I want to write a banned book. Admittedly, reading banned books is not as subversive as it used to be. Gone are the days when physical books banned from import or snatched from the classroom are passed from friend to friend. Still, I see myself making an impromptu appearance at a Wichita School Board meeting to defend my book, passing picketers demanding its removal from school library shelves. There are many reasons for this career aspiration. I like the variety...

I'm not a transfer student so I can only tell you what I was thinking when I considered it for a time. I think what helped me figure out whether or not I wanted to was focusing on why I wanted to leave, then what I liked about other schools, then seeing if those others schools' strengths matched why I wanted to...

I'd get more sleep. I didn't sleep enough, and my emotions started getting out of wack. I stayed up so much and I don't even know why. I loved every school on my list, which eliminated a lot of stress, but I think everyone else's stress got to me and I stayed up worrying about what admissions officers were thinking about me. I fell into the trap of feeling like my life hinged on what Columbia decided. I was so sure I wasn't going...

I live with one, so I guess my answer to this is yes. I think what's super valuable about this (and really unfair/perpetuates education inequality in this country) is having someone take the time to help you plan and edit essays and build a schools list you love. Getting help is super important...

I did interviews at Columbia, Chicago, and Barnard. My Columbia one was a bit awkward because my interviewer and I had such different life philosophies (she didn't like radical activism, I did). However, I followed her lead and toned down my activism talk a bit, so we ended up getting along, even though I probably wouldn't have been friends with her in real life given her dislike of the kind of...

I recommend the Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP) to everyone on the planet who loves interesting people and intellectual challenge. It's a free, residential, six-week program. 64 rising seniors get in, 32 on each campus (traditionally Cornell and UMich). You get split into two seminars on each campus, but it's really not about the seminars or the professors. I hated my seminar, personally, but it was the best six weeks of my life. I learned so much from everyone else there. I've never had a more intellectually stimulating, fun, hilarious six weeks. I also loved the Stanford Humanities Institute. It's run by...

The LGBTQ rights activism I focused on was very different, and I think that helped set me apart. Also, my interest in creative writing was probably interesting because I did a lot with it (wrote a novel, got an agent, published journalism pieces, etc.). What I lacked in superior scores, I made up for in interesting extracurriculars and essays. For extracurriculars, part of what made them succeed or stand out was that I took something I was really interested in and did something cool with that interest. I didn't just like LGBTQ activism, but started an organization and did a...

I got into Columbia Early Decision, so I didn't have a choice. But I decided to do ED to Columbia because I knew I could see myself in that environment and taking classes there. I connected most with its curriculum and campus vibe. When I visited...

What I'm actually doing now that I graduated: I'm a Sociology PhD student at the University of California, Irvine! I still work on creative writing and still want to teach, but whether I'll teach college or younger students is very much up in the air for the next several years. Over the summers, I teach low-income middle school students...

I first made sure I had a good distribution of schools with different levels of selectivity so I knew I'd have options. I'm lucky in that my school had Naviance, which allowed me to see statistics about what kinds of grades and scores people had who were admitted to X college, so I was able to get a good grasp on where I stood. I didn't make every school a reach or super difficult for me to get into, because then...

I didn't reach out to any professors (nor coaches, because I'm a terrible athlete). I did reach out to my regional admissions representative at each school and ask them a question to demonstrate interest in the school. For example, I asked questions about creative writing or LGBTQ student life on campus. I made sure to ask questions that weren't just...

I applied for an outside scholarship for writing (accidentally, but that's a whole other story ...) through the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. I think I was successful because I was very true to myself and my writing, though it still had a luck component in that my writing happened to appeal to whoever was evaluating it. I highly recommend trying...

Get people who love you to write for you, but also people who can write well, which you can probably tell from comments or emails. Luckily the teachers who knew me well and liked me were teachers whose writing was very specific, so I knew they'd do great jobs conveying specific reasons I'd be a good fit for certain colleges. Also make sure you have...

I'm part of an anti-sexual violence activist group on campus, so I do a lot of work around policy and prevention education. This takes up almost every moment of my life (by choice). I'm also super involved with Columbia...

I was lucky in that my grades weren't that "low," but they were still lower than the norm for students successful in applying...

Everyone always hears that college is the best years of your life. And for...