By Adrian Cho, Ph.D. “Tell me about yourself.” No other set of four words have quite the same potential to conjure up existential angst. It’s really asking, “Who are you?” Considering the question invites self-reflection as we try to articulate our narratives about who we are. And it comes up in all manner of contexts:..
By Adam Muri-Rosenthal, Ph.D. When J. Robert Oppenheimer began attending Harvard University as an undergraduate in 1922, he had only recently recovered from a serious gastrointestinal illness (Wikipedia contributors) that had put him well behind his intended timeline for graduation. In order to make up for time lost, young Robert enrolled in six courses per..
By Caroline Matas, Ph.D. When I was a kid, there weren’t nearly as many screens making demands on my time and attention as today’s teenagers face. That didn’t stop me from gravitating toward the TV after school and watching hours’ worth of whatever the gods of cable television served up (the olden days before streaming–I..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. Leadership. It’s one of those qualities that nearly everyone feels that they should possess. After all, we admire leaders. We follow leaders. We look to leaders to give us meaning and purpose. We have them in our political lives, our personal lives, our school or professional lives, and sometimes in..
By Victoria Tillson Evans, Ph.D. Sometimes, what’s left unsaid means more than what’s spelled out. Think about how your mom or dad might prepare your favorite meal after a stressful day and let you enjoy it in peaceful silence. That quiet gesture can often show as much love and care, if not more, than asking..
By Adam Muri-Rosenthal, Ph.D. This one’s personal for me. While I’ve never hidden my own neurodiversity, I’ve also never before addressed it in a public forum like this one. But part of my neurodiversity has been a guileless—at times appreciated by some as honest and direct, at others derided as naive—willingness to open up to..
By Adrian Cho, Ph.D. “All the noise in my brain. I clamp it to the page so it will be still.” –Barbara Kingsolver When I was in high school, I didn’t keep any notes. In my youthful arrogance, I believed that I could keep everything in my head, and no parent or teacher was going..
By Caroline Matas, Ph.D. As the first wave of college application deadlines looms, high school seniors around the country are starting to feel the pressure. With so many supplemental essays to keep track of–not to mention the big personal statement essay to tackle–it might feel like the best you can do is just knock out..
By Adrian Cho, Ph.D. On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court overturned Affirmative Action in two joint opinions in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, and SFFA v. University of North Carolina. The decision upended the long-standing practice of considering race in college admissions. While the rollback of Affirmative..
By Adam Muri-Rosenthal, Ph.D. If you here require a practical rule of me, I will present you with this: ‘Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.’ – Arthur Quiller-Couch, British Literary Critic Increase the font size,..