"Lessons I Learned From a Monster" "By the time my father was in high school, he had stopped believing in monsters. But that does not mean that they did not exist. Twenty eight years ago my father’s monster came for him. Its name was “cancer” and it haunted him for a year and a half. He was a seventeen year old, African American male whose future was beyond bright, but his monster did not care. It condemned him to...

The question for Penn '17 was "Are you a mover, movable, or immovable?" I said I was a mover. I wrote about how I did not like museums because i prefer to interact with history and culture rather than observe it behind thick glass displays in a museum exhibit. I then used this analogy to discuss how being a "mover" affects me as a learner who truly wants to engage with and apply what I learn in the classroom to...

Applying Early Decision gave me a huge advantage in the admission process. If you have the luxury, definitely start researching schools...

I decided to choose junior year teachers to write my recommendations. It is best to choose teacher from your junior year because they are the most familiar with your mot recent work. Instead of choosing teachers who "knew me the best", I chose the teachers whose...

I chose Penn because I liked its located in the middle of the dynamic...

After Penn, I would like to get a J.D...

At Penn, you learn almost as much from your...

I would have visited more schools before applying ED to Penn. I did not visit any other schools before deciding on Penn. In...

Do volunteer work, an internship in something your passionate about, or take summer classes. Columbia University has a summer program for high school students that I highly recommend. It was costly but I was...

The best information my high school counselor gave me was that every successful applicant to a top tier university tells a story with their application. My application was not a jumble of ...