102 UT Austin Essays That Got In

Prompt: Why are you interested in the major you indicated as your first-choice major?

I take pride in my command of Sinhala. In Sri Lanka, it serves as a bridge, connecting me to the culture I left behind. Sinhala allows me to communicate without the loss of meaning that often occurs through translation. I believed that forging such connections globally meant mastering multiple languages. However, my exploration of computer science challenged this belief, allowing me to collaborate with the innovative ideas of people worldwide through the lingua franca of programming.

As a web developer at the [Organization Redacted], I collaborated with high school developers from China to program a website teaching AP/IB level economics relatable to students worldwide. The initial language barrier was tough. Miscommunication was common. When developing an activity teaching the concept of the “invisible hand," a flurry of "Huh?" "What?" and "Sorry, can you repeat that?" filled our conversations, leaving us dead in the water. Not only was Google Translate failing to convey our vision for the project, but the individualistic foundation of the "invisible hand" was also at odds with the communal focus of my colleagues' culture. Our mutual command of the JavaScript language, however, became our bridge. Programming snippets of our project's logic scaffolded a connection between us. The logic and syntax of coding transcended differences in our spoken language and cultural values. Through the late nights spent debugging together on call, we strengthened our bridge. We shared how our different upbringings shaped our educational experiences and applied this insight to our project, creating activities that incorporated both individualistic and communal economic perspectives. These resources transcend cultural boundaries with 4,400 users, from [Place Redacted], learning economics from our platform.

The process of developing and proliferating accessible software has expanded my horizons to a network of interconnected programmers and economists to learn from and work with.