<p>Hi,</p>
<p>This is my first post on cc and I am kinda excited right now XD
Just a short intro of my background: I am an international student studying in Shanghai, China right now and I am planning to apply to the top 30 universities in America.
Below is my draft for the long essay on Common App. Please tell me what you guys think about this! Thanks!</p>
<p>My essay:</p>
<pre><code> A census, my statistics teacher explained, is nearly impossible to conduct in a large population because it requires you to communicate with every single member within it. As soon as she uttered these words, I realized that issues of communication extend beyond the classroom, into my daily life as a student leader.
In tenth grade, I fell in love with playing basketball. Our school, however, did not allow us to join the Sports League of the Shanghai International Schools, so we had few chances to compete against other schools. In order to rectify this problem, I began to organize games between our schools and other international schools teams. At first, I thought that the most difficult part of this task would be finding a venue for the competitions. After all, finding teams who were interested should be easy. Little did I realize, the challenges had only just begun.
After settling on a suitable location, I realized that facilitating the communication between teams would be incredibly difficult. While I had found the teams I hoped would participate, finding the person in chargethe person who could actually make any decisionswas nearly impossible. The first person I approached always had to consult a second person, who then had to ask yet another person. And when I luckily happened upon the person in charge, the response was often negative. As a result, out of the dozen schools we had originally contacted, only five schools attended the competition.
I then realized that the main problem that many of schools organizations faced could be boiled down to one point: communication. As a student, rather than a school official, I simply do not have the authority to contact other schools. As a result, most of our schools organizations remain small. In response, I devised a plan to establish a community that would bring together all of Shanghais international high school students. I decided that the best way to create this sense of community was through a tangible objectin this case, a magazine which students could easily share with their friends.
Later that week, I met with a friend of mine to figure out the logistics of producing such a magazine. We talked with schools, edited articles, designed the layout, and found sponsors, partners, and a printing company. We went to different schools to publicize our creation. By September of this year, we had successful created Highlight, the first and currently only magazine geared toward the international school community in Shanghai. For our first issue alone, we distributed over three thousand copies to seven different schools.
The subsequent issue will emerge from the press by the end of November, twice as long as its predecessor. I am particularly proud of the way it has grown and how we filled a community need. In addition to bringing together students from across the city, Ive also gotten great pleasure from helping to construct the Shanghai international students community.
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