What put Carnegie Mellon on my radar is the fact that it is ranked among the top computer science programs in the country. I am applying because I want to be at a school where everyone is as driven and as focused as me. Students at Carnegie Mellon get to start focusing on their careers during their freshman year. I know that I want a career in computer science or engineering, so the fact that I would get to immediately take classes pertaining to my major attracts me. I am also fascinated by the research opportunities available at CMU. During my visit, I learned about Home Exploring Robot Butler (HERB); I really liked that this machine can learn about its environment and how best to navigate within it. I would love to participate in research
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One of my first experiences was in the Stanford Advanced Math Circle. The lecture was about data structures and optimizing two functions: inserting data into any part of the list and searching for an index. The insight was that one function cannot be optimized at the same time as the other function, so instead there was a compromise. The solution the class ended on was using an array but spacing out the entries such that more could be inserted later, so that finding an index was easy and there was minimal copying of the array. This experience inspired me to join the Girls Who Code Club at my school, where I learned more about computer science, like the different sorting algorithms and figuring out their benefits. I then took AP Computer Science, where I wrote larger and more complex programs further sparking interest in computer science. This year, I am taking an advanced animation class in which we were assigned to create a simulation of dots floating in a space. I went beyond that by making a complete game with a start screen, multiple levels, and random board generation. I enjoyed making algorithms for flocking the dots because it was hard to figure out the balance between attraction, separation, and alignment. I like how computer science at CMU is focused on algorithms because they have been my favorite part of the
One of my first experiences was in the Stanford Advanced Math Circle. The lecture was about data structures and optimizing two functions: inserting data into any part of the list and searching for an index. The insight was that one function cannot be optimized at the same time as the other function, so instead there was a compromise. The solution the class ended on was using an array but spacing out the entries such that more could be inserted later, so that finding an index was easy and there was minimal copying of the array. This experience inspired me to join the Girls Who Code Club at my school, where I learned more about computer science, like the different sorting algorithms and figuring out their benefits. I then took AP Computer Science, where I wrote larger and more complex programs further sparking interest in computer science. This year, I am taking an advanced animation class in which we were assigned to create a simulation of dots floating in a space. I went beyond that by making a complete game with a start screen, multiple levels, and random board generation. I enjoyed making algorithms for flocking the dots because it was hard to figure out the balance between attraction, separation, and alignment. I like how computer science at CMU is focused on algorithms because they have been my favorite part of the