Reflections and Images

 While writing college applications, I stumbled upon last year's supplement questions for Stanford. One of them asked, "What would you if you had an extra hour in the day?" I think this is a good question because most teens during the school year experience a lot of stress and burnout. During the end of summer vacation, however, I realized that I had an "extra" hour in the day but I didn't use it in the right area. Despite the fact I talk about being productive, I like to delay unenjoyable tasks like schoolwork by reading Wikipedia or doing random researches. Today, I looked at my watch and provided a rough estimate of how much time went to doing that. I was kind of sad to find that I spent around 1.5 hours doing this every day, including other shallow tasks like email and text messages. From this, I realized I need to replace my cue of delaying a task with another routine like reading a book or cleaning up my room. Of course, delaying a task isn't good ...

Recently, I decided to reread this short book called Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. Although the story is quite simple, it really helped me during difficult times.  The general summary of the book is that there are 4 characters. Sniff and Scurry are mice that can detect change easily and take action right away to adapt to their circumstances. They keep moving around the maze to find yummy cheese to eat. The other two characters are Hem and Haw. They are tiny humans in the maze called Littlepeople. They also eat cheese, but for them the cheese also symbolizes something important in their lives. These are their dreams or aspirations. For the readers, this can be finding the ideal job or being successful. One day, Hem and Haw are shocked they don't have any more cheese. Hem keeps complaining and doesn't accept change. Haw does this at first but then he realizes that what Hem is doing is quite ridiculous so he decides to ...

Dear procrastinator,  You need to seriously start working. When I address you as a procrastinator, I feel embarrassed. You teach students in your time management seminar how to minimize procrastination. You mention Duhigg's Power of Habit and Cal Newport's advice... but you don't seem to apply them to your life all the time. The ironic thing is that you end up procrastinating yourself. How can you be contradicting yourself? Maybe I am too harsh on myself and I am aware, but I can't let this go on.  If your mind still wants to delay the task, consider this hypothetical situation that could turn into reality. You are told by your teacher you have a test, homework, or project. The teacher tells you a month or weeks before the deadline so you can start right away. The problem is that you don't want to do the task. You say to yourself, "It is so hard. I don't like studying. I find studying so boring." Then, you have the other voice in your head that fights ...

As I am approaching the late years of adolescence, I start considering childhood memories that mean a lot to me. What sparked this chain of recollections was when my mom told me puzzles are an important symbol of who I am. Unlike a particular event, the memories of puzzles are not monumental but still meaningful to me. They didn't happen on some special day. Instead, they occurred many times over years. Like puzzles, long walks mean a lot to me, specifically the ones during childhood. During spring or summer, my family and I would walk around the neighborhood after dinner. The path would be the same every time: walk by the rivulet, go around the golf course, and head back home. During the middle of the long walk, we would stop by the playground and I would play with my brother. My favorite activities were using the monkey bars, climbing up the rope, or climbing the rock wall. At the end of the walks, we would look at the sunset in front of our horizons.  The main reason these long ...

COSMOS is a selective 4-week summer program for California students interested in STEM. There are 4 campuses: UCSD, UCI, UCSC, and UCD. I applied for UCI cluster 1 (protein) and cluster 4 (antibiotics). If you are applying, these essays may serve as a source of inspiration. My essays overlapped a lot with my BU RISE essays because they asked questions about my scientific interests.  1.Why did you select cluster 4: Can you make the next billion-dollar antibiotic? (200 words)  Last year, I earned 2nd place in the 2019 PDB (Protein Data Bank) video challenge. In 2 minutes, I explained the function of aminoglycosides and the dangers of antibiotic resistance. After using Chimera software to visualize the structural effects of antibiotics on the ribosome, I no longer viewed medicine as some mysterious magic potion. Instead, I saw it as a substance with a specific target. The answers to curing bacterial diseases were right in front of my computer screen. More importantly, I informed ...

BU RISE is a 6-week research program at Boston University. In 2019, the acceptance rate was around 16% so it is a selective program. There are two tracks- internship and practicum. The internship is the one I applied to because I wanted to work in a lab. Unfortunately, BU RISE in 2020 was cancelled due to COVID-19. If you are applying to BU RISE, these essays may be a source of inspiration.  1.Why you selected your field of interest and what you would like to research (300 words)  First choice: medical laboratory research (biochemistry) Second choice: chemistry  Ever since 2018, I participated in a Science Olympiad event called Protein Modeling that sparked my interest in proteins. When I learned about the anti-CRISPR protein, it alarmed me that the protein stopped CRISPR from working. Wondering how this could happen, I used Jmol to build and visualize the protein model. Over time, I no longer viewed proteins as messy globs. Instead, I appreciated that the protein’s disti...