Full Name: Arman Babakhani

Email address: armanxbabakhani@berkeley.edu

Permanent Address: 1717 Orchard ave, Glendale CA 91206

Phone number: (818) 397-9621

Intended Major: Engineering Physics

Personal Essay
Science is often erroneously thought of as a collection of arcane facts that is used by a person in a white
lab coat to do things that have very little to do with our daily matters. I had an early diversion from this rather
premature view at a young age, when I discovered the shivering joy of cogitating about the nature of things that I
could not understand, and make a connection between the things that I knew and those that I did not. The urge and
pleasure of finding things out, as one of my heroes Richard Feynman used to exclaim, found its way into my
brain and sparked a passion towards scientific inquiry and philosophy.
The love that I developed in learning about nature and asking questions about things, of course, had to be
nurtured with a great amount of thinking and seeking for answers. Being perplexed by complexities and
confusions has been the biggest part of this journey of seeking answer. I have learned that confusion and learning
are two integral parts of this inquiry and the means by which one makes the transition from the former to the latter
is all what critical thinking and scientific method are about.
My love of books began to grow as soon as I realized their importance in conveyance of information.
However, it struggled to flourish and even abated at times when, in search of genuine knowledge about nature, I
came across books that contained incorrect and misleading information such as the Bible. Although, books are
composed and read with great many intentions other than acquiring scientific information, I figured that the reader
is obliged to determine whether that book is intended to be a pertinent and viable source of answers to the
questions for which he or she had started the journey. Though, I have grown accustomed to enjoy this unraveling
process of distinguishing known from the unknown.
I am narrating these somewhat abstract, rather philosophical notions to embolden the ideas that have
shaped the way I think. I believe that human values can be more or less extracted from the notions that the elites
and great thinkers of our civilization have cofounded. Learning about the enlightening ideas that have
revolutionized our civilization, from the writings of Karl Marx on the nature of economic systems to the
extraordinary discovery of Einsteins theory of Relativity, is essential to our current understanding of human and
global affairs. My belief in this has always urged in me the need to communicate and trade information with my
family, my fellow class mates, my professors, and my students.
From the junior year of high school until the present moment, I have been tutoring and volunteering in
colleges to assist students with their learning in physics, chemistry, mathematics, English, philosophy, and
economics. I believe that not only scientific literacy, but literary and social education is of vast importance to
spark in students and new learners the passion to learn about the history of our civilization and our place in
cosmos. Only through the dissemination of ideas and knowledge will there be any hope of achieving a literate
society, as far away from ignorance as possible.
Science has been a voyage for me, of the most humbling and character building sort. It has also differed
from any of my other traveling experiences in that it is an unending trip full of amazement and enthusiasm. One
of the main reasons that I have a career of teaching in mind is that instead of being a passenger, I can become a
pilot, and lead people to the most mysterious and flamboyant places that our minds have never been able to
imagine.

Academic Achievements
High school (Dubai International Academy)

September 2010 - May 2013

Scoring 118 in AMC math contest 12

Scoring 36/42 in IB

Community College (Pasadena City College & Glendale Community College)

November 2012
May 2013

January 2014
June 2015

Alexander Family Scholarship Engineering scholarship (PCC foundation)

J. Jen $ NLC Chang mathematics scholarship (PCC foundation)
Completing 73 community college units in 16 months with a GPA of 3.93

November 2014
April 2015
June 2015

Skills/Interests

Soccer
Running and Weight-lifting
Painting
Computer programming
Multilingual: Armenian, English, Persian, Spanish

My love of soccer has been a gift from my father to me, as he would always encourage me to joggle with
a soccer ball and play soccer with my friends. I have played professional soccer in junior soccer league (under
15) and have been the captain of Varsity soccer team in my junior and senior year of high school. I still
continue to play occasionally, but mostly focus on my physical training by running and lifting weights.
Apart from sports, I try to dedicate sufficient time to drawing and painting: something that I have been
doing since I was 3 years old. I received an international water color drawing award, when in kinder garden,
and so the enthusiasm to continue drawing and painting has remained intact. I have drawn the portraits of all
my family members, and draw my friends portraits for their birthdays. This has been a very effective way for
me to save money on buying gifts.