While I first learned to communicate as a young child, I didn’t truly speak until I was fifteen.  Music’s arms first embraced me when my dad unveiled the realm of jazz to me. He covertly snuck me into a jazz café, eager to pull back the curtain covering the jazz world. Seeing the café, empty, confined and bleak, even on a Saturday night, he assured me that my underage presence would see the fresh jazz talent arriving any...

PENN ESSAYS: [I applied to the M&T program but didn't get in] How will you explore your intellectual and academic interests at the University of Pennsylvania? Please answer this question given the specific undergraduate school to which you are applying. (400-650 words) Countries are competitive; industries are competitive; individuals are competitive. There’s an underlying perception that resources are scarce, which pushes individuals to prioritize self-interest. But if we are to innovate dramatically, ideas need to be shared so...

PRINCETON ESSAYS: 5. Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay. “He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that...

BERKELEY ESSAYS: [EECS Accepted, think it was because I demonstrated my outside passion e.g. building a Tesla Coil] 2. Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side. While I first learned to communicate as a young child, I didn't truly speak until I was fifteen. My father covertly snuck me into a jazz cafe, eager...

CALTECH ESSAYS: [See advice section for what I would've done differently; maybe I overdid the quirky a bit] In an increasingly global and interdependent society, there is a need for diversity in thought, background, and experience in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. How do you see yourself contributing to the diversity of Caltech's community? (200 word max) People remember three things about me: curiosity, perseverance and a monobrow. As a child, my life was not studying with a stern parent standing...

MIT ESSAYS: [This was my top choice; I was deferred and then rejected] Although you may not yet know what you want to major in, which department or program at MIT appeals to you and why? (100 words or fewer) Bach is my favourite mathematician. In his fugues, he manipulates fractals and isometries to transform simplistic lines into sophisticated pieces. Like Bach, I consider myself a musical mathematician: I aspire to pursue a double major in courses 18 and 21. Two summers ago,...