Buzzing with chatter, the auditorium was filled with college students averaging about a foot taller than me. Navigating half-confidently through the unfamiliar crowd, I motioned to my teammate, a fellow high school student, to come over and help claim some empty spots for our other two teammates. We then had a casual conversation with college sophomores from Michigan as the rest of our team arrived and the commencement began. For me, that was the start of one of the best...

Stepping onto the field as a cohesive unit and playing our hearts out was always the best moment in marching band. Before and after performing, we would talk, laugh, and sing, but when the time came to perform, we would become serious, passionately committed to bringing our best show to the audience. Moreover, marching band gave me a second family, one that has supported me both when I was an apathetic freshman, and now, a senior who is committed to...

Last summer at Rutgers, I took two credited courses, Expository Writing 101 and Public Speaking, with a generous scholarship from the summer session director. The next summer I attended the Governor's School of Engineering and Technology, a free resident program where I took 5 non-credited courses and conducted research involving programming Android games for stroke rehabilitation. During that summer, I held a short-term job at iSoftStone, Inc. where I wrote and reviewed commands for a natural language processing application. I also wrote...

These were the prompts: Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences that was particularly meaningful to you. (About 150 words) Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers (or vacations between school years), including any jobs you have held, if not already detailed on the Common Application. (About 150 words)

Harvard was by far the most fun interview I've had. MIT's interview system was messed up, so I ended up having an interview on Skype with someone in Philadelphia....

I just applied to a bunch of Ivies. My parents also...

A great article I read once told me...

The culture is very laid back and...

I'm looking at the Navy NUPOC program to...

Our culture,...

Other schools I considered seriously were: MIT, Harvard, and Princeton. I loved MIT's rigor, but didn't...

Location, as it's...