Newest College Application Essays

Everyone in Darte Hall knew my set of house rules. Number tokens are applied to the board randomly, twos and twelves are equal, and your turn is forfeited if you roll the die outside of the box lid. The game The Settlers of Catan has become a...

As I deliberately draw back the taut string of my recurve bow, a faint groan from the strained wooden limbs manages to drown out the commotion of the hundreds of spectators and competing archers. I have attained a state of consummate mental...

"You know Yume, you're the only black girl that I like, the rest are so ratchet," he let out.

What... did he just say?

I let the words sink... because, well, I genuinely liked him. He'd helped me study for almost every computer science test and...

I still vividly recalled seeing Lam, a male-to-female transgender, being sexually assaulted after school. In full view of people, a group of boys surrounded her and pulled off her pants to “scan” her private parts. As she stood there powerless,...

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” - George Orwell

Coming from Vietnam, I have seen how the Communist Party has “reinterpreted” history to fit with their narrative of the...

Every full moon, my family would make offerings to our deceased ancestors. As the eldest son of the eldest son, I am given the distinct honour of having my name be the first called when praying to our ancestors. Even though I was younger than my...

NUDE PHOTOS FOUND ON MAYOR MEGAN BARRY’S BODYGUARD'S PHONE. THE DECLINE AND FALL OF NASHVILLE MAYOR MEGAN BARRY. HOT POLITICIAN SCANDAL.

So read the bold headlines of national newspapers, claiming a cinema-worthy political mishap in hopes of...

My heavy breathing was the only sound echoing within the room. This was it. The moment where all of our hours of research and practice were being evaluated in a 10 minute documentary followed by an intense Q&A. "My documentary has to be...

During my weekends spent placing used books back on dusty shelves at Queens Village Community Library, I realized that Queens made the most of what it had. The dilemmas of my community fester in the book return bin. Teenagers stressed from the...

“Welcome to Newspaper! I’m passing the sign in sheet around.” A bustling classroom of half familiar faces stood before me. Posters of hunter gatherer societies and Mesopotamian Civilization were plastered to the walls. I fiddled with an Expo...

"Next month, we will decide whether or not to ratify our church's newest bylaw: banning gay people from being members. This is to protect ourselves from being sued if a same-sex couple asks to get married in our church." As I sat in the same pew I...

I observed Nam’s darting eyes across the canteen hall. After being shooed from table to table, Nam finally arrived at mine. “Uhhh is this seat t-t-taken”, he stammered.

Nam was new at school and had trouble fitting in. His stuttering did not help...

The inner truth hidden beneath the outer layers of a mandala - the profound, rooted love represented by astronomical symbols, the vitality and fertility expressed through leaves and paisleys. As a child I excitedly sat to have my hands decorated...

The Chevron was always my favorite. A basic V-shaped design, it is one of the first patterns that a novice would learn. Most beginners are quick to move on from the Chevron upon its mastery and proceed to designs that are more complex. But even...

“It’s a sultry and sweltering day in Rajasthan, India.”

A young woman aged 19 years gives birth to an unimpeachable little girl that smiles her way into the world, suddenly a young man bombards into the room and pulls out a gun. The last thing the...

This is a part of me. I have to win, I thought to myself as Ms. Jessica announced the soon-to-be poetry slam. Composing poems was simple enough in my mind because, in order to win, you had to make the judges laugh or cry, while holding a steady...

“What even are you supposed to be, Mary Poppins?”

My class was having a Halloween party and everyone was invited to display their favorite characters by wearing overpriced costumes. I was beyond overwhelmed with excitement and was eager to pick...

Standing knee-deep in clear water, I peer at the minnows swimming lazily around my toes.

“Help, Daddy, there’s a Mexican!” wails a curly-haired girl from the security of a bright pink inflatable ring. Her pointed finger indicates to all the target...

My computer crashed for the 6th time in a week. I had accidentally created an infinite loop in Python, and my glitchy four-year-old laptop could not handle the overload of data. I sighed and looked over at my coworker, Sophia--a college student,...

When asked who is responsible for the death of Alexander Hamilton, the answer seems simple: Aaron Burr. What’s more likely is Hamilton’s fatal flaw: his arrogance. That answer, however, is exactly what Burr would suggest. We can only imagine the...

“Don’t you feel oppressed living in Singapore?"

As a teenager, I avidly consume social media. Initially, however, I was extremely disoriented reading comments by other users such as the one given above. The rest of the world seemed to be speaking...

It was but another Saturday morning – famished and alone in a house of quiet. The family, while knowing that their attempts to prevent me from cooking are futile, creates obstacles such as hiding cooking oil or disabling the stove. I have as a...

Hands shaking, I lifted the cover of my makeshift steamer.

All families have their own “thing.” Some have game nights; others have movie nights. My family has a time-honored tradition of cook-offs. These competitions are not like the casual and...

The sky was the baby blue of my new tricycle with streaks of mandarin orange peels highlighting the end of another innocent day. He stood beside my 5 year old self, with clothes smelling of Chinese take-out and the sweat of yesterday’s hot sun....