My personality and perception have never been challenged more than in those three days of Discover Swarthmore. The institution provided me with a liberating atmosphere: the calm, beautiful campus is ideal for the socially anxious. Even the classrooms cultivated a new confidence within me to share my ideas without the fear of being wrong. I attended “English: Rise of the Novel” taught by Dr. Rachel Buurma, whose discussion about gender roles in Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded enthralled me. In that...

One thing that I strive for in a potential college is a supportive atmosphere. When I stumbled into The Hoop (#3), while trying to find the way out of the Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center during the Discover Wellesley weekend, I felt those vibes rush in all at once: the indie, easy-listening music comprising the air; the friendly smiles behind the counter; the rainbow flag, drawings on the walls, and the many posters. For some odd reason, even though I was...

Philadelphia 3.0 is a nonpartisan political action committee, with a focus on the reformation of City Council, operating since late February and early March of 2015. For approximately three hours per week for seven weeks in April and May, I had a number of duties. For the first two weeks, our main goal was to increase the amount of registered voters. My first task was to go to assigned neighborhoods, accompanied by another intern or one of the field directors, asking people...

My lovely friend allowed me to accompany her on a college road trip the week of August 24, 2015. The last college we visited, on August 28, was Vassar College. We attended the 1:30 pm information session. The speaker that day humored us with his occasional jokes and his talent for speaking with levity about college, which was such a nice break from the draining, serious discussions with which we high school seniors were very familiar. He was our first introduction to Vassar, and...