PERSONAL LETTERS - if you only read one section of my advice, read this bit: After being deferred from Brown, I immediately sent a FIRST update in the form of a handwritten letter to the Dean of Admissions, telling him (in an upbeat tone) why l still loved Brown (the warm, welcoming student body towards a random high school student sitting in on classes & the amazing faculty I encountered during my visit) why Brown was a good fit for me (Open Curriculum, various organizations I would join, college atmosphere), and that I would commit if accepted RD. I got an...

Bottom line – every interview is different and it’s impossible to rehearse. With that being said, here are 10 do’s and don’ts I gathered from my experience. Take everything with a grain of salt. 1. The best way to prepare is to re-read your Commonapp essays, extracurricular list and resume and think about personality traits or aspects of your life not highlighted in your application, needing explanation or re-emphasis that you’d like to showcase in the interview. 2. De-stress beforehand and show up relaxed and confident. My interview with Brown was in the evening, so I gymmed and showered after...

COLLEGE VISIT ADVICE Who should I bring with me? Parents? Sure. But save your second cousins for the family reunion. Sometimes extended family get overly excited and insist on accompanying you, but you want to have time to be quiet and really envision yourself on the college campus; see if you can honestly call this place home for four years (often overlooked in the frenzy of college rankings and prestige). Plus, having too many family members will oversaturate your advice stream and you might end up subconsciously liking a university because your great aunt enjoyed the merchandise store. What should...

This applies to Northwestern, Tulane, and any school with an optional prompt: answer it. Be detailed. Don't use a ...

When writing your "why us" essay, talk about your "fit". You'll notice that I cited my non-traditional homeschooling & montessori school...

Passionate - every student has something they love here. Open-minded - the majority of students are curious and...

If you can only tour colleges during the preliminary stages of your college search and you still don’t know whether you want a rural or city campus, it’s a good idea to hit a range of university “types”. That means visiting a range of...

The arts are huge at Brown. You find more people showing up to watch an a cappella group perform under the arch in the evening than...

Brown's culture is so open that professors in fields you have no experience in actually encourage you to take their classes! This is unlike any other school I visited, where they created barriers in the form of discrete colleges (ie. college of arts and sciences vs. college of engineering), prerequisites and requirements to get into classes/majors, professors that only wanted students with experience in their field. Brown is quite the opposite, they love "non-concentrators" aka students that aren't thinking of majoring in their field! This means in any given class, you'll find such a mix of students bringing their...

Brown was my one true love because I applied ED. I didn't expect to get in through RD, but in the end, this is what won me over: 1. Emphasis on undergraduate teaching. Unlike many other top schools, Brown is very focused on undergrad and not distracted by their graduate program. Professors are amazing, research opportunities are in plenty, and...