Q:  Where did you grow up? What was your path to Cal?
A:  I grew up in Long Beach in Southern California and spent all elementary
    school there. Then, my family moved to Irvine, California, mainly because
    it's such an thriving, lively, and exciting city (sarcasm aside,
    it's terribly boring there). The school system is much better than Long
    Beach, though. I think if I had gotten my way when I was 10 and we
    hadn't moved, I wouldn't have ended up at Cal. I was a pretty lazy
    student (even though I still am a bit today) and got my first proper
    academic beating when I got straight C's my first semester in Irvine.
    I continued to get pretty terrible grades until about sophomore year
    of high school, whereupon I met someone who would become a very close
    friend of mine. I have no idea where I would be right now if I didn't
    meet him, but he essentially inspired me to work my butt off and
    bring up both my GPA and my work ethic. That plus (in my humble opinion)
    a pretty bomb personal essay got me here. I would consider myself
    pretty fortunate to have been accepted to Cal, as my academic
    trajectory was aimed downward for much longer than upward.  
    
Q:  How much programming have you done (and what languages)?
A:  I didn’t actually know much about computer science until junior year
    of high school, but once I got a taste of it, I knew immediately what
    I wanted to do for the rest of my life. In the 3 years since, I’ve
    learned Python, Java, C++, C, Logo, Scheme and I’ve dabbled in HTML,
    CSS and Javascript. 
    
Q:  What are your hobbies? What are some of your talents and skills?
A:  I absolutely love all kinds of games, my favorites being the entire
    Pokemon series, Tetris, Guild Wars, Rock Band, Settlers of Catan and
    Munchkin. I also love improvising on the guitar, playing tennis,
    listening to music, cooking, and reading, although lately, all of
    that has taken a backseat to Reddit.
    
Q:  Have you done anything remarkable? Has anything memorable happened to you?
A:  Back in high school, I used to be very involved with the marching band
    and we ended up raising money to go on a cruise around the Bahamas and
    even got to perform in Disney World. It ended up being an incredibly
    memorable experience spending an entire week with some of my best
    friends from high school, exploring islands and just having an
    awesome spring break.

Q:  What commitments will be consuming your cycles this summer?
A:  I’ll also be taking CS70, Discrete Math, and an online course on
    Machine Learning. I’ll also hopefully tear through some books when
    I get some free time.