I believe that my failures in my friendships have taught me more than failure in any other area would have. They have taught me how to deal with people in a realistic way. Perhaps most importantly, these failures encouraged my transition from childhood to young adulthood by giving me a taste of what the real world would be like. I realized that not everyone I meet is going to like me or treat me with respect. Finally I decided that...

This essay was about using the experiences of the past to be more engaged and appreciative of the present. The prompt was to choose a favorite quote from a novel; I chose the final line from The Great Gatsby: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

My strategy for my essays was to try to make them as personal as possible so that the affect that my personality, goals, dreams, and values really shined through. I did not really focus on academic or extracurricular achievements in my essays because I knew that those would be empirically included in my application. To me, it was more important to do my best to present who I am as a person because that is something that could not be...

unique, positive,...

I can't say enough about the weather! The incredible sunshine and climate at Stanford really help to alleviate some of the...

After college I hope to go to law...

I know that some people try to choose recommenders from two very different subjects (ie. history and math) to try to appear well rounded, but I...

Find what you love, focus on it, work really hard for it, and be passionate about it! A lot of people applying to college do...

There really isn't one "most...

I think what set me apart from other applicants was my focus on describing how I developed into the person that I am...