Personal Statement
College: Stanford
Prompt: Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there and why is it meaningful to you?
Word Limit: The easy should be no more than 650 words.
For many people, work, especially academic work, is boring, but I find working to be a rewarding experience. For this reason, I am perfectly content with spending quality time in a relaxed workroom, especially when working on subjects that interest me such as engineering. This workroom can be a classroom, a laboratory, an office, or any room which is dedicated for work. A relaxed workroom is one in which you must be focused on work, but it is ok to socialize with your coworkers while you do your work. In this room the noise level should be low enough that you can shut out the rest of the world and do your work alone in peace, but not so low that you feel like you are alone or isolated in the room, though there may be other people in it. This room should also be big and spacious enough that you can get up, stretch, and walk around if you wish. It is important that the room have a reliable internet connection that can support multiple devices. Lastly, the people in the room should be friendly or at least be polite.
My Visual Communications (vis-com) class offers such an environment. My school is not a traditional school. Students are not placed in organized rows or columns and do not spend the class period either getting a lecture or filling out worksheets. Each student is situated at a computer around large table groups. Unlike at traditional schools, our facilitator (teacher) does not give lectures; he gives short workshops and then releases his students to work on the project for the remainder of the class period. The projects in vis-com are mostly independent but there are many group projects as well. But, even though the project may be independent, you are always allowed to work on them with your table group. In fact, if students are having trouble with the project or want someone to evaluate their work, they must first ask their classmates for assistance before asking the facilitator. Students are also allowed to discuss ideas amongst themselves, regardless of seating, and search the internet for inspiration. Being able to work in groups is extremely helpful, as vis-com is an art class, and leaves lots of room for interpretation and creativity.
Having such a workroom is meaningful to me, because I find that at times I can get distracted when I am in an environment that is too relaxed or that has many distractions and temptations. A prime example of this is my home. It is not that I get distracted and start doing something else, but that I sometimes spend lots of time trying to resist the urge to give into temptation. Being in an environment that fits my description increases my ability to focus and my productivity. The bigger reason why such an environment is meaningful to me is that I feel accomplished after a good work session. That feeling of accomplishment is not come from the grade that I reactive for my work, but from doing the work itself. If I manage to learn something new or teach something to someone, it greatly enhances the rewarding feeling. This environment is also good for finding people with the same interests or people with skills and strengths in areas that you do not perform as well on.
Sometimes you need to spend lots of time working on a project or assignment, because of that it can feel like you are missing out on the social aspect of life. However, if you start spending more time socializing, you lose out on the rewarding feeling you get after a good work session. For that reason, an environment in which you can have discussions with your coworkers is meaningful as you do not feel like you are missing out on the social aspect of life or the rewarding feeling you get from working.
(Word Count 650)
Prompt: Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there and why is it meaningful to you?
Word Limit: The easy should be no more than 650 words.
For many people, work, especially academic work, is boring, but I find working to be a rewarding experience. For this reason, I am perfectly content with spending quality time in a relaxed workroom, especially when working on subjects that interest me such as engineering. This workroom can be a classroom, a laboratory, an office, or any room which is dedicated for work. A relaxed workroom is one in which you must be focused on work, but it is ok to socialize with your coworkers while you do your work. In this room the noise level should be low enough that you can shut out the rest of the world and do your work alone in peace, but not so low that you feel like you are alone or isolated in the room, though there may be other people in it. This room should also be big and spacious enough that you can get up, stretch, and walk around if you wish. It is important that the room have a reliable internet connection that can support multiple devices. Lastly, the people in the room should be friendly or at least be polite.
My Visual Communications (vis-com) class offers such an environment. My school is not a traditional school. Students are not placed in organized rows or columns and do not spend the class period either getting a lecture or filling out worksheets. Each student is situated at a computer around large table groups. Unlike at traditional schools, our facilitator (teacher) does not give lectures; he gives short workshops and then releases his students to work on the project for the remainder of the class period. The projects in vis-com are mostly independent but there are many group projects as well. But, even though the project may be independent, you are always allowed to work on them with your table group. In fact, if students are having trouble with the project or want someone to evaluate their work, they must first ask their classmates for assistance before asking the facilitator. Students are also allowed to discuss ideas amongst themselves, regardless of seating, and search the internet for inspiration. Being able to work in groups is extremely helpful, as vis-com is an art class, and leaves lots of room for interpretation and creativity.
Having such a workroom is meaningful to me, because I find that at times I can get distracted when I am in an environment that is too relaxed or that has many distractions and temptations. A prime example of this is my home. It is not that I get distracted and start doing something else, but that I sometimes spend lots of time trying to resist the urge to give into temptation. Being in an environment that fits my description increases my ability to focus and my productivity. The bigger reason why such an environment is meaningful to me is that I feel accomplished after a good work session. That feeling of accomplishment is not come from the grade that I reactive for my work, but from doing the work itself. If I manage to learn something new or teach something to someone, it greatly enhances the rewarding feeling. This environment is also good for finding people with the same interests or people with skills and strengths in areas that you do not perform as well on.
Sometimes you need to spend lots of time working on a project or assignment, because of that it can feel like you are missing out on the social aspect of life. However, if you start spending more time socializing, you lose out on the rewarding feeling you get after a good work session. For that reason, an environment in which you can have discussions with your coworkers is meaningful as you do not feel like you are missing out on the social aspect of life or the rewarding feeling you get from working.
(Word Count 650)