“Register Now for Exhumation” That sign haunted me. In our Singaporean version of a Toyota minivan, we passed it almost daily. Those words seemed so thoughtless. Not only did a mud-splattered, stark white tarp by the side of a highway seem like such an insensitive way to notify families, but on a crowded island my parents often nicknamed the “concrete jungle,” that cemetery was an oasis— and the government planned to build a road precisely on top of it. Just...

I am a proud member of the Sundance Documentary Club. Searching for Sugar Man, check. The Cove, check. March of the Penguins, check. It all started in fifth grade when my mother sat me down in our basement with a bowl of kettle corn and turned on An Inconvenient Truth. Although the "explosions" were a little less thrilling than those in perhaps Pirates of the Caribbean, I was enthralled and have spent many a Friday night since with the remote...

Prompt: What matters to you and why? I have a sweet spot for a good lasagna, am addicted to my iTunes playlist, and definitely enjoy ordering pizza from my favorite restaurant, but in the grand scheme of things, I know that those luxuries don't truly matter. What matters is that I have been given a chance- a chance to succeed, to get an education, a chance to make a difference in someone else's life, and I need to take it....

Prompt: Person in history you would want to meet The grotesque nature of Chicago’s massive slaughterhouse and poverty-stricken, soot-infested neighborhoods earned it the nickname of “The Black City” in the late 1800s, but despite the striking lack of sanitation, upon reading Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, I would love the opportunity to see the dichotomy between the city’s prosperous World’s Fair in 1893 and the desolate alleys that coined the phrase. I was deeply...

Prompt: Favorite Book One of my earliest memories are the pages of the Time magazine I held as a three-year-old in the days following 9/11; hiding behind our cherry oak entertainment center, I was glued to the shocking aftermath, desperately struggling to comprehend the reality. My mother tried to shelter me from the images, the horror, and the truth, but I disagreed. It wasn’t until I first read The Giver that I realized creating a safe-haven for our children might...

Between multiple personal statements, supplements, and scholarship applications, I wrote over 20 essays on a wide variety of topics. I still have a list of possible ideas and introductions saved on my computer, and trust me, most would make for some fun reading material. But, over the months it took me to complete my applications, I learned quite a few things! Although the amount of writing required can be daunting, it is important to give yourself enough time to complete each...

I consider myself a relatively "normal" person in comparison to most other applicants of top universities— I enjoy Netflix, haven't founded a non-profit or developed a life-changing app, and although I had a rigorous schedule senior year, I still had plenty of free time to hang out with friends or pursue my hobbies. In my opinion, what ultimately set me apart were my essays and interview. I actually submitted a different essay to Penn than I did to any other university...

I did not hire a private admissions counselor, nor was my high school guidance counselor a big part of my application process (I attended a large public high...

I interviewed at both Washington University in St. Louis (on campus with a student) and the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton alumni, was supposed to be Skype but ended up just being a phone conversation). WUSTL's process was extremely informal and took place with a student who had few, if any, questions to ask and required...

My supplemental for Penn primarily talked about the clubs I was interested in, and how I hoped my individuality could add to the school's already diverse...

I would most certainly start on my essays earlier and write multiple drafts (or even versions) before submitting the final application! I ended up writing 3 full-length...