This year, my school held a debate competition. Each class chose eight speakers to compete with the other classes. I joined my class team, and we started preparing for the event. Many teachers said we had a fine team with good chances of winning this years' round. This kept us highly motivated. We - speakers and some helpers - held meetings to rehearse and prepare our arguments. Around a month prior to the debates some problems arose. Part of the...

Answer to the question 'what matters to you and why?'.

Essay on the applicant's intelectual vitality.

A letter to my future roommate.

Three experiences that made me want to do STEM.

This is my intellectual vitality essay, it focuses on research projects I conducted during high school: Participating in two research projects last year has been vital to my intellectual development. In the beginning of 2013 I was invited to join a Scientific Initiation project about floods in my city, Curitiba. Months later, I began my Young Scientist project on solar desalination. Both achieved high feats, and brought recognition to myself and my school. But the main contribution was what I learned...

I believe being a foreign applicant does set you apart from others - for good or bad. You will be looked at with different eyes. You SAT scores have a special meaning,...

My summers in high school were spent in a very particular manner: I have conducted two research projects during high school and learned a lot from doing so. Writing, reading and speaking skills were incredibly developed. Also, analysis and scientific method was put in practice. Not to...

I had a great time in high school. I made great connections, discoveries and built a solid part of my own personal image. When it came to ‘Why us?’, I looked for a college that provided me with the same spirit that my high school did for the past years. It was a bit emotional, but here goes my ‘Why us?’ essay for Stanford University. This year I will graduate from high school. It's the end of eleven years of study at Colegio Bom Jesus. Over one hundred years old, it is ranked among the best schools in the state....

Recommenders are a huge part of your application, and it is vital that you choose the people who can best highlight your qualities. In my case, I chose my two research mentors - as we have worked closely together for over an year - and my foreign language teacher - an American who taught me English for three years. These people were more than teachers, they...