Everyone needs a passion: something to pour their heart into, that they can look forward to, that keeps them going after a long week - something they can spend hours on without no other goal than to please themselves. A waste of time, yet time well spent - time that they wouldn’t want to invest anywhere else. Something to invigorate them and put their mind at ease. Something they could spend all day talking about and all night thinking...

It's hard to describe why Northwestern, as opposed to so many other schools with qualities that appeal to me, but, unlike the others, Northwestern ticks so many boxes. In terms of academics, it has an impressive engineering major program coupled with a core program that I feel is better designed than other universities' in terms of both the opportunities and flexibility it offers. Although I am American, I identify more with an international background, and feel more at ease in...