“La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah.” There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet. A smile grew on my face as I started to laugh. I couldn’t contain my joy. “You’re Muslim now!” my friend exclaimed. I could hear her smile through the phone. “Alhamdulillah,” I breathed. Praise be to God. Growing up as a daughter of two Christian ministers, faith has been a central part of my life from the beginning. Illustrated Bible...

I am happiest when I am consumed by curiosity, immersed in a sea of knowledge. When I’m listening to Ted Talks about quorum sensing, researching the contexts of Biblical or Qur'anic passages, creating a formula to find the empty area in Sierpinski's triangle after the nth step (3n-14nx23), ([3^(n-1)]/4^n)(x^2)[3^(½)]I am part of something bigger. Brown offers a learning environment where curiosity, not grades, drives learning, where passion guides fields of study through the Open Curriculum....

I never thought that I would fall in love with Oberlin. It was my mom’s alma mater, a conservatory for dedicated musicians, not simply music appreciators like me. But love is unpredictable. This love story begins during an alumni reunion. I fell in love again and again each hour I spent on campus. I fell in love with the peace and warmth of the Muslim prayer room, with the sophistication yet accessibility of the science labs, with the comfort...

I had to write a lot of supplements for the schools I applied to. In each essay, I tried to expand on a certain part of myself. Doing research on the schools I applied to was also essential--while I remained true to myself in my essays, I did try to capitalize on attributes I knew the school I was applying to valued, e.g. diversity and intellectual curiosity.

I would start earlier! While I wasn't submitting my applications 30 minutes before the deadline, I was...

I did not use any sort of college counselor, so I can't speak to...

There isn't one right thing to do during the summer. Do something that interests...

A few years ago, I converted to Islam....

I was fortunate enough to receive a scholarship from Tufts that covers all of my student loans. In addition, I applied for dozens of outside scholarships....

Narrowing down my list of schools to apply to was incredibly difficult. I made lists upon lists of qualities I was looking for, stats, and subjective reviews. For me,...

Ask early! In late fall, teachers will be swamped with requests for recommendations. It is also helpful to give a deadline for the recommendation...

I interviewed for Tufts, and the interview did not go very well. The interviewer had a very negative view of my inner city public high school and his biases reflected in the interview. HOWEVER, I still...

My top three schools I chose between were Wellesley, Brown, and Tufts. Ultimately, I decided against...

Ultimately, I chose Tufts because of...

Tufts is known as a very quirky school. Highlight some aspect of...

Friendly: everyone is super nice. It's easy to strike up a conversation wherever you are and people will love to talk to you. Passionate: talk to a Tufts student about what they're interested, and their eyes will light up. Whether it's social...

I'm currently involved in the Rock Climbing club team, Enigma, and MSA. I love the rock climbing team because it's a great community and the...

Do a pre-orientation program! There are a lot of options, including CAFE,...