Newest College Application Essays

I woke up at six that morning. My mom had left an hour earlier to work her two full-time jobs. It was a routine weekend; surrounding me was our ramshackle apartment decorated with sparse furniture, a Hindu temple in the corner, and a telephone I...

From Ohio to Kentucky to Massachusetts, some may call me crazy for having three different trees as my best friends, but I assure you that I am perfectly sane. For my first birthday, my grandparents flew to Ohio and gave me my first birthday...

A semicolon, and a brace there. Done! I hit the “Compile and Run” button, my first ever computer program has printed out the famous “Hello World.”

When I was ten years old, I found a book on “Windows” operating system from my parents’...

The four of us sit still for a full minute, too humbled to move or to speak. My hand finds its way to the door handle and I cringe as the car opens with a low clunk, interrupting the total silence. I walk to the edge of the lookout to survey the...

I tried to distribute the weight of my body evenly in the soles of my Crocs. My hair was contained in a cap and my mouth was smothered by a cotton mask. Each time I exhaled, the mask filled with the smell of the coffee on my own breath. The...

Santa didn't always come down my chimney on December 25.

I worried when my mom said my dad had to work on Christmas day, but she had a simple solution in mind. She made a phone call to the North Pole, and Santa kindly agreed to bring our presents...

When the credits are over and most of the audience is gone, I am still stuck in my seat waiting for something to happen. Then the projector starts buzzing again and the screen lights up with a final bonus-scene the director has decided to bless us...

The vibrant skyline stood dead. It was 4:30 A.M. and life ceased to exist on the streets of Shanghai. The sunrise peaked through the jungle of buildings across the river and shined onto our faces. I stared at the skyline, thinking how much the...

From the commercial corridor of Raymond Njoku street, a lesser known road strays from the bustle that typifies Nigeria’s capitalist hub. This road leads into a cul-de-sac where wooden kiosks selling bread, musk, and mosquito-repellent coils are...

I never believed there could be such a big world hidden in such a tiny cube. Staring at the Rubik’s Cube sitting next to my computer monitor made me remember my destiny with it. When I was nine years old, I saw my cousin solving the Rubik’s Cube...

At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, Japanese runner Shizo Kanakuri dropped out midway through the marathon after feeling like he could no longer keep running. He simply took a boat home without telling anyone, and the race officials assumed he had...

“Ridiculously disrespectful,” I mumbled to myself. I’d just seen two students stealthily looking into their desks, utterly disinterested. Shocked by their distracting whispers, which rose above the sound of my voice and the harsh scratches of my...

Teaching myself how to play music has illuminated my greatest skills: being a didactic learner and a divergent thinker. I have been involved in music my whole life, fiddling with any instrument I could get my hands on. I currently own three...

At the end my junior year, in my AP United States History class, I was assigned a group film project in which I learned several important life skills. With this project, I took creative leadership to create a satirical film about Dorothea Dix and...

My work area watches straight out of Mad Men. Its dark lacquered complete and calculated legs give it a 60's vibe in the midst of the tan covering and orange dividers of my lounge room. A defensive tangle, covered with Sharpie imprints and X-acto...

My glistening mouth is frozen in a wide grimace; my eyes peer down into my little white book. My mother has asked me to read for her and I am determined to do so, despite my younger brother's distracting presence. This is my mother's first...

In kindergarten, I was a cyborg. At least, with wire glasses and a clanky metal leg brace, my classmates thought I was. They thought cerebral palsy was a disease that made you part robotic; mostly because I led them to believe that. For in-school...

On a Wednesday afternoon in May 2020, two partners and I are preparing our AME 331 final presentation for planning roads in cold mountainous areas—a dream inspired by my memories of not having such needed roads in rural China. Together, we sit in...

Run, run, run! I Ignoring the fire in my limbs and the thunder in my chest, I forged ahead at a greater speed. I remember crumbling to my knees on grassy turf. I remember my friend, Simi, emerging from the shadows of the gazebo with a look of...

So ubiquitously sold in the streets of cold breezes of winter in South Korea, a red bean bun brings deliberate warmth and joy to many people. Sold at a price of only forty cents back in the 90s, the red bean bun was more than just a snack; it was...

I zoomed in on my character with a few quick swipes using my drawing tablet pen. The blocky character was made out of perfect, tiny squares as if it had been built out of Lego bricks. But something was a bit off. I peered into the picture and...

“Look!”

At the dinner table, my father presented me with a concept map. I knew that I would be his audience, listening to his idea of creating the Home of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a hub to nurture and encourage creativities.

One year...

I remember the large, looping curves in her handwriting. I remember them well because they are now characteristic of my own penmanship. When I attempt to draw human figures, I recall the bulbous eyes she often gave her cartoon characters when we...

“Where from?”

“United States”

“WELL-COME,” joyously declared a little kid from a Bedouin tribe in Jordan. Surrounded by ancient tombs, a sandy landscape, and locals wrapped in head scarves selling items from their tents, I felt out of place. Yet,...