"I go to Westlake High School. To many people, that statement is enough to paint a pretty clear picture of who I am. Westlake is notorious for being full of spoiled kids and hard classes. You never hear about drug overdoses, pregnant girls don't roam the halls, and Westlake kids never break from the stress of balancing AP classes with competitive sports teams and trying to fit in. While growing up in a world obsessed with image, I unwittingly ignored...

The prompt was "What is the most significant challenge that society faces today?" and I said: In order for problems like the wage gap, hunger, and environmental degradation to ever be solved, people have to put society's needs before their own wants and corporations have to put society's needs before their profits. The most significant challenge to solving these problems is the inherent greed of humans.

This was a letter to my future roommate: To my future roommate, I talk in my sleep, still sleep with my Blankey, and created an Instagram account for my dog. There was a time in my life when I would have been embarrassed to admit these things, but that time has come and gone. Katy Perry, of whom I have a cardboard cutout in my room, has a song lyric that says "acceptance is the key to be truly free."...

This was a question about intellectual vitality: As a kid I spent my Saturdays going to an optional school for gifted kids and my Sundays at Hebrew School. Most people thought my parents forced me to take these extra classes, but I genuinely had a passion for learning and wanted more time in the classroom. This passion has largely shaped my life, and it led me to apply for the Duke Talent Identification Program the summer after seventh grade. "Nerd...

Here I wrote about equality for all from the perspective of a bisexual individual. This one was very personal so I have neglected to share it here.

In my essays I just tried to be really open and honest and show the admissions officers who I really am. I figured if I tried to lie and got rejected I wouldn't feel like I had given it my best shot, and I wanted to have no regrets. The Common App essay was easy to decide on a topic for, but very challenging to actually write. I took out some of the middle because of how personal it is,...