminate certain unwanted intruders. </p>
<p>As I have grown, my time at Junior Headquarters is about to end. I must now go to college and explore what I want to do in life in order to help develop the ASIS command post, whose location I must not reveal. The central station has given me permission to choose wherever I want to be for the next four years, and without any doubts, I have selected Ithaca, New York. It is the one place I have not yet explored. I must live up to the title of Agent 008. How better to achieve an excellent education and reputation than at Cornell University? </p>
<p>Now that you have read this message, it must now self-destruct…</p>
<p>3…2…1…</p>
<p>OKAY. so lots of reading for you guys but… yea xD </p>
<p>I’m not a terrific writer, but I did spend a while on the essays to craft them to the best of my abilities. Thanks for reading! :)</p>