On the first day of summer, instead of sleeping in or playing at the beach with my friends, I drove for an hour to [internship place]. I sat in Dr. 's office where he explained my internship project. He sputtered terms like "GtgyjbH" which I would come to know as the string of letters representing the name of the bacterial protein under scrutiny; but, at the time it simply sounded like literal "gibberish". The project's title itself was an enigma:...

Among all my academic endeavors, biology has been a constant subject that I've gravitated towards. My experience in Science Olympiad exposed me to all kinds of interesting studies; ecology, epidemiology, forensics, human anatomy- with so many fascinating choices, I wondered how I would ever choose a specific field to major in. It wasn't until I spent the summer in a lab researching a protein with potential to turn off virulence in bacteria that I realized molecular biology was the level...

Described that challenges that came from being a middle child. My challenges however were not your traditional forgotten middle child- it was about how I was in the middle of my older and younger sister's fighting and had to work with them to mediate their issues with each other.

I had the hardest decision of my life choosing between my state school (U of WA), U of AZ (full tuition scholarship), and University of Southern California....

U of WA was in-state tuition and has an extremely good rep. It's highly ranked on many lists-- some times ranking higher than University of Southern CA. I decided not to go because of their competitive majors and community. My older sister attends UW as do many people from my HS so this is where my insight comes from. If you don't know what major you want to pursue it can be very challenging to change your mind about a major once you've been accepted into it. For example, Computer Science is very competitive and if your college GPA isn't...

Apply early!! My mom warned me and being the stubborn High schooler I was, I ignored her. I thought: I haven't had my full high school experience so how can I write on a prompt that asks for my favorite/best experience if it hasn't happened yet. This is partly true because I ended up writing on an internship that I did the summer before my senior year. However, as soon as senior...

Try to get internships! It's fine to relax during your summer weekends but if you take too much of a break you'll find yourself bored and wasting time. If you can make money that's even better! Relations you make with employers or internship leaders can be vital sources for rec letters if you...

I think my application was unique because I had a well rounded amount of activities, top grades, and some leadership positions. While this may sound like a general good student, you have towrite about why your well roundedness, good grades, and leadership roles were distinct from others...