6:57 A.M. Bright lights illuminate the train tracks towering above me. Leaving all uncertainties behind, I sprint toward the train, with homemade morning coffee exploding onto my shirt. Just as I reach the yellow stoop of the stairs, the gears of the train screech as it comes to a halt. “This is a Manhattan Bound F Local Train; the next stop is Kings Highway. Stand clear of the closing doors, please.” The two and a half seconds between this infamous...

Having first stepped onto the red cobblestone pavement of Locust Walk for the Wharton Social Impact Conference, I was intrigued by the combination of lounging students and boisterous children playing on the white split button positioned in front of Van Pelt Library. The abnormally large and peculiar button, known to have popped off the vest of founding father Benjamin Franklin, perfectly portrays the crossroads of knowledge encapsulated by Penn — irrepressible desire for learning and collaboration of knowledge to obtain collectively...

Walking past the Tightrope Walker sculpture facing Jerome Greene Hall, I noticed a group of students ardently bickering. My inquisitive nature demanded that I hone in. The dance major student admired the sculptures’ theme of movement through its distorted figure; the future architect remarked on its battered bronze skin; the art student noted the sculpture’s juxtaposition of realism and abstraction. Noticing that I was eavesdropping, they asked me, “What’s your take?” In a community of irrepressible learners, Columbia's...

For applicants to Columbia College, please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the field or fields of study that you noted in the Member Questions section. If you are currently undecided, please write about any field or fields in which you may have an interest at this time. (300 words or less) When first posed with the idea of opportunity cost in macroeconomics, I realized that all decisions depended upon...

List the titles of the films, concerts, shows, exhibits, lectures and other entertainments you enjoyed most in the past year. (150 words or less) Because the ubiquitous display of the moving image captivates me—Hypermobility performance at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Nam Jun Paim’ks Electronic Superhighway at the Smithsonian Contemporary Art Museum, 2017 USA Gymnastics Championships, Sleeping Beauty- American Ballet Theatre at The Metropolitan Opera, Because I love the influence and scalability of business through service learning—Berkshire Hathaway...

List the titles of the print, electronic publications and websites you read regularly. (150 words or less) The Atlantic, The Skimm, The New York Times, Business Insider, NPR: How I Built It, Go Girl Finance Club, Aesthetica Magazine, Buzzfeed List the titles of the books you read for pleasure that you enjoyed most in the past year. (150 words or less) Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Economics I Learned from Online Dating by Paul Edward Oyer Eleanor & Park by Rainbow...

4. Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay. “A face that toils so close to stones is already stone itself! I see that man going back down with a heavy yet measured...

Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (About 150 words) During what seemed to be an ordinary session tutoring Mikayla, my student since freshman year, she was gratified with my math homework help, but wished I could teach her all about my love of dance. After listening and gathering further experiences and stories from students, I created my company Future Youth Talent, a marketplace for student mentors to share their...

Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held. (About 150 words) I spent summers taking a glimpse into the blurry world of business and technology through service-learning. I taught my younger peers through workshops and interactive lectures at my startup company, Future Youth Talent. I loved continuing to work with the frivolous minds of children by hosting a rhythmic gymnastics summer camp, where I choreographed routines, took...

Your favorite book and its author: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Sleznick: both poignant and magical, its pages told in bold black-and-white charcoal drawings hone childhood glory of imagination and discovery with every page. Your favorite movie: Mr.Nobody Your favorite website: reddit.com; a dynamic collective of all encompassing knowledge, sparking enthralling debate in the minds of its readers Two adjectives your friends would use to describe you: zesty, luminescent Your favorite recording: This American Life Podcast 355:...

Briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. During what seemed to be an ordinary session tutoring Lilliana, my student since freshman year, she was gratified with my math homework help, but wished I could teach her all about my love of dance. After listening and gathering further experiences and stories from students, I created my company Future Youth Talent, a marketplace for student mentors to share their talents and passions. As I pondered how to create...

What is the most significant challenge that society faces today? (50 word limit) Apathy. Maybe it's our Darwinian nature that causes us to lack compassion toward our fellow beings, but as a society, this psychological starvation evolves into the desensitization of humans to problems that do not affect us. Humans are capable of many things, but without empathy there is no humanity. Words entered: 49 How did you spend your last two summers? (50 word limit) Teaching for my tutoring startup, online Differential...

The Stanford community is deeply curious and driven to learn in and out of the classroom. Reflect on an idea or experience that makes you genuinely excited about learning. (100 to 250 words) My older teammates, dressed in sparkly leotards, jettisoned their ribbons high into the air and spun 32-fouette turns, all while maintaining an astonishing sense of mellifluous flow. As a young girl, I found that performing seemingly impossible elements with inherent ease was all the fun of rhythmic gymnastics. My...

Tell us about something that is meaningful to you and why. (100 to 250 words) Perusing through creamy white pages lined with tediously simple two-digit multiplication on an ordinary Monday evening tutoring session with Mikayla, mathematics were tuned out by my complaints of the weather, to-do lists of homework, and boasting about finally getting past a broken line of code at my software internship. Listening carefully to my wandering mind, Mikayla questioned what exactly what my constant influx of thoughts and ambitions...

Virtually all of Stanford's undergraduates live on campus. Write a note to your future roommate that reveals something about you or that will help your roommate -- and us -- know you better. (100 to 250 words) Dear roommate, I thought you should know that while wandering the infinitely long aisles of supermarkets my hands are always full of samples of peculiar foods. Each bite of these samples brings a pleasant surprise and entices me further into buying the entire package. Before...