Alison grew up in Concord, MA, known for its literary and revolutionary history (local authors like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson inspired the name of her first dog, Walden). From a young age, Alison has loved reading, writing, and finding quiet or unexpected places to do both,...

Annie’s first memory is of learning to write her own name; she has since written everything from conceptual poetry to financial technology reporting. She graduated from Stanford with a BA in Creative Writing with Interdisciplinary Honors in the Humanities and an MA in English under the direction...

Cait was born and raised in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. After attending events on Penn's campus and at the Kelly Writers House throughout her childhood, her dream of receiving a Penn education became a reality when she studied for and received her Bachelor's degree in Biological...

A Connecticut native, Chelsea spent her first two years of college in California as a Neuroscience major at the University of Southern California before transferring to Yale College during her junior year (a decision that baffled many a sun-deprived Yalie). She graduated from Yale in 2015 Phi...

Having grown up in Houston and Ankara, Turkey, Clayton returned stateside to study English and religion at Dartmouth. He also tutored other college students as a Writing Assistant at the Dartmouth Composition Center. After college, he moved to Beijing, China, where, in addition to teaching high...

Connor is a cofounder of an upcoming cryptography software project and the sole proprietor of a novel-in-progress. He grew up in Wyoming—his true loyalties are with the forests of the Snowy Range and the rock formations of Vedauwoo. He graduated from Duke in 2012 as an Angier B. Duke Memorial...

Originally from the United States, Daniel spent his elementary and high school days in Zambia and Kenya. He returned to the United States to attend Harvard University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in psychology. He is now an M.D. candidate at Columbia College of Physicians &...

Eliana is a student at New York University School of Law.  She holds a B.A. with high honors in Sociology from Wesleyan University, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Before law school, Eliana worked for several years at a national women’s rights impact litigation organization. She recently co-...

Guy did his undergrad in France at the Université de Limoges where he got a Maîtrise in English Literature, with a Minor in Linguistics. He then did an MA in Classics at Rutgers University in New Jersey, in which he performed “spectacularly” on the General Exams, to use the Chair’s own words....

Jimmy is a J.D./Ph.D. student (Sociology & Social Policy) at Harvard University. Originally from Los Angeles, Jimmy graduated from Harvard College, magna cum laude, in 2014 with a degree in Social Studies and English. Following graduation, he spent a year doing political research for David...

Kevin went to high school in a midwestern cornfield far from the nearest SAT administration, but managed to score 800s on his SAT Verbal, SAT Writing, and U.S. History tests, buttressing his self-esteem sufficiently to withstand a 690 SAT Math score. At Stanford University he took a BA with...

Lucas grew up near the mountains of Pennsylvania, graduating valedictorian of his high school class before moving to Philadelphia to study neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. From molecular pathways and clinical studies to health policy and global health, Lucas explored the gamut of...

Margaret is currently a first year student at Harvard Medical School. She graduated with distinction in 2013 from Stanford University with a B.A. in Human Biology and Honors in Ethics. She was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa upon graduation and honored with a Firestone Medal for a distinguished...

Nora has a BA (honors) in linguistics from University College London and an MS and PhD in cognitive psychology from Rutgers University. Nora completed a postdoctoral fellowship in literacy education at New York University’s Steinhardt School. For this position, she worked closely with NYC...

Sam grew up flying back and forth between Beijing and California. He graduated from Wesleyan University with a double major in Psychology and Philosophy as a member of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology. Between semesters, he interned at a college coaching firm in Beijing and...

Scarlett is a 2012 Princeton University graduate who recently moved to Cambridge to start her PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT. She became interested in all things Neuroscience during her time at Princeton, where she wrote a thesis on adult neurogenesis, the very cool phenomenon of...

Sheri discovered her love for learning in the fourth grade when she starting reading a book a week… which became a book a day by the time she graduated high school on Long Island as valedictorian. Knowing she wanted to keep learning about everything she could, Sheri attended Wesleyan University...

Growing up in sleepy Northern Illinois, Siva quickly realized that boredom was his main enemy and that books of all kinds were his best weapons. As an undergraduate at Harvard, he majored in Social Studies with an emphasis in medical anthropology and South Asian history. Seeking variety, he also...

Tim was born and raised in lovely Laguna Beach, California. He graduated summa cum laude, with Highest Honors in Politics, from the University of California, Santa Cruz. After graduation, he headed East to study for a PhD in Political Science at Brown University. And though he misses California...