All my life I've been stuck right in the middle between fitting in and feeling completely different from everybody else. It wasn't easy making friends as that kid who got dropped off by his "abuela" every morning at a primarily white elementary school, and then again as the only "Americano" after my family relocated to Tlaxcala, Mexico. It was a challenge growing up under the microscope-like spectacles of a strict Jehovah Witness mother and maturing into the liberal-minded man that...

Princeton BSE Program: Before my sophomore year of high school, I had no idea what JavaScript was. Little did I know that it would soon become a safe haven from all the elements of my life that unfortunately were not programmable. I didn't get to choose which family I was born into, the extent of my receding hairline, or any other struggles I had to deal with. One thing I could decide, however, was what popped up on the computer...

"Why Columbia" Vincent Van Gogh once wrote "Looking at the stars always makes me dream," and that's exactly how I feel about Columbia. New York City is an exciting place to imagine myself living in, where people from all walks of life are plentiful and fields ranging from music theory to computer science are able to harmonize. More importantly, Columbia is where the people with these unique backgrounds and their ideas all intersect with one another. I hope for my...

Throughout my lifetime I've come to realize that the world is only as bitter as I make it. Especially under circumstances that involve an ethical dilemma, it will always be up to me to discern whether something really is what it seems. There's nothing easier than to dismiss the benefit of the doubt in certain situations, but there's also usually nothing more valuable than to do otherwise. I wasn't always aware of this, at least not until a few years...

It was already past six o’clock when I saw the “on my way” text from my dad. I figured it would take around thirty minutes to get home, without the detour we took to my sister’s psychiatrist. “There’s a lot of stuff we have to figure out,” my dad said as he treaded into the clinic. Waiting in the car under the harsh heat of the sun, I wondered why my mother had been unable to pick...

You can ask me any questions you would like! I applied through the QuestBridge program, so I tried to focus more on hardships and overcoming those hardships, along with diversity.

I love computer science because it is the only subject where I can sit down and think about it and work...

(About high school)...

(About high school) Decrease the amount of unnecessary work that...

I think that I really showed my full personality in all of...

I would have looked into which schools fit my personal interests best instead...

I did not use any sort of admissions counselor. I was completely independent,...

Some I thought were pretty snobby, some were too expensive, and some did not...

Choose teachers that know you very well! The kinds of teachers that...

I was lucky enough to be granted an amazing financial aid package at...

I haven't actually started college yet, but one thing I've always wanted to do but haven't really been able to (or had the confidence to do) is join a sport. In the second grade, I played soccer for about a year and I was actually really good ...

In high school, my favorite courses have always been the ones related to math and logic, which didn't require much (or any at all) reading. I like to learn by doing things on...