What If As the curtains ripped open, all I could see were the eyes of hundreds of students beaming on my young and diffident soul. I stood on the stage physically above the crowd, yet I had never felt so weak and vulnerable in my life. I wanted to get off of that stage. Unfortunately, seconds later, the silent movement of a hand started a familiar sound from the piano. The crowd grew quiet, directed its ears towards the music,...

Philosophy I remember the first time I was exposed to philosophy like it was yesterday. During one of my AP Language and Composition classes, my teacher challenged my class with the famous trolley problem. "Five workers are on train tracks and a train is coming which will definitely kill them. However if you pull a lever you will redirect the train to a separate track with only one person, killing this one person. What do you do?" This situation seemed...

Yale's online courses, especially their open courses, have influenced my decision to apply. Not only are the courses interesting but I think the professors are amazing. So far I have watched parts of the "Modern Poetry" and "The Fundamentals of Physics" courses. Furthermore, through an independent study in my school I am working through the "Death" course by Shelly Kagan, and this has been by far, the best online course I have ever taken. I want to be challenged in...

AIM The 20 desks in the classroom are arranged in an imperfect circle. The novel Grendel lies before me. I Focus. "Why doesn't Grendel kill Wealtheow?" asks the teacher. I think. Soon, words flow naturally out of my mouth as harmony does from a guitar. "If Grendel kills Wealtheow he has to subconsciously accept the fact that there is something about her too perfect to explain. That is why he spreads her legs open and shames her. In this way though...

Essays can literally make or break your college application and I mean it. I have seen so many of my friends who I know are amazing and interesting people get rejected from a number of college because their admissions essays were terrible . Your college essays have so much power in the college admissions process. With the level of competition in the admissions process, high standardized test scores, a great course load, a high GPA, and interesting extracurricular activities are not...

Definitely get a good understanding of how much money you think your parents are able to contribute before you even start creating a...

The first thing I should note is that as the college you are applying to is increasingly more competitive, the interview has less of a role in your admission. I was accepted to Yale without an interview and received a likely letter from Columbia without an interview. I know a lot of my friends who were very excited about interviews at schools like the UPenn and Cornell when in reality these interviews held no weight in their applications (most of them were rejected). Though I say this, you should still definitely take interviewing seriously because you might actually have to...

When it comes to high school there are so many things you can do during the summer. One thing that I think it is very good to start targeting early is summer programs. There are lot of very prestigious and competitive summer programs like TASP, MITES, and many more available for rising seniors. Not only do these programs look AMAZING on your college application, but they give you a little insight onto the actually college admissions process. I was rejected from both of those programs and still find myself attending Yale University, so do not be discouraged if you are...

I think what overall set my application apart was the effort I put overall in presenting my uniqueness as a person. A lot of people sell themselves short with their college applications because they do not do the little things that show college admissions officers how unique and different of a person they are. I come from a very unknown, but very diverse public school, so I think that set me apart a little bit. My racial background as an African American also likely set me apart. Some of the larger things that set me apart I think were my...

It is very important when you are applying to colleges to visit them and do a little bit of research on them to decide whether or not you can spend your next four years there. A lot of my college options were eliminated...

When it comes to writing a "Why Us" your essay should be very specific. A common practice is that if in your "Why Us" essay you could just change the name of the college you are talking about and still submit the same essay to a different college, your essay is not specific enough. One of...

Before you even think about getting recommendations, make sure to try to foster very strong relationships with your teachers. Let them know your goals, tell them your intellectual interests, and show them your talents. I have...

The college admissions process can be very difficult and unpredictable, especially when you are applying to very competitive schools. However, there are many fundamental things you can in high school to increase your chances of getting accepted into great colleges. The most important part of any college application is almost always going to be your transcript. Your transcript essentially gives a colleges a report on the progress you have made in high school and your grades in every class you have ever taken. Colleges pay close attention to how your grades have changed from freshmen year to the time you...

I ended up having to take out some federal loans to go Yale. As much as people criticize student debt, it really is not that bad...