I was allowed to quit school when I was ten. At the end of the school year, my teacher accused me of kicking a ball into another teacher, assuming that my friend, with his disarming smile, would never do such a thing. Disappointed by the lack of universal justice, I sulked back home and told my parents I wanted to quit school. They said it was up to me. I didn't have to go to school; I wouldn't have to...

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA The University of Pennsylvania offers me what no other college can. It has a peerless business program in The Wharton School, which provides its undergraduates with not only an in-depth education in all aspects of business, but also an expansive alumni network and great job placement. The Wharton education, in my view, is applicable no matter where in the business world you end up, as it provides a strong foundation in all key business areas such as...

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY Northwestern offers exactly what I want in my college education. It isn’t just the ability to relieve my pre-finals stress during the Primal Scream (although that certainly plays a role). Being able to learn from experts such as Lawrence Christiano and Matthias Doepke, who can offer insight into economics as few others, is an exciting prospect, and one that I cannot pass up. This is not to mention the Kellogg Certificate Program, which will allow me to...

POMONA COLLEGE Question: Prompt 1: Pomona's Critical Inquiry course is required of all first-year students, and is designed to be highly interdisciplinary and engaging. Recent class titles include: 'Molecules of the Mind', 'The Economics of Sin', and 'Punk: Poets, Politics and Provocation'. Imagine you were hired to design and teach a Critical Inquiry course. Describe the title of the class, its contents, and why you chose it. Essay: I would design a course on Radiohead’s influence on mu... oh, wait....

AMHERST COLLEGE Question: Prompt related to a John F. Kennedy quote about the importance of giving back to society after receiving a college education. Essay: Why do we want to go to college? This is a question that, to my surprise, few seniors at my school can answer. Some want to because everyone else does it, while others do because they are chasing money. Either way, they do not really understand why they want to go to college – they do...

Be specific about what opportunities you want to take advantage of in your college of choice. Name specific professors, courses, clubs or unique aspects of the college. Google undergraduate professors at the college and read what students say about them on professor rating websites such as www.ratemyprofessors.com. Then choose whichever prof you think you'd like or other students like,...

I really didn't fit into any classical mold, I think. I wasn't in my school's National Honor Society because I didn't believe in what it did and how it went about doing it. I only joined one pre-existing school club that I later became a president of (Math Society). It's important to demonstrate how you're different...

I turned down Pomona and Amherst because although they offered a more personalized liberal arts education than Penn, they did not have the business strength of Penn's Wharton School and a comparable network. Job placement was also...

I turned down all school's in favor of Penn for several reasons. First of all, Penn's Wharton School of Business is peerless at the undergraduate level, and since I wanted to study business together with the liberal arts, Penn was an obvious choice. I didn't...

I applied to schools that offered a strong liberal arts education, a balanced social environment and a good business education. I...