In April of this year, senior in high school, Brittany Stinson learned she was accepted into top US universities including U Penn, Dartmouth, Columbia, Cornell, Yale and Stanford, with a lower-4.69%- acceptance rate than any of the Ivies. 

Of course, Stinson boasts an incredible academic and extracurricular record. However, her story became a viral sensation when Business Insider published her winning essay- which combined a dose of humor and enthusiasm to lay out her character as unique from thousands of other applicants. How did she begin this quest to distinguish herself?