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how are you? I hope you are doing well! The weather is really beginning to look like Spring!
[About the photo above:] The photo was taken when I was attending UCLA. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts. My father is on my right side and my best friend is on my left. I played the part of Princess Jade Pure in a show called " The Land of the Dragon" done in Peking Opera-style.
Today, I would like to touch on the topic of the "US college admissions bribery scandal." I'm sure you've heard about it in the news. Among many other universities mentioned such as Harvard, Princeton, USC, and Stanford, I attended UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) which was also listed as one of the prestigious schools.
However, the route I took to gain admission into the UCLA's Theatre Arts Department was quite different from the path the wealthy and privileged kids took in the scandal. My parents neither had the wealth to bribe the school nor would they make such a deceptive decision.
However, the route I took to gain admission into the UCLA's Theatre Arts Department was quite different from the path the wealthy and privileged kids took in the scandal. My parents neither had the wealth to bribe the school nor would they make such a deceptive decision.
My modeling career began when I was 13 years old and reached a peak when I was 16 years old. As their campaign model, I represented esteemed and renowned companies in Japan such as Shiseido Cosmetics, Soen Magazine, Washington Shoes, and many others. By the time I graduated from an American high school in Japan, I had accumulated a lot of money based on over five years of modeling, so it was not a problem paying my way through college.
I moved to the United States when I was 18 years old to attend college. People thought I was crazy to leave Japan at the height of my modeling career, but in hindsight, I believe I made a bigger impact as an actress on American TV shows and films. My father was also an actor, so he encouraged me to follow in his footsteps and become an actress. So, I started taking dramatic literature and theatre arts classes, and I happened to enjoy them very much.
I moved to the United States when I was 18 years old to attend college. People thought I was crazy to leave Japan at the height of my modeling career, but in hindsight, I believe I made a bigger impact as an actress on American TV shows and films. My father was also an actor, so he encouraged me to follow in his footsteps and become an actress. So, I started taking dramatic literature and theatre arts classes, and I happened to enjoy them very much.
My father tried to help me get into UCLA by getting letters of recommendations from his movie star friends like Gregory Peck, Joseph Cotten, and Hugh O'Brien. I visited their sprawling, Beverly Hills estates one by one. They were very nice to me and wrote me lovely letters of recommendations that looked more like autographs.
I was shocked when the Theatre Arts Department at UCLA did not admit me. The letter said I could be any other major "except" Theatre Arts. So, I enrolled at UCLA as a psychology major. At the same time, I took classes taught by faculty members on the petitioning committee who chose the students who wanted to get into the Theatre Dept. I asked each of my professors to put in a good word for me and I got into the department after one quarter.
Needless to say, my route into the university is quite circuitous compared to the wealthy kids' inside connections (illegal though they may be). In a way, I'm proud that UCLA turned me down. They saw right through the letters of recommendations written by my father's friends and had the insight to know that I did not have any experience in theatre. I had been a model in Japan, but I had no training in theatre up until that point. Fair enough. I had to fight and earn my way into the department, but I'm proud to say I got in on my own merit.
The lesson of the day. . . "Work hard! Don't cheat!" nest-pas?
Warmest regards,
Lady Ayame
Warmest regards,
Lady Ayame
