NYU is one of the only two schools where I applied as an art major instead of a computer science major.
When I applied to IMA, my resume was filled with academic records and awards. I was constantly in a low mood, numbly following instructions from my high school instructors, practicing coding, attending contests, mostly failing, and occasionally earning another line for my resume. But even though my mind was in total chaos, something, a thought from nowhere, was dragging me toward applying to at least one art school. Maybe it has something to do with the question: Why did I even enjoy coding when I was small?
I’ve been tinkering with various small games using things like Scratch since elementary school, and by high school, they changed into Python, C++, and JS. Looking back now, most of them are pretty much trash, especially the ones I messed around with before the application season, before high school. But during the process of tinkering with this ‘trash,’ I was happy. I realized I was creating something, and I was so close to being able to truly bring something from my mind to life.
I enjoyed coding because I enjoy creating.
I was simply fascinated by how they operate, and how they create complex interactions with humans, starting from the two value logic of machine code. I also wanted to create by building something that only computers can make possible.