Writing: College Application Essays #1 (Common App)

For posterity, I'll be posting my college essays one by one– both the successful and unsuccessful ones. If anyone comes across these, feel free to use them for inspiration, but please do not plagiarize them (they're my original work!). The results of my college application season were this:

Accepted - UC Berkeley (Regent's Scholar-$10k, L&S), UCLA (Alumni Scholar-$4k, L&S), UC Davis (Regent's Scholar- $30k, A&ES), UC Santa Barbara (Regent's Scholar-$24k, L&S)
Waitlisted - Amherst, Haverford
Rejected - Brown, Swarthmore, Cornell
Majors varied between each school, but included American Studies, Environmental Science, Biotechnology, etc.

So, I'll be starting off with the unsuccessful ones first– the Common App essays. I have three for the main prompts, plus the supplemental essays for each college (for those, I'll post them in clusters; e.g. all the Amherst prompts together, Brown in another post, etc.).

Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

Somewhere, on a side street of San Francisco’s Chinatown, is a small store that holds the history of the world. Inside, the walls are lined with jars filled with the sweat and toil of farmers from far-off lands. This is a place where a variety of cultures– Chinese, British, Kenyan, and Nepalese, to name a few– intersect and find common ground in one thing: the leaves of Camellia sinensis, or tea.

In this store, I find myself scanning the information cards neatly glued to the front of the jars– here, a 1998 sheng pu’erh from Yunnan, and there, a 2016 green, balled oolong from Sri Lanka. They each tell a different story. One is reputed to be picked off an ancient tea bush from Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of compassion. Another was produced on a tea estate in Assam, a remnant from the British East India Tea Company’s trade monopoly.

On the other hand, my own story with tea has no meetings with gods and is not shaped by European imperialism. Really, it’s rather plain; it all started because I hate drinking coffee, pure and simple. But as a connoisseur of caffeine, I’ve gone on a quest to find the tea that fits me.

That quest has taken me from the Azores Islands of Portugal to Tanegashima in Japan. My notes now cover over 150 different teas– blacks, greens, herbals, oolongs, and more– and my room is littered with teaware from around the world. On my dresser sits a Japanese kyusu, Chinese gaiwan, and English teapot, with cups in every location. I’ve learned how to brew authentic Indian chai, perform the Chinese gongfu tea ceremony, and act during a Japanese tea ceremony or chanoyu.

But since I started that search four or five years ago, I’ve never actually found that fabled “perfect” tea. Some teas have been close, like the Jin Xuan oolong or Kamairi Shincha green, but never fully there. However, in every tea I’ve tried, there has always been something that I enjoyed– whether it be the smell, flavor, mouthfeel, aftertaste, or general sensation it gives.

Nevertheless, I won’t give up. Someday, I will find the ideal tea, but until then, I’m going to continue exploring the world. I’ve loved everything I found already– the culture, the history, the science, all behind tea– and I know I will continue to find new things in tea to enjoy. With a drink that has roots in humanity’s ancient history, there’s just so much to learn, taste, and explore. I’m sure it’ll take more than a lifetime to fully understand tea, but in the end, it will be worth it.

Review: Oriental Beauty - Unknown

Type: Oolong
Producer: Unknown
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 6g, 90°C water, gongfu style
Appearance: Medium to large black/white/orange-reddish curled leaves
Rating: A | 93/100
# of Brews: 4

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Tea two of the Taiwan set! Like I stated before, I can't read Chinese, so the producer and recommended brewing parameters are unknown. Since these leaves are very loose in the teapot, they fill a lot of space– and so, the first few brews are going to be very short (essentially just pour the water in and pour off).

Even with the short brews, this tea is extremely aromatic, both the leaf and liquid. From the pot, it's sweet and fruity, with a slight soy smell. The liquid itself is a light, caramel color, which got darker as brews went on. This oriental beauty is similar to the one by Tea Ave, but I think I prefer this one a bit more; the flavor is very citrusy (lemon) and honeyed, with a smooth texture and little to no aftertaste. It's a bit sweeter than the Tea Ave Oriental Beauty, which I think is a lot more expensive than this. They're both of comparable quality, and I think this one wins. Overall, I still really like oriental beauty, and this one helps solidify that idea.


Other Notes

Today's album is Her World Famous Great Recordings by Vera Lynn. I chose this because I was up until 1 AM last night fixing my record player (another tip? Don't buy an Audio Technica LP60– they're decent beginner turntables but they do not last long). Unlike most of the other albums, I own this one on vinyl; I picked it up used at Rasputin's and when I did, the cashier was very surprised since she is a very old singer and they've had the record in store since 2004. But, still, after I heard We'll Meet Again in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, I've really enjoyed her music.

So, I graduate this week on the 2nd. It still hasn't hit me that high school is finally over, and I don't know if I'll ever feel different once it actually is done. It sucks that it has to end after this year has been so successful and fun, but all things must come to an end. After ending middle school with a single B, I actually am graduating as a Principal's and President's scholar, with a 4.0 unweighted GPA and around a 4.24 weighted GPA– if it really matters to anyone. Also, I have an internship with the Alameda County District Attorney's office over the summer, so there's that.

For college, I've been thinking, and I guess my tentative plans going into Freshman year now are to take concurrent majors at Cal in Letters and Science as a media studies major and in Natural Resources as a environmental sciences major. My housing assignment is a double in Unit 3 (random roommate), so if you see me there, come say hi! I've thought about it for the past few weeks, and I guess I'm finally coming to terms with choosing Berkeley over LA. One thing that helped put my mind to ease was something that the girl from the other team said– in a group chat with her, I posted a paragraph from the recent travel ban case opinion (because it was pretty damn good), and her response was "I'm not even going to pretend I read that." I guess she didn't mean it in any bad way, but it made me realize that I prefer people who actually like to learn or put effort into intellectual (or at least somewhat academic) things. At Berkeley, I got the vibe that everyone there is very driven/motivated, which I like, compared to LA's laid back and somewhat more fun attitude.

As for this blog, the plan is to post some more of my writing, like my college essays. I'm probably going to write a letter or update on or after graduation, and I'll continue writing reviews (goal is to reach 200 total reviews) throughout summer. Once college starts, however, I'm going to end this blog with a final letter. I'll see if I can make a regular schedule through summer, but those are my goals and I'll try to follow through on them.

Review: High Mountain - Loyal Tea

Type: Green
Producer: Loyal Tea
Origin: Taiwan
Brewing Parameters: 80-85°C (recommended); brewing with 5 g and gongfu style
Appearance: Small, slightly pale, dark green, pan-fried, curled leaves
Rating: A | 94/100
# of Brews: 3

Tasting Notes and Thoughts
Recently, my parents went to Taiwan as a leg of their trip to Philippines, and I asked them to buy me as much tea as possible. They came back with six different teas and a number of assorted tea bags, so it looks like I'll be starting a new set of reviews! Note that I can't read Chinese, and these teas only really have English for the instructions, so the producers are unknown (and I'll be guessing the type of tea– most are oolongs, either some sort of green/unroasted or Oriental Beauty, with one black tea).

It's been a while since I've had a nice green tea– I've been drinking a lot of oolongs recently– and this was a nice change. This tea is extremely pungent; with the tea wash, a smell of seaweed, grass, and smoke lifted off of the pot and liquid. With short, <5 second brews (pouring the water in and pouring the tea off immediately), the tea came out a bright, yellowish-green color. Interestingly, the flavor is vaguely sweet, with a light bubble gum taste. It's followed by the sour, grassy taste characteristic of most greens– the main flavor– which is also a bit savory. I think the smoke smell comes out in the aftertaste, and the texture overall is very smooth. It doesn't dry out the throat or leave any noticeable texture in the mouth, either.

I stopped after around 3 brews, but only because I ran out of water and need to eat breakfast. It's surprisingly good, and I either expect to continue brewing this throughout the day and using the leaves to cook with (they're very high quality and don't taste half bad). Since it's a green, I'm unsure if it'll last maybe more than 5 brews total, but it was still going strong when I stopped. Overall, this tea is a pretty strong pan-fried green, judging from the curl of the leaves, and I'd recommend it– it reminds me strongly of the Kamairicha Gokase from Lupicia, which was another great green tea.


Other Notes

Today's album is DESIRE - R E M I X E S by Mark Redito. I'm sure I've made my interest in Mark Redito's music pretty clear by now, and all of these remixes are good takes on his stuff. Listen to it!

So, it's the final month of school– I graduate on June 2nd. I originally planned to end this blog when I graduated, but with the erratic uploading schedule and the backlog of teas I have to get through, I have decided that I'll now end this blog once summer vacation ends. Although I keep saying otherwise, don't expect regular posts. I do plan to clear the backlog, though.

As a quick update of what's happened since Bruin Life Weekend at UCLA, I've finally committed to a college! I'm going to UC Berkeley's College of Letters and Sciences as a Regent's Scholar. In the end, I chose Cal over UCLA because 1. it's close, and a lot more convenient than moving across state; 2. Regent's covers all financial need if I ever need it, and gives a ton of other benefits like priority registration (it doesn't really matter anymore that I didn't take that many AP exams); and 3. I prefer the grittier, urban environment of Berkeley over the upper-class, suburban feel of Westwood (I've been living in a suburb my entire life, and a city is a nice change). Although it doesn't seem like it'll be as fun or relaxing as UCLA, I think I'm ready for the challenge. I also plan to transfer into Cal's College of Natural Resources, and head down to LA to meet my BLW friends and watch the Cal-UCLA football game.

Competition Civics warrants its own full post, but here's a quick rundown of some notable things. I asked one of our teammates to ball (which happens next week!); we bused with the team from Maine and were pretty surprised at the amount of white people in the entire competition and how diverse our team technically was in relation; met a bunch of awesome people from Pennsylvania; ate a ton of soul food; and did decently first round (4th Amendment), pretty good the second (Earl Warren), and kicked ass in the Top 10 Round (1st Amendment). My unit fulfilled our goal of being in the Top 10– our team finished in 5th place, which is one spot better than the only other team our coach has brought to nationals– and we actually were the highest scoring Unit 5 in the final round. Because one of our judges was in a wheel chair, we actually got to testify in the seat where the Representatives sit in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In the end, a great competition and I hope we continue working with the program in the future.

Since then, I've had AP exams and met with friends (watched a pretty intense hockey game, cooked dinner for my unit, the girl from the other team and her unit). To be completely honest, I'm kind of terrified, but still excited for college, but that's for another time and post. Thanks for reading!