Mastering the 4 Personal Insight Questions

Prompt 1: Please describe how you have prepared for your intended major, including your readiness to succeed in your upper-division courses once you enroll at the university.

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Playing CrossFire and performing small hacks to get ahead in the game was my joy on weekends. 2010 was the year Facebook became popular in Vietnam, but the government blocked it. I never believed in a controlling system of government, so I learned about Virtual Proxy Networks (VPNs) and how it can be used to spoof my network location, thereby bypassing location-based content filters in Vietnam. I was ecstatic to have access to Facebook. It is not coding, but it sparked my interest in computers. Not long after, my father died. Consequently, my family struggled financially. Life became serious. My focus was strictly on academics and managing the household. As an adolescent, I did everything to overcome family struggles; my personal interests were no longer relevant then.

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Life was different when I moved to America at seventeen. My goals were similar to any other young adult: complete my undergrad. Incidentally, during freshman year, I was drinking Boba at 7 Leaves with my Computer Science friends. One of them, Johnny, talked about one of his girlfriends failing a Computer Science class and switching her major to Psychology. He said jokingly, “women are too incapable of completing anything challenging.” I was offended, replying: “Because of you sexist boys.” The conversation led to me joining Java class with the boys to prove them wrong. Soon after, I grew to appreciate coding and changed my major to Computer Science. Summer of 2018, I was disappointed not accumulating enough money to take a specialized CS 61A class at UC Berkeley, so I built my first independent project: a personal website, while reading HTML, CSS and Javascript. Currently, I am reading Swift and started out building a task-managing app. Academically, I have taken 3 computer science, 5 math, 2 physics courses and will complete all of my major requirements. I attended a hackathon at USC in October, and I am using Leetcode to practice coding. These projects and my persistence to code opened my mind to the endless possibilities for my future. I know what I want, and it is to major in Computer Science.

Prompt 2: What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?  

“Err, that’s all folks!” humorously stuttered by Porky Pig was my first impression line. Ever since kindergarten, I have always been known as the class clown for impersonating characters on TV and mimicking animals.

Whether it was the voice of the popular animated character Smeagol in Lord of the Rings or the simple, grumbling sounds of a pig, i’ve always worked on my ability to replicate such voices and sounds. My voice impersonation skills have always helped me to make humorous impressions and break the ice with people. A social skill perhaps. During late nights, I would lay practicing the muscular coordination of my vocal chords and synchronizing my air pressure. Impersonating the voices of Daffy Duck, Minnie Mouse and Stitch were my favorites. Repetition and refinement would ensue until i could perfectly replicate a character’s voice.

During my mom’s wedding, I had the privilege to be her maid of honor.  When it comes to making speeches, I go all out. To livin up and keep the guests engaged, I decided to pull the Smeagol voice from Lord of the Rings trilogy. I said: “My mom is now Gary’s significant other… or as Smeagol would say ‘my precious’’”. The room filled with 300 people was quiet; I even heard a lady gasp. I thought the impersonation went too far and awkward. Two heartbeats later that felt excruciatingly long, the crowd bursted out laughing. It was a significant moment of my life; I made a crowd laugh. You could say that I thought of myself as an amateur comedian that day. Thanks to my younger self yearning to be hilarious, I unlocked a secret to succeeding in anything I desire. Try and try again, because the only difference between a dreamer and a goal reacher is that the latter never gave up. Coming back to the present, choosing to major in Computer Science was not easy. I thought of hundred ways to fail: not competent enough, sexism in work environment, etc. Belief in persistence and practice ultimately triumphed above all negative thoughts, and here I am today, reaching for my future.

Prompt 3: Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

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As cliche as it may seem, I am an incredibly persistent person when it comes to life goals. This disposition has helped me accomplish some of my biggest life goals. When I was four, I had a passion for dance. “Position 1. Now, 2. 3. 4,” were the cues my dance professor made while I was warming-up on a ballet barre. I recently started dance academy. My parents would have never thought of sending their daughter to ballet classes, but a three-year-old waking them up every morning and saying “I want to be a ballerina” changed their minds. Due to my extreme passion in ballet, I promised myself that I would be the best dancer in the academy and perform nationwide. Ten months later, I was approved to advance from tier 2 to 3; the first female ballerina to reach tier three in less than a year at the academy. It was an exciting moment, not because of the tier, but because each tier had a different bow color that I could put on my bun every day to school. Adding a new color bow to my accessory box was how I defined my success in dance. My biggest achievement then was being the youngest dancer to be cast in a two-week nationwide dance tour in Vietnam. Unfortunately, my parents saw this opportunity as a threat to my future so they withdrew me from dance class. Although was grateful for the opportunity, I never danced again.  

I stopped dancing 10 years ago, but my mindset on achieving my goals remains constant. I have come so far and achieved so much more since my fluffy pastel pink tutu days. My goal now is to graduate with Honors in Computer Science. There is a lot to gain years to come, but a lot to lose. Therefore, I am not intimidated by the curveballs in life. In fact, I have never been so certain with my purpose, because I will look back one day and realize I have a story to tell those who will be on the path I once walked on.

Prompt 4: Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your academic achievement?

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Sexual abuse was my history. My father was the perpetrator. It occurred nearly every week starting from when I was 5. I felt unsafe and afraid of when the next incident would occur. Being the financial breadwinner and significantly older than my mother, he was dominant and controlling. My father threatened that I would be shamed and to blame for destroying my family if I told. Despite knowing the situation was dysfunctional, I had to keep this secret quiet. Being home, I never felt safe, as the thoughts of abuse consumed me with fear and anxiety. Therefore, school, extra tutoring, dance academy became my safe haven, keeping myself away from home and the likely abuse. Consequently, my school days lasted for over 12 hours.

After I turned 13, my father died. Life changed drastically. My family no longer had financial support. With a busy mother working three jobs, my responsibility was handling the household: completing chores, paying bills and tutoring sister. My days would start from 5 until 11pm every day. However, I didn’t mind the circumstances. For the first time, I wasn’t in constant fear of my father’s advances. I felt safe.

As our situation stabilized, I made a conscious decision to educate myself on sexual abuse. At first, I was bitter and reserved towards all men. In time, my trauma and bitterness subsided. I became more knowledgeable about the abuse and promised myself to let no man have power over my family or me again. I knew education and financial independence was integral to what had happened to me, as mother was uneducated and financially dependent on my father, making it hard to be mutinous. Through this realization, school is my self-determination. So, I struck a course from then on for academic achievement and financial success. By sophomore year in high school, I was an MC for school, won first place in a debate-speech competition, volunteered, all while maintaining straight-A’s. Through everything, I am happy of how my past did not obstruct me nor affect my academic success. In fact, it has prepared me for college and adulthood.