Question 1

Freshman Applicant Prompt

I am a Chinese native from Guangdong Province applying for a chance to enter the University of California to study a major in political economy. I was the only child the family, so my parents strived to inculcate good values in me thereby enabling me to develop socially, physically, morally, intellectually and spiritually. Because of their proper parental guidance, I am inspired to look for a way of providing geriatric care to elderly people from my community.

I acquired my basic education at Guangdong Country Garden School in Foshan City. This renowned international school offers holistic education to modern people that can perfectly fit in a complex society. The policies of the school cultivate a better language environment that largely enhanced my scope of understanding of different cultures of the world. I can admit that because of the school environment, I have learnt to get along with people from all lifestyles, work and live with them comfortably. As such, my horizons were also tremendously expanded due to interaction with interesting individuals within the school environment.

My academic performance was no doubt exceptional. Due to the high standards this school has maintained for years, all students who finished this educational institution always showed spectacular results in the annual national examinations. Because of my splendid grades I am highly optimistic about my application to enter the University of California and my further excellent performance in Political Economy. I am applying as a freshman for this course with hope of becoming a Community Organizer. I believe that a rare opportunity given to me at this prominent University will go a long way in preparing me adequately to add value to my community as well as other communities that I would manage to come across.

Besides my academic portfolio, I also have certain hobbies which I hope will come to fruition as well. I am a fan of moving and significant films, which teach moral lessons. I particularly enjoyed watching a movie named A Simple Life because it deeply affects me. It is worth mentioning that following the moral lessons that I derive from these movies, my desire to help elderly people and to make them comfortable in their declining years increases. Apart from watching movies, I also enjoy playing badminton. This sport enables me to improve my physical fitness as well as provides an opportunity to participate in various tournaments with my friends. Through my affinity for this game, I got numerous opportunities to play in various tournaments while I was still at school. Among the greatest tournaments was the 2012 China Badminton Super League in Beijing where I was among the best players who represented Guangdong.

Given an opportunity, I hope to exhaustively cultivate and exploit all my positive attributes some of which I have mentioned, in order to become an asset to any community I will get an opportunity to dwell in. I believe that with these vital attributes, I can manage the course I have applied for and the subsequent responsibilities that I will be granted thereafter in line with the same course.

Question 2

In order to demonstrate my fitness for the course that I have applied for, I would like to tell more about my experience in terms of personal qualities, talents, accomplishments and certain contributions that are important to me. The accomplishments that hitherto make me proud and which reflect who I am include visiting nursing homes with my friends every month. This has for long been my main mission since I started my high school education. I sometimes ask a few close friends of mine to accompany me to the care centers where we meet elderly people. We have long chats with the old people aiming to find out how they perceive life at their age. Through this experience, I found that the problem of population aging in China is very serious. I learnt that the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) does so little to make these important people feel comfortable. Some of them are even denied any substantial humanitarian aid from the government which the majority of them served  contributing greatly to the  prosperity of the country.

Moreover, my friends and myself often visit orphanages and I was really bewildered by what I witnessed. I discovered that orphans face numerous challenges that make their lives difficult and they nearly live in the world of uncertainties where tomorrow may not necessarily have a meaning to them. As a result, many children have developed psychological problems and therefore require adequate counseling to help them cope with their life’s challenges. Some also are poorly educated, even though the orphanages are particular about their academic progress. For that reason I offered my services to teach English at least to make a difference in their academic progress even in a small way. I also managed to inspire a number of my colleagues to team up with me and take to performing certain duties in the orphanage to be of help in several ways.

Furthermore, while in my Senior Two, I was in an internship in a hospital lab where I met many cancer patients who equally gave me a very strong impression. Although some of the patients were nearly giving up the fight, believing that the ailment did not have a cure, my presence and care that I managed to deliver to them rekindled their hope. At least, the majority could afford to smile when I bypassed their wards. With this variety of experiences, I have a feeling that I am destined to touch the vulnerable groups in a way that would solve people’s physical and social problems in a unique way.