My high school journey is imperfect , yet not regrettable.
——from Guanzhong Yang

PART 1 ACADEMY

To most people’s surprise, the most critical reason that pushes me to study hard is to gain others’ respect. As a gay, I know that I will receive much discrimination. To ameliorate this situation, I want to be academically or occupationally outstanding, so in such way no one could ignore my contribution.

With the belief that “all the hard work will pay off”, I devoted myself to my high school studies. I participated in almost all possible competitions with careful preparations. I fought with 25-year STEP and MAT past papers day and night. I was immersed in the university’s lectures and textbooks during every self-study class. I re-wrote and re-furbished my theses and textbooks again and again…… Although I am not one of those extremely smart people with numerous global achievements, I do consider myself one of the students with the best academic backgrounds in my high school’s history.

It was a shock for me when I learned I was pooled and finally rejected by Cambridge, as I had prepared for Cambridge interviews for more than 1 year. Even now, I still remember the nights before the admission results were announced, when I was so nervous that I couldn’t sleep, and the nights after the admission results were announced, when I woke up in a nightmare related to my application.

However, I never feel regret for that, because my hard work has won the praises and recognition from my parents, my teachers, my friends, and my examiners. I understand that many external factors significantly influence the final results, and I also admit that there are some points that I can improve if I have another chance to start again. But at that time, under those circumstances, I have done my best, which makes my journey unregrettable.

Learning from this failure, in the future, I hope I can adapt the habit of collecting useful information online. With that informative knowledge, I hope I can keep thinking about and preparing for my life further in advance. With these improvements, I firmly believe that studying at Imperial College London should be a new starting point for me, instead of a final destination.

I firmly believe that, 3 years later, when I summarise my undergraduate life, I will make more of my dreams come true.

PART 2 GENERAL LIFE

I’m glad that the study at JNFLSIC not only makes me learn more academic knowledge, but also allows me to have a deeper understanding of life.

One should have a lifelong ambition, instead of following others’ actions without consideration. Luckily, I successfully found my lifelong ambition in high school: to contribute to my self-defined community. It’s not just great communities that deserve our contribution, and it’s not just great achievements that are worth achieving. Define the community as one likes, and contribute to it as one can; that’s what I will pursue for the rest of my life.

Besides, one should keep learning. Learning should be limited to merely taking lectures or reading books; there are many forms of learning that everyone should pay attention to. Taking an internship is a kind of learning, going traveling alone is a kind of learning, and even watching short videos is a kind of learning. Keeping learning and diversifying ways of learning are the most important factors for one to achieve continuous improvements.

I greatly appreciate my application to US universities as they encourage me to be a full person. With those deeper insights, I hope I can further advance myself in the next 3 years.