First interview: Occidental College. This was relatively informal; it was inside of the admissions office but conducted with a current student. We basically just had a normal conversation about what I was looking for in a college experience and what Oxy could offer me. I think it went extremely well, but I doubt it had that much weight on my application. Second interview: USC. This was the most formal of...

When I think of USC, I think of the Trojan Family. It's real and it's alive, and it's a big part of being at USC. Make it clear this is the kind of college experience...

Similar to what I was saying before, in your "Why Us" essay, find concrete details that really make you want to go here. What is it...

The go-to answer here would be travel because it's a learning experience as well as fun. However, this is often not possible due to many reasons and I wasn't able to travel as much as I would've liked. One cool thing I did was go to a Spanish immersion camp. This...