There is a place, among the hills and dales, Upon a lake, where breezes fill the sails. It seems to be, calling back to me, It's the life for you and it's the life for me. My buddy come out tonight, the campfire is aglow. No place on earth where truer friends you'll know. I'm waiting for the day, when back to you I'll go. Camp Longhorn. - “Camp Longhorn Song” Camp Longhorn touches individuals with a kind of...

I often fell through the cracks of high school. An artist, student, and athlete, I am a conglomerate of peculiarities and interests who thought, until Brown, that she had no prospect of that one community of all-encompassing, authentic acceptance.At USC, people won’t give you strange looks for jumping for a spoken word poet as if he was a rock star, or squealing over the newest exhibition at the MOCA as if it was a movie premier; they may...

Dear Betsy, Five years ago you were a skeleton. A corpse in oversized clothes, you tried to hide between their folds but your angular face revealed what words could not. Five years ago you shut a door on me. Secured with nails of our own creation, It remains sealed shut, streaked with remnants of my bleeding knuckles spelling out: I’m sorry to say that I’ve given up knocking Five years ago you were hospitalized. I still wish I...

Recent studies indicate that success in life depends on character rather than intellect. There is, however, no formal measure to indicate a person's character. How would you measure and determine character? (No more than 200 words Sometimes I wish humanity was a simple math equation; a question where variables could become known, problems solved. Right now, my life is built of x’s and y’s, but I have yet to discover what my years of multiplication and division have come...

ports, science and society are filled with rules, theories and laws like the Ninth Commandment, PV=nRT, Occam’s Razor, and The Law of Diminishing Returns. Three strikes and you’re out. In English, “I” before “E” except after “C.” Warm air rises. Pick one and explain its significance to you. I have dotted every i, crossed every t on paper, but my ability to follow that rule stalls at the bottom of my resume. The end of my senior...

Dear Emily, I don’t know where this will find you, but as of right now my life is being tucked into place. I am folding myself between edges of paper, trying to explain to people miles away why I am deserving of their recognition. It is July 29, 2014 and my thoughts lie only with you, even with the distance between us. For it’s difficult to put myself into words when I know those brief sentences determine where you might...

If any state was the antithesis of California, it would be the red-voting, bible-thumping, Texas. Moving at the age of nine exposed me to opposite mindsets; I was raised on equality and exploration; religion was for my scrutiny, and the lesbian couple next door was not a debate, just another family. Acceptance was a second language, and there was no break in my fluidity. Texas astounded the younger me with its resistance to concepts I once believed indisputable. However, living...

I structure many of my essays to sound lyrical, similar to the style of a spoken word poem. My english teachers always commented on my unique style so I decided to use it to my advantage. I also wrote many of mine in a letter format, which helped them to stand out from other essays. One of the letters, starting with "Dear Betsy" was about my sister's eating disorder and how I grew up to be more independent because of...

Interviewing for your dream school can seem like the most daunting part of the college admission process but in reality it is often one of the most useful...

I was a camp counselor at a summer camp in Texas (think stereotypical "The Parent Trap" style) where I was also a camper of 8 years. For applying...

As an upper middle class, white female from Texas, it was difficult throughout the process finding the "thing" that would set me apart. I knew that thousands of other applicants would have the same grades, AP classes, and test scores, so I went to extracurriculars to find...

For USC, I am a fourth generation trojan, so I knew my chances of getting in were far ahead of others. However, other factors and the experiences of other people getting into the same university of me from my high school demonstrate a typical USC student. All of us were heavily involved in clubs, sports, or work outside of class. While many schools...

This is specifically geared towards applicants to USC: scholarships don't tend to go to second, third, or fourth generations applicants. Second generation still have a likely chance, but third and fourth is near impossible unless you are being chased by other schools/are being offered scholarships by traditionally more elite institutions. Both of my friends...

For the majority of my schools with this question, I focused on the university's good balance of academics, real world experiences,...