We walked into Junior Leadership on the first day with low expectations. It was gym, we thought. Mr. W, the teacher, handed us two wristbands, one that said "Self" and another that said "Others." He told us that if we completed the class and mastered professionalism, we would earn a third - "Community." "Complete the class and master professionalism" - never before have six words correlated with so much running, so much sweat, so many push ups. Daily, we sprinted...

What matters to you, and why? Many people seem to be very interested in why I choose to both swim and act. To me, the answer is very simple: balance. One - swimming - strengthens by body, tests my mental and physical tenacity, and gives me concrete feedback, my time in a race. The other - theatre - demands differently: I am to inspire an intangible feeling in those who watch me, to creatively employ applicable prior experiences in order...

Describe your idea of intellectual vitality "You can't try anymore, Jordan," my voice coach, Doug, nearly spat after almost an hour of tireless repetition and failure. My voice - and patience - were shot. "Give it another go," Doug sighed; the "it" was a high G sharp. I was exasperated and spent, and I thought to myself, "Screw it, if I haven't gotten it by now, it's not coming." So I opened my mouth in protest and defeat and out...

Hello! I'm Jordan, as you probably already know, but how else am I supposed to start something like this? Anyhow, if there's something about me that's worth knowing from the get-go, it's that I'm slow to anger. I can only remember being angry twice since high school started. The first time, I was in the car with my mom. All of my eyelashes had just fallen out, and not even the doctors knew why. I had no eyelashes; it was...

What is the most significant challenge that society faces today? Misguided morals. The poles are melting, the oceans are rising; people are shooting other people, few whites and too many blacks are tried for these shootings. We do nothing about that. But we hustle and end up trampling each others' children on Black Friday for a new Xbox.

Schools have an atmosphere that they try and preserve or craft during admission. At Stanford, they are truly looking for creativity, ballsiness (excuse the sexist nature of that term), social awareness,...

I would have worried less. It is so easy to revise and revise and revise, but the truth of the matter is this: no amount of revision will get you into a school you weren't meant to...

Recommendations should be easiest part of applying to college--someone else writes it! Here is the go-to axiom about getting good recommenders, they...

James Baldwin and 20th Century Literature with Michele Elam. Take upper-div classes as soon as possible. The introductory ones vary in quality so much by department, but the prestige of the university comes from their...

Creative, flexible,...

Greek life,...

Stanford offered the whole package--excellence, possibility, and California living. It was...