1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
|
/* sed '/^>> /d'|tr '\n' ' '|sed 's/ /\n/g' */
vim: spell tw=72
Each are 50--300 words.
Why do you want to study your chosen major [Computer Science and
Mathematics] specifically at Georgia Tech?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You should check out this website. It's called Project Euler," my
friend Holden told me almost seven years ago.
I fell in love with Project Euler, a list of math puzzles that generally
require a computer to solve because of the new (to me) problem-solution
paradigm.
Project Euler's "challenges" require experimentation, careful critical
thought and develop general and domain understanding.
I have worked with much more complex systems than the mini-problems
Project Euler presents, but the identify-fix-check debugging modality
fits the more general math and programming "problem" paradigm
remarkably.
I want to major in Computer Science and Mathematics at Georgia Tech
because both subjects deal in this sort of problem, and I want to
continue innovating and exploring in this analytical paradigm.
>> de-emphasize "through tech's dual enrollment program"
Through Tech's Dual Enrollment program, I've been fortunate to take
classes from some great professors at Tech, especially in math.
In my second year of Dual Enrollment, my teacher Dr. Mayer organized a
class conference to help develop our focused combinatorics knowledge.
The project and the conference let me dig deeper into a topic which I'm
still very interested in---how cryptography works.
The effort Tech professors give is very supportive.
I've also been part of a few groupchats run by Tech students for
specific classes and for this year's online-only situation, and I have
seen one of the most supportive and honorable student groups I could
envision.
The math class-specific groups I'm a member of is extremely deliberate
about not sharing answers but still enthusiastically share hints about
the fundamental course material.
Another group organizes weekly virtual movie nights, a heartwarming
display of the overwhelmingly supportive and positive Tech community.
I sincerely hope I can continue to participate in this welcoming
institutional culture, especially through the in-person activities like
the student-run hackathons.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
All applicants must choose one of the two questions below:
1) Georgia Tech is committed to creating solutions to some of the
world’s most pressing challenges. Tell us how you have improved or
hope to improve the human condition in your community.
2) If you feel that your personal or community background can provide
additional insight to your application that we have not already seen
elsewhere, please take this opportunity to share that information
with us.
I like (1).
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Recommendation I'm going off of: talk about something you've worked
>> on.
>> There also isn't a hook or anything here.
>> Is this a bit too ideologuey or is that appropriate to the question?
I love freedom.
Not exactly a controversial statement, I know.
But my view of freedom does appear to be fairly unpopular.
I believe firmly in free software---programs that can be edited,
distributed, and run however the user chooses.
The catalogue of open source programs is fortunately long, but there is
still much work to be done.
I've contributed to free software code by using (as exclusively as
possible) free software, participating in and contributing to forums,
mailing lists, wikis, and writing small freely licensed components.
But software freedom isn't all about the code.
One project I've worked on in the past four months is OpenStreetMap
(OSM)---a freely licensed, globally editable cartographic database
marking up trees, farms, streets, paths, buildings, businesses, and
everything in between that can fit in an objective map.
Two years ago, I used Google Maps and Yelp, two leading proprietary
services; I even contributed reviews and answered questions.
But then I learned about free software and began using it, entrenching
myself in its ethos and valuing privacy and accessibility more.
Both Yelp and Google Maps have shady and abusive agreements with
businesses, advertisers, and recently Grubhub and similar companies.
I realized I wanted to use a free map, so I switched to an OSM-based map
client but realized that the data in my area is thin.
So I began contributing to the data source because I believe in its
mission to make maps available to everyone.
I've traced thousands of buildings and marked hundreds of points of
interest, with a lot left to do.
OSM "democratizes" map data in the same way Wikipedia opened up
encyclopedic information, and because of the tangible value these
projects create, I want to continue contributing and enhancing my
ability to contribute to these projects and projects like these.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
