Growing up in a small, insignificant suburb in the greater Chicagoland, I know that I have only discovered a narrow, sheltered section of the world. Although demographics depict a typical American town, Vernon Hills still boasts a fairly multiethnic society. Even as a Chinese-American, I was conditioned to think racism is surreal, simply due to lack of exposure outside crude, stereotypical jokes. However, a lack of exposure does not denote a lack of existence. The summer after my freshman year,...

Upon hearing the words “math team,” one would expect a room full of mathletes wearing glasses, hunched over TI-2000 calculators while frantically scribbling down series of numbers and variables. Outside of the only extracurricular they are involved in, the nerds are socially inept and unable to communicate with other normal beings. Luckily, my math team experience was nothing like being in a group of Sheldon Coopers. On the contrary, I matured as a person through the valuable people skills I...

"To be, or not to be, that is the question." While my life, thankfully, is not a bloody mess of a Shakespearean revenge tragedy, I see a reflection of myself in Prince Hamlet. I am not referring to his Oedipus complex or fake-yet-not-completely-fake madness (in my case, it may be too early to tell). As I explored Hamlet's character through his clever remarks and contemplative soliloquies, it became increasingly clear that we both think alike. We both think too much....

Pick teachers or coaches who know your recent work, which does not have to be limited to academics. Try to ask those who can say more about you as a person,...