Pop! The cork of the test tube ricocheted off the wall of the fume hood and bounced to the foot of my experiment. Sigh. I’d found another issue with my experiment for the Chemistry Extended Essay (EE). I had used a plastic tube inside the cork to filter gas from one heated test tube to a second test tube. I had not foreseen the plastic melting while heating the test tube. Nor had I foreseen the series of events...

The foul stench of the garbage dump below wafts over me as I gaze down from an overhanging outdoor cemetery. As I plug my nose and squint, I see small figures sifting through the trash below. Crows flock around them, and some of the figures bother to wave them off, while most don’t. This is South America’s largest landfill, the Guatemala City dump. All of the city’s waste is deposited here. And if people can’t pay...

I think what set me most apart from other applicants was my essays. I'm sure that I was a fairly average-looking...