The best part of asking Rachel to homecoming was her expression of pure ecstasy. Foothill High, a phone application I personally designed, supplied her with two choices – "screw you" and "I do." When she touched "I do," the app notified me immediately. The app was not always running this smooth though. Two years ago, it did not exist. I had to design, implement, test, and now, maintain every single part of it – from displaying grades to sports to today's schedule...

Describe your most important extra curricular activity. Last year, as president of the engineering club at my school, I worked with 12 other students to upgrade an aging three wheeled electric vehicle to compete in the UCI Energy Invitational race. Our car won the overall competition among twenty two other schools and colleges, with scoring criteria based on distance travelled on one dollar's worth of fuel. Not only did I organize Saturday workdays, ensuring that each person attended and could work...

Write a note to your future roommate. Since Stanford attracts such a wide range of students, many of whom hail from foreign countries, you and I may come from vastly different cultures. I'm enthusiastic to learn from you in regards to your personal identity and social and academic experiences. Moreover, I am hopeful that I can offer you insights into my background and knowledge. For example, I love and embrace technology – it applies to nearly every aspect of my life,...

What matters to you, and why? Throughout high school, a general pattern has formed regarding my success in cross country and track. In cross country, the long-distance fall sport, my initially impressive times deteriorate as the season drags on. Last year, exhausted by failure, I considered quitting the program. However, for all my struggling in the longer races, I was able to turn a complete about-face before my spring sport - track - began. That season, my best of all...

Idea or experience important to intellectual development. Two summers ago, I attended a course in artificial intelligence at the Stanford Summer Institutes. Thrust into an environment with incredibly intelligent peers, I felt daunted at the prospect of learning course material at their swift pace. I questioned my commitment to academia, shocked at the caliber of intellect these people displayed, wondering how I could compete with any of my new peers. To reconcile my fear of their superiority with an inherent...