We met in 2006—the year Dick Cheney shot some guy in the face, Twitter was launched, and Pluto was declared to no longer be a planet—at a SkateWorld birthday party. Rosa Kwak was hyper competitive, overly ambitious, loud, and sometimes crude: in other words, everything I was not. I was never a star in school, or in anything for that matter. After a one season sports stint in soccer I felt overwhelmed and inferior. I realized that I wasnâ€...

For the UChicago Essay, "You are you and your what?" I started out by saying that I am me and my to do list, but within the essay shifted to saying that I am more defined by my deviations from my to do list, like reading books for fun and stuff.

Notre Dame asked "Write about a time that you fell in love with an academic idea." I thought this question was a little dumb, but I wrote about entropy and how it was cool, and then explained how it started showing up in my other classes.

Notre Dame just said, "You're probably tired of writing essays, try something new." I wrote about how I hate being underestimated for my size and shy demeanor. I included an anecdote about a time when proved myself.

For Scripps, I wrote about mom (how cliche).

For Wellesley, if you look at the Wellesley 100, you will be inspired. That school is amazing. Go there.

For Reed College: In my college search, I was looking for a small to medium sized college, with excellent academics, and invigorating student life. All of these qualities seemed to describe Reed, so I was very excited to learn more. As I talked to other people about Reed, I began to hear that it is also infamous for drugs, dropouts, and unconventionality. I was going back and forth about my feelings until my interview. I went to Discover Reed, but...

Something I was told while by a student while visiting a school that I thought that I really...

I always hated this essay. You have to talk about some features that are probably very obvious to an...