Newest College Application Essays

There are many things in life I could do without: mosquitoes, watermelon seeds, telemarketers, bad weather, cars that won't start, cold swimming pools, traffic lights, stuffy noses, people who disagree with me, and movies that look good until...

The sweat trickling down my neck felt like the stickiness of a dinosaur's breath. My muscles tightened as author Michael Crichton revealed the extent of scientific advancement in today's world. The pages of Jurassic Park turned quickly in my...

"If you only learn one thing all year, I hope it isn't which side won the Civil War, or how Kennedy and Krushchev saved the world," a middle-aged man with peppered hair and round glasses candidly stated from the front of the room, "but that school...

When I was a little kid I used to carry around notebooks which I filled with hundreds of stories ranging in length from a single, whimsical sentence to pages and pages of fantasy. Every hour of the day, there were countless images and ideas...

The women stood in the doors looking out at their husbands, who were talking to the landowners. The children gathered behind them, one bare foot on top of the other. They all watched tensely as the negotiation dragged on; their lives hung in the...

I only have to close my eyes to see this picture before me: A tall, old man standing in the middle of a semicircle of tired faces, grandiosely waving his endless arms as though he were swimming through the music. At five o'clock Friday afternoon,...

"Saudi Arabia? That's a country Daddy? Where is it? Is it going to be like it is here? Are there going to be playgrounds and ice cream?"

Those were just a few of the thoughts that began circulating through my seven- year old mind. I was born in...

I have shared victories that have come from striving toward a common goal with other swimmers: Lauren, Brittany, Lizzie, Kelley. Those ten-year-old girls would cheer with spunky screams when participants of our neighborhood swim team would...

Throughout my life, my eyes have been drawn to the sky. When I was a child I would look up in speckled black night and gaze at constellations, unable to comprehend the extent of the universe, wondering if it ever ended. By day I would look to the...

I still can't believe that when faced with the certainty of a punch in the stomach from a two hundred-pound black belt, I found myself thinking, "I hope he hits me hard." This may seem a little surprising -- masochistic, even -- but it was only...

A soft humming fills the quiet kitchen as she picks up another potato. Calmly, casually, almost lovingly, she guides a smooth steel blade under the thin, textured surface, and a perfect strip of skin falls onto the cutting board. Each stroke of...

A single pair of legs, kicking up from the ocean. Kicking up from the far right corner of a pleasant landscape depicting what may be the most tranquil morning in the history of pleasant landscapes. And there, the legs - added as almost an...

I love laughing. Laughing loudly, a little smile, or just a silly grin, I love them all. A laugh everyday can release my stress from school. When I am sad, I take a big breath and 'ha!' A silly laugh makes me laugh at myself, and soon I find...

As is the case with many twelve-year-old sixth graders, I used to be a little self-centered. I was in the middle of puberty, with hormones raging and jumbling my mind in all kinds of ways, and the fact that I was slightly socially awkward and seen...

The concept of failure has never consciously affected what I aim to achieve, or the manner in which I achieve it. It is a given in life that failure will come as easily as success; in my own life, I simply strive to succeed as much as possible....

"Cold weather means nothing. Rainy days don't matter. And a national holiday means two practices instead of one."

Although the author is unknown to me, that quote has been my mantra for the past several years. Most people look forward to a holiday,...

The announcer called my name.

I walked up to the stage towards the piano. My footsteps echoed like a metronome through the grand performance hall at the University of Georgia. I had woken up early that morning in January 2002 to spend a couple of...

>From the Peach State to the Big Apple

by, Rebecca van Laer

September 1, 2003

<b><i>Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, or risk that you have taken and its impact on you.

</i></b>

By the time I was fourteen, I...

"Wow," I whispered to myself as I walked into the main doorway of my new high school. I walked through the endless hallways and questioned myself as to why my parents decided to move here, Wuerzburg, Germany, one of the alleged bad schools in the...

In ninth grade, we learned that Voltaire's Candide was a satire on society, expressed through the absurd extremities Candide must face. In "What Befell Candide among the Bulgarians", 'our hero' must 'run the gauntlet six and thirty times through...

Oh, you naughty girl you! NO, I can't spend the night, I have so much work to do. I'm sorry...look...I promise I'll make it up to you on the weekend. I won't even go see my friends on Friday. Yeah, I promise. Sure, of course I think about you...I...

My decision to enter the field of business is based upon my familial and extracurricular experiences as well as through my personal endeavors. For instance, within my family, there is a strong tradition of business ownership. My father operates...

I initially became interested in Boston University through the prestigious reputation it holds as one of the finest institutions in the nation. I constantly heard its name mentioned whenever talk of the best colleges ensued among my peers and me....

When youâre four and Daddy is twenty-eight, heaven is in the passenger seat of a red Jeep going 65 on the highway. When the Jeep has no top, and Daddyâs crying as you head for the airport, you blast Nirvana as loud as possible. Loud, so you donât...