"I applied to Harvard because it was the one institution that harbored the most people who had influenced my thought — an intellectually diverse list that included Joseph Schumpeter, W.E.B. Du Bois, Tim O’Reilly, E.O. Wilson, Stephen Jay Gould, Robert Oppenheimer, William James, and Bill Gates, among others. The moment I read the acceptance email, I felt a wave of excitement that my story, in a small but meaningful way, touched each of theirs."