<p>I wrote these late at the morning 12 am, of October 30, 2008.</p>
<p>My application was submitted November 4, 2008.
Decision received December 10, 2008</p>
<p>Share an experience through which you have gained respect for intellectual, social,
or cultural differences. Comment on how your personal experiences and
achievements would contribute to the diversity of the University of Michigan.</p>
<p>In my entire life, I have been submerged in diversity-rich communities. Born in
China, I quickly became familiar with the lifestyle I was raised in. At the age of seven, I
immigrated to the United States and settled in downtown Detroit. Having been a part of a
small Asian community, I was exposed to the common misconceptions and stereotypes
about Detroit. I was specifically told stay away from the African Americans; however,
this was inevitable. As I progressed through school in Detroit, I befriended many African
Americans. At first, it was difficult to overcome my language barrier and obvious cultural
differences. But to my surprise at the time, I was respected for my differences; I was able
to share my culture. In return, I received cultural lessons about America.
The level of respect I received for my differences caused me to realize the
importance of diversity. From my personal experience, Detroit is no different from any
other city in terms of human value. The people I was told to stay away from were similar
to me, but just of a different race. I began to believe that the difficulty of diversity was
caused by the lack of knowledge about each unique type. After having understood this
concept, I realized that I too would be associated with a stereotype. In my junior year of
high school, I decided to spread knowledge of my heritage. I founded the Chinese Club,
which actively engages in cultural activities that educates members on the lifestyles of
Chinese people. For example, one of the main stereotypes regarding China is that it is a
totalitarian Communist country; I explained that the country was, in fact, more capitalist
in its ideals. Taking a glimpse at the current markets, I feel that the Chinese culture will
be vital in the future and I look forward to having the opportunity of expanding my
cultural exchanges in the future. At the University of Michigan, I will be able to
communicate with a more mature audience and I hope to bring diversity to the school
through this educated manner.</p>
<hr>
<p>College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA): What led you to choose the
area(s) of academic interest that you have listed in your application to the
University of Michigan? If you are undecided, what areas are you most interested
in, and why?</p>
<p>I chose to apply to the College of Literature, Arts and Science because I was
unsure of the major I will be studying in the future; I plan to study at LSA so I have an
extra year to decide on my major. There are two areas of study that I am currently
interested in: business and medicine.
Business has always been an interesting topic for me. During high school, my
parents allowed me to sell/buy shares in the stock market. I was very intrigued by the
many factors determining the rates of the market and an overall complexity to conducting
business. Along with that, I have also become a member of DECA (Distributive
Education Clubs of America), hoping to become even more familiar with business
marketing and deciding if it is right for me.
As for the medical interest, I have always been fond of sciences, especially
biology. My interest comes from shadowing doctors at Providence hospital and taking
multiple anatomy classes at the high school. A main deciding factor for me will be the
Medical Careers class I will be taking next semester at my school; it will help me explore
the different careers in the field of medicine. At the time, however, I am completely
undecided on which area of study I will pursue. I am confident that I will choose one of
the two majors I listed above, but I require the time that LSA will provide for me to make
my final decision. I anticipate studying at LSA my freshman year to help me make plans
for choosing my future studies.</p>
<hr>
<p>[A] Describe a setback that you have faced. How did you resolve it? How did the
outcome affect you? If something similar happened in the future, how would you
react?
For the majority of my life, academics have consumed most of my time. For the
past 11 years, I have rarely missed a homework deadline or skipped class. In my senior
year, however, varying factors became obstacles and ultimately taught me a lesson. I
began to have the mindset of it can always be done the day after it is due with minor
punishments. This referred to the procrastination of homework assignments, studying
for tests and working on projects.
One specific event that led me to realize the importance of time was my high
school student newspaper. I was a staff writer and the business manager for the paper.
The first issue was published smoothly, and I felt that I did not have to put much effort
into it. Because of this, I started procrastinating and kept putting off the articles for the
next issue. Three days before print, I started my articles. I quickly wrote them and gave
them to my advisor for editing. The articles were deemed extremely horrible and my
advisor demanded a rewrite. This was when I started to feel the pressure. I realized that it
was reality. There was no avoiding the deadline. There were no redoes, make-ups, or
even late-grades. It differed from homework assignments, which depended solely on the
student; the newspaper had an adamant deadline that revolved around the whole staff and
not myself. I could not just be absent and have the deadline pushed. I was forced to either
fail, or be prepared to do a tremendous amount of work. Although the term late-nighter
is a common term among students, it was a new experience for me. For the next two
nights, I had stayed in school endlessly interviewing people, taking pictures and thinking
up ideas for designs. Late at night, I worked on my articles ceaselessly, constantly
revising them until they were acceptable. Although it was not the hardest thing I have
ever done in my life, those three days were certainly the most tiring. The pressure of such
a fast approaching deadline combined with minimal sleep caused me to have a lack of
focus as well as inefficiency. At the end, however, I was able make the deadline and
publish that issue of the newspaper successfully. This experience has taught me the value
of time itself and the reality of the world. From elementary school until now, things have
always revolved around the schedules of the students. We were capable of moving back
deadlines if we were sick, had an appointment, or if there was an emergency. This
showed me a glimpse of true reality: something that cannot have its rules bent. If
something similar to this would occur in the future, I believe I would be able to recognize
it quickly and force myself to stop procrastinating. I feel relieved to have learned this
lesson early and on a relatively unimportant task, rather than to have experienced it for
something major. Now I truly understand the logic of my Calculus professor when he
stated, When you into a hole, stop digging and start filling it back up.</p>
<p>Although I was accepted, these essays were cliche, full of grammatical errors and the style of writing was not nearly up to the par of a U of M student.</p>