On Being a Hot Dog Over the past few years, I have waited rather impatiently for an age at which my existence makes a little more sense. I have tried to teach myself everything I possibly could in the process. Biding my time, I have gathered entire libraries, stacked them on top of each other, and built myself an incunabular throne. I have parted seas of pages and cut my tongue on sharp turns of phrase. More often than not,...

On Being a Hot Dog Over the past few years, I have waited rather impatiently for an age at which my existence makes a little more sense. I have tried to teach myself everything I possibly could in the process. Biding my time, I have gathered entire libraries, stacked them on top of each other, and built myself an incunabular throne. I have parted seas of pages and cut my tongue on sharp turns of phrase. More often than not,...

I'm interested in a lot of random things, like modern psychoanalytic theory, black holes, quantum physics, existential philosophy, and cultural anthropology. I'd really like to be able to study my wide range of interests at higher levels and not feel like I'm falling behind in my graduation requirements. Browsing brown.edu, I read through descriptions of courses in the Anthropology, Physics & Astronomy, English, Philosophy, and Religious Studies departments and found a lot of courses I know I'd love to take!...

I've always loved to read, so English came easily. In high school, I found William Faulkner and David Foster Wallace, and they've completely changed the role of literature in my life. Reading and taking something meaningful from The Sound and the Fury was a personal affirmation of my own intellectual perseverance, and opened my eyes to the larger world of ideas and feelings literature can communicate. I'm also very interested in the ways we as humans orient ourselves within our...

I've lived in this room for 7 years now, in a quiet suburb so far south that I get "Welcome abroad!" texts from AT&T. I wish I appreciated the peace more; mostly I hate feeling so far from everything and drive an hour weekly to visit my mom's office at the San Diego Zoo. My twin-sized mattress is elevated by four wooden posts covered in Sharpie notes from friends– usually snarky comments and painfully forced jokes. They're embarrassing and juvenile,...

In ninth grade, I joined my school's Academic League team as a literature specialist. Though I eventually left due to conflict with my coach, the experience gave me a great appreciation for all the things I have yet to learn, and I'm unendingly grateful for that. After quitting, I received an outpouring of support from my former teammates and members of the SoCal tyouQuizBowl Association that took me by surprise and made me feel more at home within the local...

I've always loved to read, so English came easily. In ninth grade, I joined my school's Academic League team as a literature specialist, and though I eventually left due to conflict with my coach, the experience awakened an insatiable curiosity within me. Constantly studying to get ahead in Academic League gave me a great appreciation for all the things I have yet to learn, and I'm unendingly grateful for that. In the past couple years I've delved deeper into William...

I'm very excited about the academic freedom I know I'd be afforded at Yale. I'm interested in lots of random things, like modern psychoanalytic theory, black holes, quantum physics, existential philosophy, and cultural anthropology. I really want to be able to study my wide range of interests at higher levels and not feel like I'm falling behind in my graduation requirements. I also couldn't believe how normal everyone I spoke to during my visit was. All the students I met...

The Mountain Goats. Their music is poetic, and far from pop, but not a reaction to it. It's brutally honest without being self-exploitative. I hope some of that has rubbed off onto my writing.

I want to ask David Foster Wallace how much of what he wrote was really fiction. I always feel understood while reading him. Also, was he as heavily influenced by Kierkegaard as I think?

Terror Management Theory in American Literature (and also we can talk about black holes at the end of the semester if we have time because I think they're really cool)

Lots of insight in lots of weirdly specific areas, and a genuine, insatiable curiosity about other people's weirdly specific interests. 80's punk noise pollution.

It’s funny, and maybe a little sad, that I’ve just started to feel like a true San Diegan in the year that I’m getting ready to leave — possibly for good. This essay prompt was originally my last choice. Even now, sitting down to answer it, the first meaningful contributions that come to mind have been helping homeless men search my favorite coffee shop's ashtrays for more promising cigarette butts. But I've also made some great book recommendations...

I’ve been volunteering in Sharp Chula Vista's Inpatient Pharmacy since the spring of my freshman year. I love the hospital and I’ve formed a lot of great relationships since I started. For a while, I thought I might be interested in pharmacology, but I've since realized that I’m humanities to the core (though I think the STEM/Hum dichotomy is super unnecessary). I stay because it’s still fun and interesting, and I still feel like Iâ€...