The first question I always get when people meet me is, "What are you?" I suppose it's not every day that you meet a person that could be any Asian race! But I guess that's just what happens to any unassuming Filipino with stereotypically Asian characteristics. At first, I couldn't even believe that I was related to my family. They were obviously Filipino, and nothing about me really screamed Filipino—not even my loud aunts at parties who would laugh...

The approach to higher education at the College of Arts and Sciences in the University of Pennsylvania is one that I am interested in and feel have already to begun to engage in. For example, like UPenn, it is integral to my own approach to learning a language to learn and understand as much of the cultures and peoples that speak it. Thanks to my knowledge of French, Spanish, and Italian, I was able to navigate through Europe this past...

The Brown-RISD dual degree program is essentially what I want out of my higher education. The limits and confines of the preexisting education system are simply too restricting. I want my college future of endless nights to mean something at least to me, and not be just some way to get a degree to do something. It is important, then, that whatever I do is truly worth it. For me, this program is a priceless opportunity to learn and do...

I am a part of the LGBT community—people of vastly different backgrounds and identities that have led me to a liberty that I never knew was possible until I came out as queer. It was so intensely liberating to find out that I was not alone, that the struggle that I was going through in the closet was normal, and that it was okay to be different from what society perceived as normal. Even still, only recently have I...

At Brown, the aspect of an open education wherein I have the freedom to do and study the subjects that I want is incredibly appealing. In my opinion, this approach is what college and higher liberal education should be doing—giving us adolescents the opportunity to take on higher learning in a way that would actually prepare us to be individuals and adults. It will not be easy to choose from hundreds of possibilities of courses, but neither is life....

Start building good relationships with your teachers not only because they will teach you so much in class and outside of it, but also because they...