The Stanford Supplement Short Essays - Question 1

Candidates must respond to all three questions/topics. Responses must be at least 250 words but should not exceed the space provided in the Supplement.

1. Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an idea or an experience you have had that you find intellectually engaging.

I wanted to tick “No” as I wavered in front of the teacher’s locker, staring at the acceptance form in my hand.

And a choice with good reason it would have been. I had failed a Physics exam miserably just half a year ago, and I wasn’t sure I could keep up. My desire to join the Physics Olympiad training warred with my fear of not being able to cope. The best my Physics teacher could come up with to encourage me was “Well, your seniors all didn’t know whether it would be worth it. You’ll have to fight very hard to do well.”

Physics was my worst subject when I entered NUS High School of Math & Science. The one problem with my newly established school was that it had to experiment with many things. I think they should have taught us calculus first before teaching A-Level standard Physics to fourteen year olds. Each time the tests were released, my score hovered close to a fail. It really upset me as I liked the subject.

“Forget it. I’m just going to sign up and fail”. I thrust the paper in before I lost my resolve, wondering if I was doomed to a semester of feeling out of my depth.

Luckily, the trainer invited was an exceptional teacher, and the Physics department very supportive. He had this way of making everything seem so easy, and was so enthusiastic his enthusiasm rubbed off everyone and we all fell in love with Physics.

Eventually, after months of sweating blood over Physics, I become one of the only eight gold medalists in the 2008 Singapore Physics Olympiad. I was even more ecstatic when I realized my score had contributed to the “Top Institution” award my school had been awarded. Since then, I have been involved in other Physics related activities, such as the Physics Interest group in my school which organizes outreach programmes and demonstration.