Life can give you moments of various emotions. Personally, I tend to cherish my moments of happiness, inspiration and laughter. These emotions came to me when I first made a soufflé rise, single-handedly mastered a tough calculus problem, or laughed at a horrible movie with my friends. However, I often wince or laugh at my less-flattering moments when I felt sad, ...

Key West. Myrtle Beach. Yosemite National Park. A college admissions office. Maybe that last one isn't a top vacation destination but it's worth a visit. Just as you wouldn't waste precious vacation minutes sitting in a hotel room figuring out what attractions are in the area, some planning before you head for campus will help you maximize your visit. Pick Up ...

Close your eyes. Picture yourself four years from now, standing in front of friends and family on your graduation day, waiting in line to receive your diploma. As you wait for the line to move forward, you begin to think about the four years you've spent at college, how much you've experienced, and you say to yourself, "My college experience ...

During my spring break last year, I felt a little out of place at the airport. Most people migrated south for the lovely delights of sun-kissed beaches, refreshing gelatos and flip-flops. However, I, the high school junior, headed up north with my ski jacket to visit some potential college choices. When my dad drove our rental car through the thick, snowy ...

When I picked up Dante’s “Paradiso” of The Divine Comedy a semester ago, I expected the souls in heaven to live the good life. I anticipated the stereotypical floating souls to eat endless buckets of fried chicken and live a carefree existence. Instead, I found Dante’s work very philosophically abstract and difficult to comprehend at times. Therefore, when I started comparing ...

A few months ago, I compared my actual application process to the “Inferno” of Dante’s Divine Comedy. However, in this phase of my senior year, I now find more parallels with the second canticle of Dante’s work, “Purgatorio.” Dante the Pilgrim now needs to wait and reflect upon his life to achieve perfection. For example, the envious must sew their eyes ...

College planning can be stressful for both students and parents. Long before they face the challenge of finding college funding, students face an equally important challenge - the college admissions process. Filling out college applications and waiting to hear from admissions committees can make for a nerve-wracking senior year. But now schools are taking steps to alleviate student stress by instituting ...

Time is such an ambiguous thing. At some times in life, it seems to go too slow (e.g., chemistry class). At other times it goes too fast (e.g., hanging out with friends). Right now, though, I am caught in an awkward mix of feeling as though time is going both too slow and too fast. On the one hand, I can't ...

My dad and my uncle were born and raised in Los Angeles and spent their whole childhoods rooting for UCLA in sports and thus treating the University of Southern California as their mortal enemy. When it came time for my uncle (who was the older sibling) to go to college, he applied and got into both schools, but USC offered ...