The word 'spiritual' is commonly associated with prayers and hymns, rituals and traditions - all part of a whole known as religion. But 'spiritual' can also be used to mean 'related to' or 'joined in spirit'. Therefore a place deemed 'spiritual' need not be a church or temple, but rather a place where I am perfectly content, a place to which I have given my heart and soul, and a place to which I am 'joined in spirit.' And...

Villanova Why do we exist? W. H. Auden responds, "We are here on this earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know." And we should help not just with any act of service, but an act of true service - when one does good solely for the sake of doing good. I had not realized this until my junior year when I began volunteering at Liberty Science Center; I worked in the exhibits...

Rutgers We humans have sought to understand the purpose of our lives from the beginning of time. Why do we exist? W. H. Auden responds, "We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know." The answer is clear - we exist to help others. And not just helping through a donation or a few hours of volunteering, but helping through an act of true service - doing good for...

Boston College Sarah Dessen and I met during my junior year, when I had to read one of her novels for a project. Never before had I had exposure to her work, so I did not know what to expect in terms of the storyline and writing style. But after reading The Truth About Forever, I was convinced of one thing - though being fictitious and romantic, the story had life lessons hidden throughout its entirety. The novel explores the...

UPenn A wise man once said, "You aren't born successful. You have to work hard, have the right mindset and the right morals and only then can you make success." Therefore, to truly become successful, we must imbibe in us the qualities that will help us to do so. Our parents teach us to be kind, responsible and determined, our teachers tell us to never stop learning while being innovative and creative, and our friends remind us to be empathetic....

Early Action - I got accepted to Rutgers - New Brunswick, Villanova and Northeastern. Northeastern does not have a supplemental essay. I got deferred from Boston College and Georgetown. Regular Decision - I got waitlisted from BC and Carnegie Mellon. I got rejected from Georgetown and UPenn. Later, I got rejected from BC and CMU. These essays do not necessarily reflect what an admissions officer will be looking for, especially since I have added in essays of schools I did...

I would have applied to schools that were more of...

For my first interview (ever), I interviewed with an alum from Georgetown. She had invited me to her office at J&J. She was young and very nice. She really listened to what I had to say, took notes diligently and...

After I got waitlisted at CMU and BC, I sent in a letter of continued interest to both schools....