Mason's Personal Essays

Prompt: When have you succeeded when you thought you would fail? Finally understanding a new topic about something you’ve been trying to learn is rewarding, but it’s learning and understanding the new concept that’s the toughest part. Math at school never really posed much of a challenge, so during Junior Year, I decided to self-study the AP Calculus BC exam without any previous knowledge. I thought this exam would be easy.  I learned early on that the “pre” in precalculus was a lie. In most courses for math, each topic builds upon previous knowledge. Though precalculus may have given us the bare essentials needed to do a problem in calculus, the topics in calculus didn’t really build upon those bare essentials. Rather, it focused on learning new topics, something that I hadn’t done in a long time and wasn’t quite used to.  The toughest barrier came from trying to find the “area of 3D solids.” After spending countless hours on the concept of the isosceles triangles, I still st...

Prompt:  What can older people learn from your generation?   Oftentimes, I see criticisms of newer technology from older generations about the internet. The older generation often says that newer technology fills the void where moments like self-reflection and “real thinking” come from, something important in human life while other generations don’t seem to mind, where I sometimes see a generational difference. While it may be true that newer technology has its downsides, there is still much more that it offers. I’d even go as far as saying the pros outweigh the cons.  For the longest time, my grandma couldn’t figure out how to use this app called WeChat, where we could call each other by using only wifi. For some reason, she was adamant on using the old telephone. The old telephone miraculously decided that the only way it could be called was through my father’s phone, something that I still haven’t been able to figure out. Because of this, my brother and I couldn’t ...

Prompt: How often do you leave your comfort zone?      It’s well known that I’m not the biggest fan of doubles in tennis. I usually stayed back at the baseline, where I revolved my game around and felt the most comfortable. I loved hitting angular shots from the back and grinding out a point was the way I wanted to play. Doubles was almost like the exact opposite, where fast-paced gameplay due to volleys could end the point instantly.       There were two major issues about doubles. I hated the volley. While others found this shot trivial, even though I had spent years playing, it was my least favorite shot because I just couldn’t get it right. You had to stay up the net and hit the ball out of the air. That meant that you got less reaction time because you were closer and the ball was faster. Volleys were way more common in doubles than in singles, but my least favorite part by far was playing with a teammate. At first, it felt like a lose-lose situat...

       When it comes to self-control, the most important part is finding the middle ground. When I think of self-control, I think of moderation in life and how to know when something isn’t doing what it’s intended. When it isn’t you need to get rid or change something.      One of my greatest enemies to my self-control is TV shows. During COVID-19, I remember watching Masterchef with my brother and around episode 4, I was completely hooked. I was supposed to watch an episode a day but come on, waiting around bored in quarantine, I couldn’t wait that long. It didn’t help that the show would leave you on a cliffhanger all the time and give you a snippet of the next episode, so as any normal person would, I finished the entire season in 2 days.        I started getting into watching other TV shows. It almost felt as if I was in the story itself, which I really enjoyed at first. The stories were intricate, funny, and/or meaningful....

What hobbies have been passed down from your family?   The first mahjong set I ever saw was at a party. The shuffling of the colorful, marblelike tiles filled the room, almost playing as background noise to the vibrant conversations around it. I watched my dad play, and once it got to his turn, he drew a tile and flicked the tile effortlessly with one finger to the discard pile. As it slid, it bumped into a previously discarded tile, creating a satisfying “clack” Immediately, the game caught my attention and I pestered my mom. “Can you teach me how to play this game?” She laughed it off. “When you get older, I’ll teach you since it’s too complicated for you.” She kept on playing, and I was left puzzled. “Too challenging for me? I’m a six year old though!” I thought. “How dare they think I’m incapable of this game. I’ll show them.” After that day, I annoyed the heck out of my parents to teach me how to play.  It was actually my grandma that taught me a lot about Chinese, so...

A controversial opinion for sure, but if I could choose to return to a moment in my past, I would choose to return to subbie year. Though I’m happy with where I am today, I think we all have a fantasy of being able to make changes to the past, contemplate what could have been, and fix the errors in judgment we once had. Before I went to Uni, my parents always had strict guidelines limiting my computer time, leaving me with around 30 minutes a day during the weekend. I can’t believe it took Einstein to figure out time was relative, because those 30 minutes felt way faster than it should have been. It wasn’t their intention but since my parents had set that rule, it seemingly led me to want more screen time and equate that as a precious commodity.  Once I got to Uni, I learned that each subbie was allowed their own personal computer. This is the greatest thing that could possibly happen! I thought to myself. That meant that I could secretly get by my parents' limits by playing v...