Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the typical reactions of my peers, mostly male. As if they were speaking aloud, I hear, “Are you sure you don’t need help with that? You don’t want to get hurt!” I flash them my own look of mitigated contempt. Stepping beneath the weight of the bar, the corner of my mouth twitches as I perform the back squats flawlessly and effortlessly, only imagining the gawking expressions on their...

When I was younger, I would hear from my mother that her father was waiting for his academic and technical heir to appear. He was an accomplished physicist who had four daughters, none of whom were really interested in the sciences. He yearned for an offspring to succeed him in the STEM field. Similarly, my father is in the medical field, and struck out when my sister majored in anthropology. So, the attention was drawn to me. When I began...

a. Y=sin(x). This is how I conceptualize my older sister’s disorder: Bipolar 2. Similar to the function, she can have manic phases where her emotions lie above the x-axis and she is hyperactive and anxious. She can just as easily dip far below the x-axis where she becomes depressed and distant. This curve has existed, or at least has manifested itself, for the past six years. It takes every ounce of my compassion to watch my sister struggle,...

a. Of all the universities, I am the most familiar with Brown. My father and sister both attended Brown, and I spent the summer after my freshman year taking a class in global health from the Brown Leadership Institute. I can identify the buildings and feel comfortable recommending a restaurant on Thayer. Naturally, when my sister started at Brown, many friends assumed that Brown would eventually be my college home, too. Ironically, this drove me away from the school for...

Try to become involved with anything that parallels your current interest. That way,...

Don't just pick a recommender because you got a good grade in...

I was waitlisted from one of my top choices and got a little trigger happy with sending in some additional information. I added a letter of interest, another...