Sycamore, Illinois is a small town about 70 miles west of Chicago. It's a place where corn is plentiful, people call carbonated drinks "pop", and 25 cents gets you 12 hours of parking downtown. My parents immigrated to this peaceful town to escape China's Cultural Revolution and pursue their dreams of a higher education. Needless to say, that dream didn't include any large farm vehicles for "drive your tractor to school" day. I grew up in a school system that valued effort, farming,...

The reason I believe I got accepted to Harvard::: a "Dear Future Roommate essay"

Dear Future Roommate, Just to be upfront with you as much as possible, I’m a little quirky. I enjoy playing Connect Four on Saturday nights, finding derivatives of complex polynomials, and photo shopping parrots into family pictures. I appreciate sweatpants that would only proportionally fit someone 8 feet tall, and warm sweaters, the fuzzier the better – so sorry if you wanted to share a closet, but perhaps we can each share a leg in one of my sweatpants. While I...

Be an athlete!!!!!! It doesn't matter what level, reach out to the coach. Sometimes they...

DO...

Every part of your application counts. Perfect...

Do it. They will pick you if you...

Brown and Harvard - Don't repeat. They already...

ACT...

My supplement set me apart for sure as my...