(no subject)
Again, I bet my answers to these will be quite boring, but you can be the judge of that.
1. What is your tragic flaw?
What definition of tragic flaw are you using? There's "the character flaw or error of a tragic hero that leads to his downfall." (Wordnet) Having read many works of literature focused around tragic heroes, I get the impression that you usually don't see your tragic flaw until it's too late. Perhaps I strive for some things that are impossible for me to achieve? That's not an uncommon one. In any case, I have the opinion that if a person approaches life with humility and sincerely devotes time to self-discipline and training, then he or she will already have begun the journey to overcome whatever character flaws he or she had. The trick is to remain focused and true to that path. Of course, that's the samurai in me speaking again :)
2. In 24 hours, a rabid weasel will destroy the universe, replacing it with a beautiful paradise. You have the ability (which you discovered through a dream, but we shan't go there) to save one person (not you) from the utter destruction, to live in the beautiful paradise. Who do you choose to save and why?
That's a difficult responsibility to bear. I certainly don't have the right to decide the fate(s) of one or more people like that, but nevertheless I seem to be stuck with it. The copout answer would seem to be to seek out everyone who wants to live in the paradise and let them figure it out (unlikely to work) or pick randomly. (I actually wouldn't want to live in the paradise. Perhaps that's a question ("Why wouldn't you want to live there?") that would be more indictative of my character?)
3. You have the following choice: Stay as you are, or to become a genius in one single topic (like math, or atomic physics, or biology, or art, or piano, or whatever). The price of the latter choice is that you become somewhat below-average in everything that is not your genius skill. Which do you pick? If you pick the genius route, what topic do you want your genius skill in?
I would actually do neither. My answer would be to work to improve myself (instead of staying the way I am) in the area of choice. Simply gaining the ability just like that can be dangerous (though I suppose you technically didn't specify how I would gain that ability) without the discipline put into getting there. I say this perhaps because I again would strive to improve myself in the way of the sword (not surprising :) than anything else, and gaining that level of skill without having put the work into it defeats the purpose of it. The ultimate "practical" use of the Japanese sword arts is the application of their principles to life.
4. What made you decide to come here to study?
I faced a decision between Duke and MIT in the spring of my senior year, but it was from talking to students here that decided it. I saw that I would undoubtedly have an experience here that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere else.
5. If you had a free gourmet chef for 3 days, and assuming this chef can cook *anything in the world* that you want, perfectly, and in no time, anywhere that you were, what meals would you request?
Perhaps some good sushi :) I'm generally a fan of simple meals, so I'd probably just ask him to make some miso soup, rice and soba noodles.