Quilters Never Quit I pushed the pedal down further, concentrating as I maneuvered the curves. I was thirteen years old, and although I couldn’t drive yet, I could sew. I pressed down on the pedal a little harder and the sewing machine sped up, the needle moving up and down so fast I could barely see it. I had just arrived at “Sewing Camp” and already I was hard at work at my grandma’s sewing machine. The “Sewing...

I wake up early to go on a relaxing walk around the Dish before the day begins. I watch the sun rise as Stanford campus comes to life. After a delicious breakfast, I hop on my bike and ride to my first class, Stand Up Comedy and the Great American Joke Since 1945. The warm air and sunny weather is a welcomed contrast to the freezing cold winters of Wisconsin. I stop by the CoHo to get a midmorning snack, where...

Dear Future Roommate, As you may have noticed, I’m from Brooklyn: not the borough in New York with millions of people, but the small farm town in Wisconsin with a population of 1,276. Growing up in the country surrounded by cornfields and cows has played an important role in my life and has shaped me into the person I am today. In a small community like mine, the involvement of the same people in different activities allows everyone to get...

I have always been fascinated in the way things work. When I was younger, I would take apart old appliances and then reassemble them, making my own inventions. I made an alarm clock radio with a telephone attached, only to discover that such a device had already been invented. I devised glasses with a light attached for easy late-night reading and a toothpaste-dispensing toothbrush, but neither of these creations worked very well. My “Strap-o-Dash” (a mounted glasses case that prevented...

I really liked the classes I took while studying abroad. I was an engineering major, so I had a lot of requirements and not much room to take other classes during my undergraduate career. When I went to Madrid to study abroad, there were no engineering classes offered...

There are so many awesome details about Stanford that you don't know until you have been a student for a while. Every year I discovered many new things and places that I didn't know existed. Here are a few things that I learned about Stanford after enrolling. 1. Sports are a thing. I was never really into sports in high school (maybe because our team never won?) and when I was applying to college, football was the last thing on my mind. My freshman year was Andrew Luck's last year, and I soon learned that our football team (as well as...

You definitely want to be doing something other than bumming around during your summers in high school and college. When I was in high school, I did a lot of academic summer camps. Although they can be expensive, there are so many benefits that it's definitely worth it. For one thing, these programs are hosted on college campuses, so you get a taste of what college is like. I'd recommend finding program that are hosted at colleges that you are interested in attending. That way, you can make sure you like the atmosphere. I did a program at Stanford (one...

There is obviously no guaranteed way to get into any school, but here are a few things that I did that may have helped me to get accepted at all the colleges I applied to. 1. I worked really hard in school my whole life, and actively sought out opportunities to further my education. I grew up in a tiny town and went to a tiny public school, so I did not receive the same quality of education as other students who went to bigger schools or private schools. I never felt challenged in school, so I started taking online classes...

Now that I've graduated from Stanford and lived in the "real world" for a while, I have realized that while I learned a lot at school, I was still too young and inexperienced to decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Maybe taking a gap year after high...

Location was probably the biggest factor in my decision to go to Stanford. Before I arrived, I didn't know much about the Bay Area; I just knew it was very far from the Midwest, where I had lived my whole life. I had a strong desire to get far away from my small town and experience new things, and I also wanted to escape the harsh winters! California was the obvious choice, and when I visited Stanford I fell in love. Stanford is far enough from the ocean that the weather is almost always sunny and pleasant, but close enough...