How Do You Show Passion In An Essay?

Applying to College
1

<p>Specifically, how do I show passion for STEM? I will have 7 years of programming experience by the time I am 18. No not some random high level language like python, but C++ and Java, it is easy to transition from C++ to any high level language. I started C++ when I was 11, why? Cause like all other 11 year olds, I wanted to make games... Then I started teaching myself Assembly this spring break and will take an advanced computer architecture class at a local CC this summer. Surprisingly, it is not this scary language, once yo get into it, it is just like any other languages, just different. I will have 3 years of robotics, and being lead programmer, I might run for team captain, but probably won't run. That is just my personality, I would turn into a dictator and will nominate and support another person who I believe would do a better job of keeping the team together. I am not exactly a people person when it comes to these type of things, I tend to be arrogant and blunt apparently. </p>

<p>So how do I show those in an application? I have been programming for so long, the only fuel was my ambition and passion. No one was pushing me to do it, I just picked up a book and started. I doubt even my parents know I even program... So no one forced me anything.</p>

2

<p>Another thing: about my parents’ education levels, what do I put? My parents are from Korea, my mom only went to high school because of family/financial issues and my dad, never really asked him in dept, but I think he went to CC and transfered, or the equivalent in Korea. Do I just put he got a bachelor’s degree? Cause his degree does not mean anything in the US…</p>

3

<p>Write Bachelor’s for your dad, high school for your mom. I’m an international student, too, and my siblings have gone to college in the US, and basically any 4 or 5 year degree in your home country is considered a Bachelor’s, even if it’s a worthless piece of paper in another country.</p>

<p>If you want to show passion, be honest, but don’t brag. Actually, that bit you wrote to us about it being “just like any other language” and about wanting to make games could even end up in your essay. Just write honestly about what you do, why you like it, and how it has changed you.</p>