The Dreaded Common App 8-21-13

The days have come of trying to get into college. I totally accept that many people don't want/need to go to college. They are perfectly fine and happy people with beautiful lives, but I am honestly dying to go to college. I want the adventure, the new experiences, the people, the teachers, the place, the risks. I want that so  so badly. After living in one place (that you are becoming increasingly frustrated with) I am ready to fly off to my new destination for the next 4 years. Just today my good friends for many years Courtney moved to NC where she will be studying equine therapy. I say the pictures of her dorm and I couldn't decide whether I should be feeling incredibly happy for her or very jealous or just wanting her to come back home! Either way, despite the incredibly stress that will no doubt ensue when the time for the college apps comes around, I am excited to be visiting the schools. Speaking of which.... I got into the Presidential Scholars Fall Fly-In program for College of the Atlantic which makes me verrrrrrrryyyyyyyy happy! Not only does it mean 4 days of Maine in October but it also makes me eligible for the Presidential Scholarship which is $15,000 a year and lets face it, I need it, BAD. Anyways, along with all of the excitement comes the personal essay for the common app. One of the prompts basically asks what do you consider a very integral part of yourself. here's my very rough draft. Check it out and tell me what you think!

“Hi! I’m Mei-Jing.”

“I’m sorry can you say that again?”

“It’s like Beijing, where the ’08 Olympics were, with an M”

“Oh cool! I’ll never forget it now that you say it like that.”

This is the beginning of a series of conversation that I’ve had with people over the years. From the surface, I look like your average Chinese girl who is good at math and science with Chinese parents who demand only A+’s. You also might think that I speak fluent Mandarin Chinese, eat weird Asian meats at every meal, that I’m a bad driver, and yet good at everything intellectual. Oh, and let’s not forget that I am short and have almost shaped eyed that crinkle up when I smile. Well guess what, I am that girl that fits a lot of you stereotypes ad yet, I am the exact opposite of some of the others.

Many of us make assumptions about the people that we meet, but beware the person who tries to guess anything about me! You see I am that Chinese girl who is a nerd that build robots ad gets good grades. On the flip side, I have two Caucasian moms, an adopted Chinese sister who is not blood related to me, lack the ability to speak Chinese, am homeschooled, am a vegetarian who eats both American and Chinese food, and is perhaps a better driver than the stereotypes give me credit for. But go back again to the Asian stereotype and see that my name translates as “beautiful essence” and that I am a member of the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company. As you can see I am like a ball of clay that is made up of a bunch of other colors, and when blended together becomes a whole new color.

For years people have asked, “So who are your real parents?” “Do you ever miss home?” Sometimes I feel offended that they would ask a question like this, but more often than not I have to realize that they don’t know me. They don’t realize that to me, my family is the one who adopted me and has loved me through every mistake. They also don’t realize that home is people who you love dearly and not the place that you came out of the womb. In addition, I have even been told what race I was and mind you, they were off by an entire continent.

I sometimes wonder why it means so much for people to know what race I am. Isn’t what I am like as a person what matters? Shouldn’t it be the fact that I can argue about the type of wheels are best for which robot, complain about the many times that I’ve hit myself in the head with poi, sympathize with people who have had to go through backpacking trips with leaky hiking boots, get excited about the cool things that I have seen while SCUBA diving, and  understand how much your calves burn after 2 hours of Chinese dance?

There are many ways that people define themselves: their families, the way that they look, the place that they grew up, and what other people might say about you. You know the famous line from The Breakfast Club: “But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain... ...and an athlete... ...and a basket case... ...a princess... ...and a criminal.”? The kids are telling their teacher that they don’t need to write essays about themselves because the brain, athlete, basket case, princess and criminal are the personalities the teacher has already assumed they are, but the students know that below these false assumptions is really quite a complex character. Meet me: Mei-Jing Bernard the exception to the rule.