Somewhere on the Internet there's a photo of me looking really, really dumb next to Former President Bill Clinton. On October 7th, 2014 I had the honor of standing on stage behind President Clinton as he spoke at a rally at the University of Arkansas. A photographer in the crowd captured him mid-speech, addressing the crowd. Clinton stands behind the podium with a stern, fatherly expression, hands outreached as if to touch every Arkansan; I'm to the right of the podium,...

While researching Yale, the Yale Political Union and the activeness of the Yale College Democrats convinced me that I could continue to pursue my passions for politics at Yale. What makes the Yale political scene stand out, however, the sense of community in the Yale Democrats. As much as I love Fayetteville High School YDL and the Young Democrats of Arkansas, we were never close as the Yale Democrats. We never had weekly "Dems Family Dinners" that they do, and...

Brown is a school of activism. A couple of months ago, I read an article from the Brown Political Review called "250 Years of Student Activism." In it, there's an interactive timeline that lists some of the notable movements that have shaped the campus. In high school political involvement and activism were both very important to me, especially in my senior year when I was hired as a part time canvasser by Keep Fayetteville Fair, a group founded to protect our...

I come from a family of scientists. My parents have 5 degrees between them-4 chemistry, 1 computer engineering. Their siblings, my aunts and uncles, have similar backgrounds. At family gatherings there are usually 3 research chemists, 2 doctors, 1 acupuncturist, 2 Ph.D. students-in sciences of course, 1 radiologist, 1 computer programmer, and 1 part-time amateur nature photographer (he's also one of the research chemists). Because of this, a lot of my childhood memories are from the University of Arkansas campus, where I made some of my first friends....

5. Using a favorite quotation from an essay or book you have read in the last three years as a starting point, tell us about an event or experience that helped you define one of your values or changed how you approach the world. Please write the quotation, title and author at the beginning of your essay. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds...

A Vassar representative came to my school earlier this fall, and after hearing good things from one of my friends who's currently a freshman, I signed up to hear her speak. The sense of community left the deepest impression on me. From what the representative said about the student body and the professors, it seems like the Vassar family is incredibly warm and inviting. Another appealing aspect of the community is the social justice presence on campus. Activism and politics...

I was offered alumni interviews for Harvard, Princeton, and Brown. Harvard and Brown were both at the local university, and Princeton was over the phone. All of the interviewers were incredibly friendly and made sure I...

Instead of pursuing some meaningless resume builder I'd do something I...

I declined the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of California...

The most important things I was looking for were a strong academic atmosphere...

Honestly, I just went through the US News rankings and picked schools that...

I've heard that after checking for academic qualifications, the first thing the...

It's important to link what you're passionate about to opportunities at Yale. For me,...

It's important to build and maintain good relationships with teachers throughout high school. Usually, it's best...