We live in a world where sometimes it’s hard to be yourself. There are so many people who we think will judge, label, and stereotype us when we show an excitement or passion for something we love. So it’s not surprising that for a long while, my inner nerd was exactly that: inner. In ninth grade I attended my first international science fair. I met students who listened intently to what my research was about, asking questions and...

I was at school on a Saturday morning. Sitting at a lunch table, I glanced around the cafeteria. This week, about thirty teachers had given up three hours of their morning to help students like me. At first, I could never understand what motivated them to spend so much time with us. These teachers were dedicated beyond what any job could pay them for. It seemed like there was nothing in it for them except more emails, phone calls, questions,...

I have always been proud of my Indian culture. I love our three-hour Bollywood movies, our food that we smell cooking a mile away, and the colorful saris that make us girls feel like princesses. It was my religion I was once embarrassed of, since it made me so different from everyone around me. All of my classmates would go to CCD together, talk about the dresses they would buy for their First Communion, and discuss what they would give...

I applied to my dream school, MIT, and then a few others that I thought I'd fit at. I also applied to two or three safety schools. This is really important. I think it is way more important to find a school you're in love with than to go to a school that has a great reputation....

So I formed really close ties with the teachers at my school. My recommendation letters for MIT had to be written by one humanities teacher and one technical teacher, so once they wrote them I just decided to send those two letters to all the schools anyway. The first was written by my 8th grade and 10th grade English teacher, who knew me since 7th grade when I was in her drama club. The other was written by my 11th grade physics/12th grade engineering teacher. I chose...