Statement of Purpose
“How do we ask the turtle to trace out a circle? Remember, it only knows how to walk in straight lines and turn around.” Playing with the Logo turtle on screen in sixth grade was my first exposure to computer science. I was immediately fascinated by the idea of approximating a smooth circle with a regular polygon of, say, 360 sides. Staring at the “circle” on screen, I could not quite digest the fact that it was something produced in a fundamentally different way compared to the one I could draw with a pair of compasses, though neither of which was ever close to being the perfect, mathematical circle that probably does not exist in the physical world.
I love pondering stuff in my head or on a piece of paper, whether it be a hard problem or a novel concept. Although ruminating on things does not always lead me to solutions to problems or complete digestion of ideas, that desire to figure out or fully understand how things work and why they work (or not) has persisted throughout my academic endeavor, and the faculty of wonder, attention to detail, and appreciation of logical reasoning coming along with it have helped me lay a solid foundation in math and sciences and consequently win first and second prizes in national and provincial competitions in China. Then I was properly introduced to computer science and philosophy at Cornell. I realized that, despite being in disparate areas and taking on distinct forms, both subjects rely on solid and precise reasoning; in fact, I find reading and writing philosophy papers much like reading and writing code. Deciding on the topic and structure of a philosophy paper is like designing the functionality and architecture of the code. Employing various ways to support an argument is like adapting known algorithms to suit specific purposes. And proofreading and revising a paper is like testing, debugging, and improving the code. Last summer at Cornell, I led weekly supplementary seminars for the Fundamental Programming Concepts course. Initially, I included many questions about the ins and outs of language-specific syntax and semantics in the worksheet. The course instructor later pointed out that the students could always google the answers for those questions, so my job was rather to help them better understand the more abstract concepts. I then incorporated more questions that involve ideas that are hard to come up with but easy to implement once the …show more content…
I still remember myself delightedly and diligently going through the readings for my Minds, Bodies, and Persons course multiple times, highlighting central ideas and scribbling down confusions and random thoughts at the margin. I remember laying out the central arguments and supporting details on a piece of blank paper and weaving arrows around as if I were analyzing a mathematical proof. And I remember discussing and exchanging ideas (sometimes fervently) with the professor and classmates in and after class. I look back very fondly on my first encounter with philosophy at Cornell, and look forward to taking Philosophy of Mind and other world-class philosophy courses under the unique tutorial system at Oxford. Moreover, I have long dreamed of being able to speak fluently in a proper British accent. In fact, I always began my First-Year Writing Seminar reading assignments by reading them out loud with my best British accent. Living in Oxford, United Kingdom for nearly a year will for sure help me get closer to my
“How do we ask the turtle to trace out a circle? Remember, it only knows how to walk in straight lines and turn around.” Playing with the Logo turtle on screen in sixth grade was my first exposure to computer science. I was immediately fascinated by the idea of approximating a smooth circle with a regular polygon of, say, 360 sides. Staring at the “circle” on screen, I could not quite digest the fact that it was something produced in a fundamentally different way compared to the one I could draw with a pair of compasses, though neither of which was ever close to being the perfect, mathematical circle that probably does not exist in the physical world.
I love pondering stuff in my head or on a piece of paper, whether it be a hard problem or a novel concept. Although ruminating on things does not always lead me to solutions to problems or complete digestion of ideas, that desire to figure out or fully understand how things work and why they work (or not) has persisted throughout my academic endeavor, and the faculty of wonder, attention to detail, and appreciation of logical reasoning coming along with it have helped me lay a solid foundation in math and sciences and consequently win first and second prizes in national and provincial competitions in China. Then I was properly introduced to computer science and philosophy at Cornell. I realized that, despite being in disparate areas and taking on distinct forms, both subjects rely on solid and precise reasoning; in fact, I find reading and writing philosophy papers much like reading and writing code. Deciding on the topic and structure of a philosophy paper is like designing the functionality and architecture of the code. Employing various ways to support an argument is like adapting known algorithms to suit specific purposes. And proofreading and revising a paper is like testing, debugging, and improving the code. Last summer at Cornell, I led weekly supplementary seminars for the Fundamental Programming Concepts course. Initially, I included many questions about the ins and outs of language-specific syntax and semantics in the worksheet. The course instructor later pointed out that the students could always google the answers for those questions, so my job was rather to help them better understand the more abstract concepts. I then incorporated more questions that involve ideas that are hard to come up with but easy to implement once the …show more content…
I still remember myself delightedly and diligently going through the readings for my Minds, Bodies, and Persons course multiple times, highlighting central ideas and scribbling down confusions and random thoughts at the margin. I remember laying out the central arguments and supporting details on a piece of blank paper and weaving arrows around as if I were analyzing a mathematical proof. And I remember discussing and exchanging ideas (sometimes fervently) with the professor and classmates in and after class. I look back very fondly on my first encounter with philosophy at Cornell, and look forward to taking Philosophy of Mind and other world-class philosophy courses under the unique tutorial system at Oxford. Moreover, I have long dreamed of being able to speak fluently in a proper British accent. In fact, I always began my First-Year Writing Seminar reading assignments by reading them out loud with my best British accent. Living in Oxford, United Kingdom for nearly a year will for sure help me get closer to my