My mother never wears makeup, save lipstick on special occasions, and she considered it a  triviality that my preteen self needn’t engage in.  Her views were defined by the Chinese society  she grew up in, whereas mine were shaped by my identity as a second generation Chinese-American. It was almost inevitable that our beliefs would someday be at odds.     I don't know what possessed me to become interested in makeup when I first started middle  school.  Regardless of my�...

“Science” is derived from the Latin root "scio, scire—to know." Although the pursuit of knowledge is a noble task, it was something far too abstract for me to appreciate until my junior year of high school. Chemistry was the first branch of physical science, and of any subject really, that inspired me to do exactly that. I became fascinated with periodic trends and reaction mechanisms, but even beyond that, I realized that chemistry is readily apparent in my everyday...

“If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.” – Isaac Newton, Letter to Robert Hooke, February 5, 1675 As I further my intelligence, the interconnectedness of various subjects, events, and people has become more and more apparent to me. In addition, I have realized that many problems, in both academia and society, simply cannot be effectively solved through the efforts of a single person. To me, this realization has signified the importance of collaboration and the learning...

Cosmic Cantina: a popular Mexican restaurant within walking distance of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, the boarding school I attend. Its casual atmosphere and fresh ingredients make it a local staple. So much so, in fact, that some earlier NCSSM students decided to paint select lines of T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” on its steps. It may come as no surprise that “Prufrock” is an established element in the American Studies...

My father hired a college counselor for me. My college counselor made a lot of changes...

High school research,...

I joined an improv comedy group, which is my...

I took a freshman seminar called "The Mathematics of Magic Tricks and Games," which was...

The area around Princeton is fairly boring, but luckily NYC is...

MIT had always been my dream school, and after getting accepted, I thought I would go there for sure. Even after visiting both MIT and Princeton, I was still...

I emailed a professor at Princeton about one of his...

For my science recommendation (n.b., I'm a science/engineering major), I chose my...

I applied to my state school (safety) and then the rest were essentially reach schools. I...

Since I did use a college counselor, I don't know if I would have been accepted on my own merit. I'm glad I ultimately decided to trust my instinct (rather than my counselor's advice) on my common app essay and MIT application essays. Although the typical...