Any fool can learn to describe phenomena and regurgitate facts, but it takes true knowledge and understanding

to be able to explain and understand phenomena. Through learning physics and chemistry, I feel Ive learned to see the world from a more logical and intellectual perspective. Physics was always one of those subjects that clicked with me. I loved learning new concepts and applying them to problems and situations through exercise, and imagining the physics behind things that I observe every day. Things started to have reason and explanation as I furthered my knowledge of physics, and more importantly, it was all logical and made sense. Chemistry, I feel, goes hand in hand with physics, because both of these subjects teach me not to simply know something, but rather to fully understand something, and to be able to apply my knowledge to problems. The difference between reading a problem without knowledge of how to solve it and doing the same knowing how to solve it, I felt, was amazing. The power of knowledge was the difference between helplessness and capability. Ever since I was a child, I always loved math, because just like physics, once a skill, theory or method was understood, it could be applied in millions of ways, and problems which may look impossible, became possible. Though I used to make careless mistakes while I was young, I trained myself and practiced to refine my skill and technique, and it paid off with me scoring A+ grades in my national examinations for both Mathematics and Additional Mathematics in secondary school. As my thirst to understand things in the physical realm was quenched in secondary school with physics and chemistry, my curiosity of the mental realm was left to suffer. Thankfully, at college level I had the opportunity to take psychology, to help me better my understanding of one of the sources of our worlds infinite complexities, the human mind. Through studying, understanding and replicating various studies and experiments in ways Id never had the opportunity to before, I felt as though I was exploring a land Id never been to before, where everything was new and beautiful. In 2010, by researching biology and nutrition from various sources on the internet, as the biology syllabus I learned in school was simply not sufficient, I decided to test the limits of the human body by using myself as a human guinea pig for biological experimentation. My goal was to physically transform myself out of morbid obesity. Over the course of 12 months, I had gone from 117kg with a 36% body fat percentage, to 87kg, with a 15% body fat percentage. The lesson I learned here was that just a little bit of useful knowledge can make a world of difference, when applied correctly. At secondary school, I won the student election and was appointed the post of House Captain. This experience taught me, through watching and my peers struggle and work together to become champions, to never underestimate the limit of human determination. I also learned first-hand, that a general is nothing without great soldiers, and an army will be nothing without a great general. This helped me in college during team-based activities, where I worked with my group as the leader, and won all the challenges, two of which were physics-related, one having to do with gravity and air resistance, the other having to do with improvisation with materials to build a stable model tower. After some careful thought and consideration, I have chosen to pursue Chemical Engineering. Chemical Engineering, I feel, will not only be one of the most interesting and challenging branches of engineering to learn, but also one of the most important and relevant to our modern world.

I am also very interested in the topics of the course which involve nuclear chemistry. The mere idea that atoms, so small that they werent known to exist until recent centuries, can generate such magnificent amounts of power and energy has always left me in awe. I look forward to learning more about these topics. With the acceleration of scientific progression in recent times, many problems will arise, and I hope, with the application of useful knowledge in the field of Chemical Engineering, to be able to solve these problems in the best way possible. Having spoken English all my life and having visited England on many occasions, I feel I will be able to adapt easily to life there and look forward to what life has to offer in my future.