In high school, I have become increasingly aware that my community is both local and global. I have had two experiences in particular that have made this tangible to me. As an intern in a genetics lab at the California Academy of Sciences, I had the opportunity to design my own research project. I decided to focus my study on the practice of shark finning, which kills an estimated 200,000 sharks daily due to the demand for shark fin soup. I...

While I have high expectations for myself academically and in my future career, I strive to never lose sight of what matters the most: the individuals and principles in my life. The wellbeing of my friends and family and those affected by my actions, is really what counts, no matter how “successful” I am. I treat the people around me with the utmost respect, because it is our interactions with others that truly define who we are. If a friend...

Dear roommate, I'm thrilled to be here with you! I look forward to getting to know you, and to hearing about your interests. To get us started, let me tell you a bit about myself. Everything about black and white film photography excites me, from not instantly knowing what my pictures will look like to the final wash of my print in the darkroom. Shooting photos with film is such a different experience than digital. One roll has only 24 or 36...

Stanford students possess an intellectual vitality. Reflect on an idea or experience that has been important to your intellectual development. (2000) Working in the genetics lab at The California Academy of Sciences was an experience that greatly enhanced my intellectual growth and challenged my understanding of science. From the very first day, I was working in a full-blown, state-of-the-art lab with graduate students and seasoned researchers. While completing my own experiments, I had ample time to learn about the process of...

I applied to WAY too many schools; 17 to be exact. Don't worry about not getting into places! A good size of schools to apply to would be somewhere around 8 - one or two "safety" schools that you know you'd be...

Do something that you love! Explore a potential career path, or volunteer, or do some research. The bottom line is that you should...

My favorite teachers in high school wrote my letters of recommendation, and one family friend that works in science who's known me my...