The scents and sounds of coffee have always been comfortable constants in my life. My kitchen's tiny coffee pot is always overworking itself to fuel my household's four busybodies. The local Starbucks is the only comfortable hangout spot in my one-square-mile hometown. Now, for the past year and a half, the busy whirring noises of coffee machines have been mixing with guitar chords, mysterious lyrics, trombone loops, piano improvisation, slam poetry, beat-boxing, and the occasional mandolin at my favorite place...

I plan on majoring in Writing, Literature & Publishing and minoring in Journalism at Emerson. My dream is to write reviews for music magazines because it combines the two things I’m most passionate about—writing and music. Both forms of expression have helped me immensely; I grew up with an anxiety disorder, and the most effective stress relief strategies I discovered were to listen to alternative rock and to write out my thoughts. I often credit one particular album for...

When I visited Bryn Mawr over the summer, the campus was empty, but I could still feel the high level of energy and involvement in its community from the stories our tour guide told us. She explained all of the different traditions on campus that make Bryn Mawr truly special, such as their blue lanterns and their sacrifices to the statue of Athena. I belong in a community like the one at Bryn Mawr, where intelligent female leaders can thrive...

When I was 6 years old, I found a blank journal lying around my house. With that journal, I created my first “novel”; a riveting tale about a pink-haired pirate named Tulip. I was so proud of my creation that I decided to be a writer when I grew up, writing beautiful poetry and the next Great American Novel. Fast-forward to my freshman year of high school and that confidence has diminished, shrinking into a gnawing anxiety about the job market....

I'm very passionate about all of the topics in my college essays-- poetry, feminism, LGBT rights, music, writing, et cetera. The worst thing to do is write about something you aren't really passionate about just to look better for the college. Colleges read tons of essays about volunteer work and injuries, so if you're not actually really interested in those topics, don't write about them!

Use free college search resources to their fullest extent, but don't only use those! Invest in books by...

Never choose a school solely based on how prestigious it is. I got into Mount Holyoke College, a beautiful all-girl school...

Never sign up for something just because you think it will look good on your college application! Plenty of people get sent to third world countries or volunteer...

Emerson College is an extremely hip, urban, liberal environment. It's the most LGBT-friendly school in America and political discussion is alive and well. Its location-- a single block of Boston's theater district-- doesn't give you the typical...

This applies to any school; look through their website and pull...