"Wow Alex, how interesting! You’re so smart! Look at him talk! Your parents must be proud!" I listened. Every birthday party, every barbeque, every holiday, I listened. I listened to my father clash with my grandfather in futile political arguments. I listened to my mother and her siblings counsel in hushed tones how the family would move forward after the arrest of her dad, my Bapa. I listened to my dad seethe quietly as my uncle insulted my mother,...

According to my admissions officer, this essay (and my common app essay) is why I stood out. The prompt was "What matters to you and why?", a very open-ended question. I answered it by talking about Cybersecurity, and why it's to important.

"Write a letter to your future Stanford roommate." Besides teaching me how to consistently spell "roommate", this essay is where I delved into my personality. It showcases my quirks, and I think it touches on my intellectual vitality as well.

"Intellectual Vitality" This is an important essay. Mine is about my love for the heat of the argument, and how my particular flavor of intelligence manifests itself via spirited discussion.

A little while ago, I was in your position. I was scared out of my mind that they would read my essays and laugh as they threw them into the rejection pile. It's very tempting to write bland "this is what I did and these are my accomplishments and hey look I'm really smart" essays, because that's safe. That's what we're supposed to write, or at least that's what everyone tells us is "safe." The truth is, when you're applying...

I'm gonna answer this in a way that totally seems like a cop out, but trust me, it isn't: do something you love. All of my friends did an internship, or a job, or something that we usually consider "looks good on college apps." I'm here to tell you, if your head ain't in it, it ain't gonna help you. Seriously, if...

I'll be real here, Stanford is not easy to get into. We have a saying: "Everyone around me is so smart, interesting, driven, etc. I know how each and every person in this class got in! Well, everyone except me..." It's true, if you ask each Stanford student how they got in, they'll most likely just shrug their shoulders (either through the quiet humility that pervades Stanford...