Running Head: COMMUNICATION, ASIAN STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY AND FILM MAJOR 1

COMMUNICATION, ASIAN STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY AND FILM MAJOR

Name

University Affiliation
 COMMUNICATION, ASIAN STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY AND FILM MAJOR 2

Major: Communication, Asian Studies, Sociology and Film Major

1. My preparation towards my intended major and readiness to succeed in upper-

division Courses once I enroll at the University

I am a social person with the zeal to help people whenever they are faced with problems

particularly those of social origin. Similarly, I consider the community from which I originate as

the greatest gift given to me by the creator. For this reason, I have always thought of giving back

to this community by all ways that can be possibly exploited. Being one of the luckiest

individuals who has enjoyed the life of the Chinese middle class, I have had numerous chances

of traveling abroad for studies and as a tourist. I have toured a better fraction of China and other

Asian countries and through these travels, I have noticed that there are very many Chinese men

and women living in poverty. By studying sociology, I will be well-versed on the ways through

which I can help fellow citizens particularly those living in tough conditions. Through social

interactions and the knowledge I wish to gain through studying sociology, I believe that I will

help them exploit the available channels in airing out problems like poor education standards and

poor infrastructure.

I have traveled to Cambodia, Japan and Korea. Through these travels, I have realized that

the people of Asia have rich cultures in their cuisines, mode of life and landscape. By

undertaking Asian studies, I will be able to gain enough knowledge to help me appreciate the

essence of such cultures. Similarly, I have created a lot of interest in studying the histories of

different Asian cultures, politics, and ways of life. As a matter of fact, I have visited a number of

Mazu temples to appreciate their ways of creation and philosophies. I have always appreciated

film as a way of passing vital information to audiences of varied scales. By undertaking

communication and film as my majors, I am optimistic that I will gain the required knowledge to
 COMMUNICATION, ASIAN STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY AND FILM MAJOR 3

persuade different stakeholders to help me come up with solutions to the problems of the people

of China and Asia at large.

2. My greatest talent/skill, its development and demonstration over time

I love music and musical instruments. However, I consider the piano as the most

appealing musical instrument to me. I started playing the piano since when I was four years old.

Despite being my talent, playing this instrument is not innate. I have learned how to play it

through training and practice. My parents, particularly my father, love music. With the zeal to

create a home band, my parents decided that I should enroll for piano classes in a local music

school. Despite attending these classes, I have always spared between two and three hours each

day for practice. This explains why I was praised by my coach as a fast learner in comparison to

my peers and even those whose ages were more advanced than I was. I have always looked at

playing the piano both as a talent and as a hobby. Whenever I am distressed, I take the time to

play this musical instrument as a way of relieving myself from these tensions. Apart from this, I

have always considered playing this instrument as a way of expressing my feelings towards

varied situations in life.

I am in my ninth grade of the piano classes. Since the time I attained 14 years of age, I

have participated in a number of competitions both locally and countrywide. I have won three

titles in local competitions with the most remarkable one being the national music competitions

in which I was ranked as the first runners up. I have made the decision that after finishing my

ninth grade, I will continue learning and perfecting my skill by myself with the aid of remarkable

musicians of this instrument. Similarly, I have the plan of contributing to the society through

teaching children how to play this musical instrument. I have made interactions with many

children from different Asian countries that have shown high levels of interest in learning how to
 COMMUNICATION, ASIAN STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY AND FILM MAJOR 4

play the piano. I appreciate the fact that it is not easy to teach children because of their naughty

nature and periodic loss of concentration. However, I believe that through this talent I can

change their lives.

3. The way I have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked

to overcome an educational barrier you have faced

My parents had a great desire of sending me to the United States of America for my

studies. This made me try all I could to work hard in my studies to am.ke their dreams a reality.

Apart from this, I have created the desire of pursuing my studies in the United States of America

since it is one of the countries with the best universities all over the world. With the great support

I got from my parents, I did not plan for a long time for my studies in the United States. As a

matter of fact, it only took me one month to finish SAT. I attribute this to the great passion I

have towards the US and the positive stories I hear about this economy. While undertaking my

studies in high school, my father always encouraged me to score the best grades that would

enable me to secure a place in American universities.

While coming up with the plans of studying in the US, it was my consideration to

undertaking TOEFEL and SAT studies in one year. With the great passion I have timely created

for studying abroad, I worked hard, dedicating a lot of effort towards my studies to ensure that I

got the best score at the end of the course. Despite completing SAT within one month, my scores

in TOEFEL were amazingly high. I scored 2280 points in SAT. Despite losing direction in my

first classes of SAT since I did not get the required guidance from a qualified individual, I was

keen to ensure that no destructors would come my way to interfere with my studies. With the

help of my friends, I was able to get the help of a qualified Chinese tutor who guided me on the

areas that required a lot of focus and attention to succeed. With the high scores I attained in
 COMMUNICATION, ASIAN STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY AND FILM MAJOR 5

TOEFEL, I became expectant of positive results for SAT. This acted as a great motivation for

finishing SAT at an earlier time. All through, I have learned that in my studies, I need to

embrace hard work in a smart way.

4. Things that I have done to make my community or school a better place

My home country is made up of people from varied social classes and different ways of

life. Having traversed a better part of China, I have learned that the country has many people

living in poverty, particularly those dwelling in rural areas. I have had the opportunity of living

in one of the rural areas in China. From this, I can confess that the conditions of life for most

people in these areas are pathetic. Most of these people lack vital infrastructures such as passable

roads and better classes to educate their children. Similarly, there are high levels of insufficiency

for teachers.

When I was 17 years old, I visited one of the local schools in rural China. Pupils lacked

attention from their teachers because of the high population in their classes and a small number

of teachers. I attributed this to the fact that the region was very hilly and most of the teachers

lived far away from the school. With this condition, I decided to volunteer as a teacher to help

these pupils attain their educational goals in school. The administration of this institution gave

me the opportunity of teaching basic mathematics and English to these students. However, it was

hard for most of the students to concentrate on their studies, because of the poor conditions of

life back in their homes. As a matter of fact, most of these pupils did not have enough to eat and

a better fraction lacked essential commodities like water. Many students wore dirty clothes since

their parents lacked money to buy clean water for bathing and drinking. Despite this, the

conditions at school were very harsh. Most of the classrooms lacked proper roofing and desks.

This condition made it difficult for students to concentrate whenever it was rainy or in periods
COMMUNICATION, ASIAN STUDIES, SOCIOLOGY AND FILM MAJOR 6

when the sun was so hot. I took a lot of time to encourage these students to consider these

challenges as opportunities and great ways of preparing them for the future. Many of these

students were encouraged and remained passionate about their education.