On February 13, 1998, my parents received the surprise of their lives. A beautiful, healthy baby girl was born, and then I was born, too. These two baby girls would come to be called Zoe (my sister) and Claire (me!). For the first several years of our lives, Zoe and I were always together. We were “the twins,” and we had an unbreakable bond envied by everyone, including our older brother. Some of my fondest memories are of when Zoe and I...

Vanderbilt - Most important extracurricular and why The activity I have been most involved in, and by far the most meaningful activity to me, has been the musical. It was the first extracurricular activity I participated in during high school, and it really helped me come into myself during the turbulent time that is adolescence. I became a lot more confident, having been hand-picked by the director for the position of props master, a position which gradually morphed into stage...

Tulane When I started my college search during my sophomore year of high school, I compiled a list of requirements I wanted a school to have. I wanted it to have a good English program and to be in a major city. I wanted it to be medium-sized, and I wanted it to be a school where I would be able to have an intelligent conversation with every single person I met. That was it. I only had those four...

Georgetown - Please relate your interest in studying at Georgetown University to your goals. How do these thoughts relate to your chosen course of study? Watching the news every day and seeing the countless stories of violence and terrorism in the Middle East is certainly a scene no one wants to see. So many people wish to denounce Islam as an inherently violent religion and be done with it, yet so few people hesitate to ask why and realize that...

Columbia Asking me to pick what specific aspects appeal to me most about Columbia is like asking a four-year-old in a candy store which candies appeal to him most. It’s virtually impossible because I love it all. One main feature I love about Columbia is the campus, which is absolutely beautiful and makes me feel at home in the busy, wonderful insanity of New York. I also love that Columbia’s Core Curriculum would give me a solid foundation...

Looking back, I really wish I had been more specific on my "Why Columbia?" essay. It was the first one I wrote apart from my Common App essay, and I really wish I had bothered to make it more personal. I wish I had mentioned things like the fact that they offer Swedish classes because it's a language I would love to learn, and it shows greater interest and makes me seem a lot more unique.

It is SO important to apply early. I know schools always say that the time when you apply doesn't matter, but it definitely does. I'm almost certain that I didn't get in to some schools simply because...

Make sure you ask people who like YOU. Even if YOU don't necessarily like THEM. I had one teacher who...

I only interviewed with Georgetown, and honestly, it was kind of uncomfortable; it was probably because my interviewer was VERY different from me. He struck me as a relatively conservative Catholic whose idea of...

Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer. Get involved with some organization and volunteer as much as you can. Working is great because it shows you're responsible, but it looks...

For me, location was one of the most important factors when I was applying to schools. I would first look up an area of the country and then look up the best schools in the area. I also knew I really wanted to be in an urban area because I had lived in a rural environment for my whole life, and I...