The clock has just announced midnight and I am still sleepless—too many things in my head. I can’t recall having felt so overwhelmed before, yet so eager at the same time.

For five days we were forced to leave our apartment because of Hurricane Wilma, and accept my godmother’s invitation to spend the hurricane period in her house. Anticipating the loss of electricity and the vulnerability of our windows, we quickly gathered our belongings and fled to the safer area of Miami Lakes before the fury of Wilma intensified.

This hurricane season has proven to be devastating. Although we have been fortunate not to suffer any significant losses or damage, I am afraid that the canceling of classes for a one-week period will bring consequences. Because we just got power back, I wasn’t able to use the Internet to complete many of the projects assigned for the present week. More serious, however, is that now we will have to rush to cover all the material before midterm testing begins in December.

Also, because of the hurricane season the ACT test date was postponed in Miami. In one way, the rescheduling has been beneficial, for it will allow me more time to prepare for the exam. This past month I have focused on adapting to the time limits that the test imposes, since I am a very slow test-taker. There are many ACT practice textbooks available at local libraries, but I would recommend purchasing one (online stores are cheaper) to take full advantage of the practice tests that the books include. Owning the book allows you to annotate and highlight the text, which is helpful for last-minute reviews.

I’ve tried to manage my time wisely to avoid conflict between my preparation for standardized tests and the rest of the college application process. These last couple of days have been hectic as I worked on the finishing details of my Harvard application. Since this school is my Early Action choice, I had to make sure to have all materials ready to submit before the Nov. 1 deadline. Of course, this was not half as easy as it sounds.

I had requested three copies of the application with the idea of using one as a rough draft and another as an emergency resource. As I had feared, I saw myself using all three copies after I had accidentally filled one out with blue ink and not with black, as the application requested in VERY small letters. After this minor incident came a major headache: the essay. The Common Application—which a great number of colleges use—suggested a few topics to address in the personal statement. I chose to write about the lesson of perseverance that my mother had taught me as she studied to certify her degree in medicine. The way I began writing the first essay, however, was guided by the question, “What would colleges like to know about me?” instead of the more appropriate, “What do I want colleges to know about me?” Only after I realized the significance of answering the latter was I able to write an insightful, effective essay.

My application complete, I set out to truly discover Harvard. This past weekend I traveled to Cambridge with the purpose of getting a taste for the college’s atmosphere and finally seeing the place that had fascinated me since early childhood in Cuba. I had read exhaustively about Harvard’s academic programs and extracurriculars, and attended info sessions presented by the college’s admissions department. I was aware of Harvard’s concept of “concentrations of study,” the history and traditions, and the fact that they look at the whole student as an individual to determine whether he or she would be a good addition to the freshman class. I, however, wanted to meet the faces behind all these papers and virtual tours.

To visit Harvard’s campus was an essential step in my application to the university’s undergraduate program. I was able to stay at the dorms and have one-on-one conversations with students, whose diversity and friendliness (contrary to common expectation) were by far the greatest feature I found during my stay.

Reflecting on my experience at Harvard, I encourage you to avoid misconceptions when applying to a certain college. It’s imperative that you know the environment—both academic and social—of the institution. Many high school students hold the idea that they must apply to a large number of colleges as early as possible without making much consideration. Often, the prestige or commentary about a college can be misleading, and only by personally experiencing life on campus can a student identify “the right school”—not one of the top five in national rank, but the one in which he or she will be happiest.