“I, Aris Cedeño, officially declare the Murray State Campus for the Governor’s Scholars Program (GSP) closed.” These words still resonate within my mind as I think back to the most amazing summer of my high school career, reflect on the wonderful memories made, and witness growth in myself both as a person and a student. How can spending 5 weeks 6 hours away from my family, living in a crowded, 225 sq. ft. room, where I have to do my own...

Because of the personal nature of this essay, I choose not to replicate it fully here. I started this essay with a quote from my favorite movie, Forrest Gump. "Life is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you're going to get." I then structured the essay by expanding on this quote, beginning by picking out my favorite piece of chocolate in a box of Whitman's Samplers, a chocolate-covered caramel. I then connected this to an anecdote in...

For the personal statement, my goal was to show a sense of diversity. Being from a very small, rural town in Southeastern Kentucky, I knew the topic of diversity would be important for two reasons: (1) top notch schools want to know that you are capable of interacting with a widely diverse community because they attract the best students from all around the world. This means that you need to be comfortable in new environments, and—more importantly—you need to...

When I was thinking about applying to schools, I decided to group schools into 3 sections: safety schools, intermediate schools, and ivy leagues. I wanted to make sure that I got into college, and that I could afford it, so in my safety school section, I included 3 schools that I knew for a fact that I would get accepted into and have a scholarship to them as well. This ensured that I would definitely get into a college...

At Harvard, there are several different spheres of extracurricular activities. Lots of people are interested in lots of different things, and everyone has plenty of opportunities to find activities that they enjoy. If you are interested in public service, there are a variety of organizations that work through the Philip Brook's House Association to serve the greater...

My favorite course at Harvard so far has to be Life Sciences 2: Evolutionary Human Physiology and Anatomy. This course was amazing because it covered so many fascinating topics about the human body and related them all back to an evolutionary standpoint: why do humans have this trait and how have other organisms adapted...

driven: lots of students at Harvard are self-driven and motivated to get what they want. They work effortlessly to ensure that they are above the rest. fake: sometimes this driven attitude makes students seem very fake and uninterested in you as a person. It is sad, but everyone has their own agenda,...

The only school that I interviewed with was Harvard. It was my first interview ever, and I was extremely nervous. I googled what to expect, and I rehearsed answers that I had memorized, but the experience was still scary for me. The interviewer made a trip to my high school to talk...

College is a trying experience, and after it the real-world begins. Most of my college friends are both excited and afraid to graduate and start the next journey. For me, I want to prolong that experience. Life is long and once you start working, you...