When I was 14 years old, a friend of my dad’s offered me the opportunity to stay for six weeks in northern Uganda, volunteering at a local school. There are many aspects of my time in Gulu, a city of 250,000 or so, that have greatly affected me. I was initially overwhelmed by the experience of walking into the front office of Gulu Public Primary School on the first day, and shortly being presented with a classroom full of 90 kids about...

For the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time playing jazz with two friends, a bassist and an alto sax player. The three of us have played together in various school-affiliated bands for the majority of our musical lives – I first started writing music with the bassist in 6th grade – but it wasn’t until a year ago that we organized ourselves into an official group. We call ourselves Occupation (Sound). I’m very proud of what our...

The best thing you can do to increase your chances at any school is to find a unique focus. Having a resume stacked with activities...