A SWORD'S GATEWAY THROUGH ME: I never knew I’d find a second home. I guess it waltzed itself into my life the moment I timidly walked into the advanced journalism “sub,” sitting down next to the only other teenager who had been accepted onto staff that year, a short, ungainly-looking girl with a brilliant grin and a boy who looked almost as innocent as I. Falconerds love to joke that our sub is a magic portal. Usually it leads...

Sweat drips onto my violin as we are filing into the auditorium. I just arrived from a squash game, I’m not nervous. However, that changes when I realize that I still have my squash shoes on. And that I still have a plethora of edits to make in the newspaper room. And that I have three tests the next day. Fun. Although it was stressful, I enjoyed every minute of juggling such diverse extracurriculars. I appreciated the many opportunities...

Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development. 250 words My life is a series of intense fascinations, which I dive into headfirst. Age ten. My dad shows me a family tree, and genealogy piques my interest. I collect data about my own family, interviewing relatives whenever I can, and construct a tree spanning hundreds of people stretching back centuries. Age twelve: I discover I can program my graphing...

Tell us about an engineering idea you have, or about your interest in engineering. Describe how your ideas and interests may be realized by—and linked to—specific resources within the College of Engineering. Finally, explain what a Cornell Engineering education will enable you to accomplish. (Please limit your response to 650 words.) As my thoughts drifted by with snapshots of scenes of the most memorable parts of my summer, I realized more fully than ever why I love engineering: June 2...

T minus 3 seconds, T minus 2 seconds, T minus 1 second and Launch… It wasn’t the launch of a rocket, but a social venture developed by me. I felt an adrenaline rush – this was my thirteenth website, which hit a thousand views last week. It all started at 'Food For All', a non-profit where I volunteered during my summer breaks. Here, I discovered a regular divergence between the quantity of food pledged and the actual food donated. We had limited logistics...

Taking Dr. Magnus Egerstedt’s course on Mobile Robotics through Coursera introduced me to a wonderland, a future filled with robotics and AI. After further exploring my love for AI during my internship at Cisco, I believe that the Intelligence Thread at Georgia Tech will provide the right stitches to successfully design my career. Be it inside the classroom or outside, GT fosters a community where opinions and discussions are encouraged, demonstrated by the flipped classroom methodology. In addition, VIP,...

My passion lies in using technology to solve real-world problems. Purdue fosters an innovative community that is open to new ideas as evidenced by the ‘flipped classroom’ methodology. If I am admitted, I would like to collaborate with fellow students in the Discovery Park as it is clear that many of the problems we face require an interdisciplinary approach. I not only want to develop new solutions, but also want to take them to the market. 3-Day Startup and Purdue...