I'M DONE!!!!!!!!

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Focus: Academic Preparation
Rationale: The University seeks to enroll students who take initiative in pursuing their education (for example, developing a special interest in science, language or the performing arts; involvement in special programs including summer enrichment programs, research, or academic development programs such as EAOP, Mesa, Puente, COSMOS or other similar programs.) This question seeks to understand a student's motivation and dedication to learning.

Question: What is your intended major? Discuss how your interest in the field developed and describe any experience you have had in the field - such as volunteer work, internships and employment, participation in student organizations and activities - and what you have gained from your involvement. (600 words)

My interest in Cognitive Science stems from questions about the root of my own creativity. I have always been immersed in creative endeavors, while science, too, inspires me, and the more I learn in the sciences and humanities, the more I see about the ways they correlate. I�m good at getting to the root of things, so it makes perfect sense that my creative journey led to the study of the mind. Godel, Escher, Bach was one of the first books I read on the subject, and it opened my mind to various elements that cognitive science draws on. Studying Neuro-Linguistic Programming gave me insight into the relationship between language and behavior. I look at issues from every angle, and the CogSci program suits that well. But to me there is more to it than the intellectual/theoretical study of the subject; the work of our minds is tied inextricably to our day-to-day lives. So as I study the source of creativity, I involve myself in its flow.

In my actions, I link myself to new ways of harnessing and encouraging inspiration. I favor organizations that actively build communities that, through art, present different ways of looking at our world. I recently finished a two-semester volunteer administrative internship at The Crucible, a non-profit arts school that teaches classes in the fire arts, such as blacksmithing, glass, and jewelry. I gained an understanding of how such an organization is run, and it put me in contact with the larger spheres of the Bay Area arts world.

It is my goal to create an organization that uses the knowledge of cognitive science to further the mission of art, and that likewise uses art, and the workings of the organization itself, to give us further insight into cognition. To this end, I began the Laney Arts Club. I quickly realized that this sort of project would not succeed without a basic arts community in place, one that served as a forum for collaboration and communication. We began from the beginning, setting a precedent for ongoing exhibitions of student art on and off campus, and holding regular music and poetry events. I found that, in a community as diverse as the arts, the most important ingredient in forging a community-wide bond is visibility.

To learn more about how to inform the public, I took the position of ASLC Publicity Commissioner. I have learned a lot about how people think in terms of what catches their attention and draws them in, and I�ve helped make Laney a more vibrant and active campus.

In the near future I will be volunteering at Epic Arts and 826 Valencia, a community arts collaboration and a youth writing center, respectively. In volunteering with these organizations, I learn from their success and make connections and steps toward the fulfillment of my own aspirations. All these institutions offer wonderful things to the community, and I am proud to contribute to their efforts.

Between my fascination and study in Cognitive Science and my ongoing work with local arts organizations, I am getting the richest education I could possibly have imagined. Without either of these elements, I would feel there is something lacking, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to learn and to give back to the community at the same time. Creativity is such an important and uplifting part of my life that I can�t help but want to pass this feeling on to others; it gives me the desire to understand how this mental process ties into our very bodies, and evinces itself in everything we say and do.

Focus: Potential to Contribute
Rationale: UC welcomes the contributions each student brings to the campus learning community. This question seeks to determine an applicant's academic or creative interests, and potential to contribute to the vitality of the University

Question: Tell us about a talent, experience, contribution or personal quality you will bring to the University of California. (200 words)

Ever since my sister taught me to read and write at age four, literary and artistic expression has been my main fascination. In elementary school, I�d spend hours every day reading, and this turned into a passion for writing that has never abated. In tenth grade, I received the California Arts Scholar award for creative writing, and since then my pieces have been published in online journals (e.g. McSweeney�s) and small press; I also have a book of poetry and a novel in progress. As I�ve grown, my style has become increasingly personal and deeply felt. Like myself, my writing has no bounds, no genre limitations; I write about what inspires me.

I have discovered other talents, and as my interests diversify, I work to integrate them. Different types of art and science are like different languages for the same thing, and I have always been good at making connections. It�s a matter of communication, and as a writer, that is a skill I�ve honed.

Organization is something I greatly enjoy, mental, physical, and social. My experiences volunteering in art organizations have been profoundly inspiring, and I intend to continue working in that vein. I am particularly interested in getting involved with the Consortium for the Arts.

Focus: Open-ended
Rationale: This question seeks to give students the opportunity to share important aspects of their schooling or their lives, such as personal circumstances, family experiences and opportunities that were or were not available at their school or college, which may not have been sufficiently addressed elsewhere in the application.

Question: Is there anything you would like us to know about you or your academic record that you have not had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in the application? (200 words)

My overall GPA does not reflect my current performance. That it is even that high (2.97) is a testament that I have truly decided to apply myself to my studies. Compare my GPA at UCSC (1.51) to my GPA at Peralta Colleges (3.74) and you see a remarkable trend.

I had no personal investment in my education at UCSC; I went to college because it was expected of me. I gave nothing to my classwork, and when I saw that I was failing, I didn�t care. I was put on academic suspension, which gave me the opportunity for a necessary break from school. I worked while I evaluated what it was I really wanted to do with my life.

Spring 2002, I half-heartedly attempted to restart my college career, but I was undergoing a personal crisis at the time, and I had suicidal tendencies that prompted me to withdraw from most of my classes.

At just the right moment, I found a passion, a purpose that I would work for. I recognized what was really good about my life, and I found a way to be proactive about connecting myself to what I loved.

And so I started again, this time with feeling.

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Shit! Do you recognize that girl? She is hot!

I kinda wished they'd asked the questions in reverse order, but hey--maybe they'll read them in reverse order, you know? Thank goodness for online submissions.

I am dancing around banging a trash can as a drum with victory ashes warpaint smeared on my face.

The friends await. Onward, ho!

9:18 p.m. 2003-11-28�