The word “environmentalist” always evoked images of wilderness adventurers and white hippie chicks, and certainly not me, so it never occurred to me to get involved in sustainability. Without realizing it, I had separated myself from the possibility of environmental work; I was too young, too inexperienced, not white enough, and not nature-chick enough to do something designed for folks who went on weekend trips to Yosemite in their childhood minivans. It only took one question to knock down this...

“And down you go Dr. Nebula!” My imaginary best friend Emily and I shouted, watching our arch-nemesis fade into the darkness. Armed with our wisdom, scoured from books in the Library of Evil that revealed Dr. Nebula’s weaknesses, and with the magic of kindness, we once again used our values to counteract the evil doctor. Triumphant, we escaped Dr. Nebula’s lair of Brussels sprouts and malevolent bumper cars, resolving our latest grand adventure. But alas, Emily and Dr....

Question 2 (Optional): Share with us a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, blogs, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own. Books: Dragon Ladies: Asian American Feminists Breathe Fire by Sonia Shah: with a foreword from my personal idol Yuri Kochiyama*, this book is one of the only widely-distributed pieces of published Asian-American feminist literature,...

Essay Option 2. Once, renowned physicist Werner Heisenberg said: “There is a fundamental error in separating the parts from the whole, the mistake of atomizing what should not be atomized. Unity and complementarity constitute reality.” Whether it’s Georges Seurat’s pointillism in “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte,” the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, quantum physics, or any other field of your choosing, when can the parts be separated from the whole and when can they not? —Inspired by Ender Sahin, Class...

Pursuing Sociology at USC will enable me to work toward my career interests in social justice from an academic and scientific lens, giving me the foundation necessary to positively impact the world. I look forward to conducting research by taking advantage of programs like the Dornsife Summer Undergraduate Research Fund with professors like Professor Rhacel Salazar Parrenas, whose research about Asian women and migration aligns with my personal intellectual interests and demonstrates to me the breadth of academic insight I...

Please respond to one of the following prompts below (200 word limit). USC believes that one learns best when interacting with people of different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives. Tell us about a time you were exposed to a new idea or when your beliefs were challenged by another point of view. In my debate-camp classroom, my lab leader nonchalantly asked, “Do you do any environmental work?” My head shake was met by two words: “Why not?” This question knocked down my...

Short Takes 1. Describe yourself in three words: quirky, inventive, advocate 2. What is your favorite snack? (100 characters) what my family calls "crunchy pretzels" (fried lotus roots) 3. Favorite app/website Forest, a productivity app that plants trees 4. Best movie of all time Me & Earl & The Dying Girl 5. Hashtag to describe yourself #adorkable 6. Dream job Environmental justice researcher or community organizer 7. What is your theme song? No Rest for the Weary by Blue Scholars & Weary by Solange 8. Dream trip Eat at every 3 Michelin...