Thirteen days: the amount of time between learning he was leaving his home in El Salvador to travel clandestinely into the United States, and his actual arrival here. Thirteen days: the amount of time I had to prepare myself for the day I would no longer be an only child. While awaiting my brother's arrival, I unexpectedly became a person who prayed. Every morning and every night I took time to thank God for my life and all that I...

While applying to schools, I was very proactive. This is something I would not change. I am glad I turned all my applications in way before their due date, however, if I started a month earlier, I would have been able to turn them in for Early Action. I decided not to do this because I wanted to submit better SAT scores (but if you have good SAT scores do early action if the school offers it because it will be a relief and I heard sometimes there a better financial aid offers for private schools). However, this is not...

Honestly, what I think really set me apart from other applicants was my story. We all can do 10 extracurriculars and get 4.0's if we stress ourselves out enough, the story is what sets us apart from one another. My story about my step...