For twelve years now, my life has carried a consistency—a monotony—due to school. School buildings have changed, after school sports and activities have been picked up and dropped, I even started driving to school. But it was all centered on school. The school thought the universe revolved around him! Well… it did. In June, something happened that threw consistency right out the window and freed me from my tight orbit around school: The Westfield High School Class of 2010, of which I am part, graduated. In reality, my world is still consumed by school—perhaps more than ever. But unlike in …

Three weeks ago, I woke up from a nap after school and rolled off the couch toward my laptop to check my email. It was the day before I was supposed to hear, but I had been checking my email all day long just in case I was misinformed about the date of my notification. When I saw an email with the subject "Northwestern application status," my heart rate skyrocketed. Clicking on the email, it told me that my decision had been made and that I could "click here" to view my letter, which would come officially by mail in the coming days. Taking a deep breath, I hovered the mouse, closed my eyes, …

As an incoming high school senior, what’s the only thing worse than finding a worm in your apple? Thinking about college. We’re being asked to make a decision that encompasses the next four years, and in some ways the rest of our lives. Therefore, it’s not surprising that there exists an aura of mass hysteria surrounding the whole college thing. There’s light, though. Since March, I have been on about 20 college campuses all across the East Coast and California in desperate search of the mythical “right school.” I embarked on yet another college tour this week; this time traveling to the …