University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Describe a time when you had to work cooperatively with others to accomplish a common goal. What did you find useful about the experience? What did you find challenging about it? If you looked into our senior hall, you wouldn’t think that we once had a reputation for being the most socially divided grade. During … Read more Lessons of Being a Senior

When have you had to show courage and leave your comfort zone? How did this experience affect you? “Ma’am, I just don’t have the money.” I heard a click, and the phone went dead. In middle school, my parents began investing in rental properties, and over time, I became the manager, dealing with the rent, … Read more Finding the Other Side

We tend to spend our time doing the things we know we do well—running because we’re good runners, or painting because we’re talented artists. Tell us about a time when you tried something for which you had no talent. How did it go? I squinted when the bright light pierced my eyes as I talked … Read more Failure (Almost)

Describe your dream internship and what it would entail. Describe your dream internship and what it would entail.When I walk into a room of real human corpses dissected and put on display, my initial response is not to shudder in horror as others might, but to inquire how it was possible to take an average … Read more Dream Internship at BODIES: The Exhibition

If you could solve one of history’s greatest mysteries, what would it be and why? Growing up a vegetarian with hippy parents, reading feminist and pacifist literature, and listening to Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles has shaped me into a very politically charged person. Thus, while I admit that the Great Pyramids are amazing and … Read more The “Mystery” of the Electoral College

Common App: Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you I was finally there. After months of anticipation, the stucco buildings, green lawns, and Spanish moss of the Magic Square came into sight. Excited students and nervous parents (there were so many!) were … Read more Taking the High Dive

If you were to choose or create a quote or saying that defined you, what would it be and why? It seemed as if it was just yesterday when I anxiously fidgeted around in the airplane seat, awaiting unexpected surprises in my new home. This, however, was ten years ago when I emigrated from China … Read more If You Want the Rainbow

We encourage undergraduates to participate in research in any field — including the arts, humanities, social sciences, communications, and sciences. If you could spend one semester researching a specific topic that interests you, in the hope of making at least a small contribution to our understanding of that topic, what would you choose to research … Read more Studying Physics

What is one quote that defines you and why? French romantic painter Eugene Delacroix once said, “What moves those of genius, what inspires their work is not new ideas but their obsession with the idea that what has already been said is still not enough.” Delacroix’s quote epitomizes who I am as a writer – … Read more Live as You Write

Open question Last summer when I was sulking in the banal tedium of the suburbs, I challenged my friends to visiting the ten top-ranked coffee houses in Denver. With my proximity to the city, I take every chance I can to experience the movement on the streets and the savvy crowds. Sometimes the fresh air … Read more My Coffee Quest