Constantly double-checking the lunch, joking about lipid-free life, Rose and I tread the all-too-familiar path for today’s lunchtime escape. We go through the automatic doors, ride the horror-movie elevator, fumble for the key no officials know I have, turn on just enough light to see our food, and collapse on the throne-like structure we’ve built for the couch. I sigh, relieved. Although this migraine seems like it’ll blow my head off, in this makeshift bit of rehearsal...

Acting is rarely deemed an intellectual experience, but my experience with it has certainly helped me think more than anything, specifically when I portrayed Macbeth. The lineload made it critical to make him, the murdering, hallucinating warrior, one of the most interesting and relatable characters in the play. Now, I have never “unseamed” anyone (cut them in half from belly button to chin), or hallucinated daggers and bloody murder victims. I have never been a tyrant, nor has the average...

The legacy of Oberlin has always amazed me. When I was in elementary, my mother started to describe her adventures in Harkness and unbelievably, extraordinarily peculiar friends from the conservatory. Ever since then, each new story and bit of research has amazed me even more. Much of Oberlin’s strangeness fits me, and the presence of quality educational programs and a genuine music conservatory to go with it make it clear: as much as I may be impressed with the...

That Way Madness Lies: The Fact and Fiction of Insanity That Way Madness Lies is a course whose goal is to define and understand “madness” as it is portrayed in art forms, especially literature, and to cross-apply that with the reality of mental illness and emotional disorders. The ideas of madness, delusion, insanity, and hallucination, along with the difference between them, will be very much discussed. Psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, comparative literature, film studies and English would be key departments involved....

There is something magical about the smelly half-asleep world of farming. In spite of the mess, it has given me the chance to create life. One morning, family members’ trips left me alone when a ewe went into labor. Though we’ve had sheep my whole life, I had never witnessed birth; still, I found success. The moment of birth, it was like a pile of blackness squeezed out of a sheep. Five minutes later he was walking. I now...

Shakespeare wrote: "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool". What major lessons have you learned in life and what do you hope to learn in college? 1. Look both ways when you cross the street. Look left first 'cause that's where cars are coming from. 2. Wash your hands after you use the bathroom and before you eat stuff. 3. Sleep is good for you. It doesn't matter how much homework you have...

1. Name your favorite books, authors, films, and/or musical artists: Shakespeare. Macbeth. Bach. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even though it's a TV show. Any Joss Whedon, too. The Artist. Mean Girls. White Christmas. Stargirl. Anything Jerry Spinelli, really. Mumford and Sons. Florence and the Machine. Me. 2. What newspapers, magazines, and/or websites do you enjoy? The New York Times, the Salt Lake Tribune, and my tiny local not-so-accurate Herald Journal, every morning. I read the New York Times magazine when...

Dear Roommate, Here's the deal with me and rooms and all that. Most of the time I'm completely normal. If you had seen me in class, you'd think I were a clean freak or something. My notes are so organized that such an interpretation would make sense. Yet I absolutely don't care whether you leave underwear on lamps or chore wheels on the refrigerator or something in between. As for my half, don't be surprised if it looks like Versailles...

What matters to you, and why? (250 word limit.) I once stayed up all night with a twelve year old because no one else did. I cried when my bunny cut her foot; but looked like stone the morning I found that bunny stiff and cold. I would rather lose my life than live without the chance to spend another hour in a hallway with a pair of somersaulting angels nothing like the stereotypical eighth grader. When you ask me what...

Philosophy and Literature (PHIL 81, ENGLISH 81, FRENCH 81...crosslisted among a bunch of things), taught by Joshua Landy and Lanier Anderson. They taught as a really incredible team, switching off so each gave one lecture per week. Sections, taught by graduate students, were...

Do what you love. Don't try to create some weird balance based on what will get people to like you. Do things that really make you excited. Do you know what you're passion about? If yes, do that! if not, try to find it--try out a bit of everything, maybe during...

I don't like startup culture, but that isn't a big deal here actually. I mean, there is a big sense of independence, of "if you want it to happen, you can make it happen" that may be linked to startups, but there isn't constantly the oneupmanship of "I interned with Snapchat before it was big" that I kind of expected. Instead, I found a very supportive community, full of understanding in very deep ways....

Probably blatant honesty. But for the fact that I revised, I wrote the same way in my applications as I am here: casually, as if I'm just talking about myself. I didn't try to prove anything, only to tell people who I am, what I do, what...

The University of Utah and Lewis and Clark were different levels of safety school. I declined Wesleyan because they didn't give me enough financial aid. Pomona was out because I felt that the community was there was too intense; I would have enjoyed it, but I had better options, people that don't take things as seriously. Carleton had the...

People. It's the same stuff I talked about in "what I like about the culture here." They care about what they're doing. I visited a few classes after I got in: one in...

I visited. I researched programs. I looked for quirky weird things on the internet that had been put...

I recommend it....

Lots of theatre. Try different kinds if you're into theatre. Student productions are...

Everyone does something. A lot of a...

Passionate, struggling,...

Dining...

The food is really good at FloMo, Ricker and Manzanita. The brunch is really good at wilbur and pretty good...

Ask...

I...

Wesleyan only. It didn't go so well. I...

Care...

You have an advantage which...

I'm going to...

Stanford has awesome financial aid. I'm on a full-tuition...

I didn't do...

See what you can find about our...

I selected...

Sorry, I...