Newest College Application Essays

Growing up in an ultra-liberal town just outside of San Francisco’s Bay Area, I have become accustomed to the long-running joke in my school that it’s easier to be gay than it is to be Republican. As an openly bisexual Democrat, I would both agree...

I sat in the ornate home of my teammate’s mom, an established Palestinian surgeon, when she said, “I wish someone had killed them all.” I just finished asking this woman how the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict impacted her life, and was shocked at...

The pit yawned beneath my feet, over 50m deep and 200m in diameter. I stood at its edge, an infinitesimal figure at the boundary of endless filth and decay. I realised, with growing dread, that we had indeed come to Jakande; we had come to the...

It is often thought that the fastest route to Carnegie Hall is practice. I would never discredit the importance of practice, knowing its vitality in my own vocal development, but I believe confidence is equally important to success for any...

Telling my peers that I intern at a morgue catches them by surprise; typically, they look at me in bewilderment. Many question why I would want to do something like this. But I honestly do not think they would react with such astonishment if they...

From the time I was able to grasp the basic concepts of the body’s organ systems in elementary school, to my study of the laws of Isaac Newton and the applications of Le Châtelier's Principle, I have always been enraptured by the sciences. Even...

"Hurry, everyone, she's here!"

The children started running towards the door. As you can imagine, I turned around to see who all the fuss was about. There was no one behind me. Suddenly, I was encircled by a knot of small arms pulling me away...

My choir director points at me, whispering, “You’re next.” Those daunting words make me falter back to my chair. As I wait for my turn, my hands start trembling with fear. I immediately slap my wrist hard enough for the choir director to turn...

It begins with an itch, a malignant rash of fire and ice water running down my neck and arms. My heartbeat is a steady rhythm in my ears and my tongue is coated in lead. I have told a lie: an act that is contradictory to my nature.

I was six years...

Watching out at the Mediterranean Sea, I get a kick out of each nibble of the kolokithakia tiganita my Yiayia had made for lunch. In the little angling town of Methoni, Greece, my grandma meanders through her garden every day, choosing stout...

Picture me, the morose infant, drowning in copious amounts of wedding lace fabric. I am perched on my mother’s hip as she chats amiably to another guest. Eyes pinched and lips puckered, I am a tempest held at bay only by the bottle of Coca-Cola I...

I live in Saratoga, California: the sunny land of tutors, prep centers, and SAT classes. Everywhere you drive there are signs offering the best discounts, the best teachers, the best results. I always wondered, however, why my community didn’t...

A house is a trove of memories; a source of dignity and pride; the essence of security - or at least it's supposed to be. When my family was evicted from our fading domicile on Alexander Street, I began to question my right to the city I called...

One thing remains constant from London to Krakow to Ambala Cantt. Regardless of how far one roams, the Law of Moments will remain in effect. Facts such as these were very comforting to my younger self. No matter how many despondent children I...

The trick to picking a perfect peach is simple: Gently squeeze the chot (stem and fruit junction); if the inside of the fruit is juicy and dark yellow, carefully roll the fruit and pull while holding the stem to avoid bruising.

After nine summers,...

I wake up to deathly quiet.

My mind roams against my wishes, seeking to establish mental contact with anybody that might be in close range. I plant wooden feet on the floor and stagger to a section of my bedroom wall which turns into a mirror when...

There is an incomprehensible secret embodied in the experience of feeling death without dying. It is a secret that I now share with the city of Paris, and every word I write feels like the spilling out of a sacred vow. In the attack on the...

The barrel; nothing but the barrel, thick and menacing, held less than five inches away from my face. In that singular moment , the world died: the early jacaranda blooms died, the sounds of shrieking school children died, the hoarse cries of bus...

Growing up, I was always surrounded by the classical Indian music that my parents sang but I could never understand because it was in Hindi. They often encouraged my sister and me to sing along with them but we were more interested in Taylor Swift...

By 2030, not caring will put 100 million lives at risk in third world countries. By 2050, not caring will cause a fourth of Earth’s species to go extinct. By 2100, not caring will raise the temperature by about 7 degrees Celsius, intensifying heat...

A flock of students surrounded me. I felt fear and confusion. I could hear them asking me questions, but I barely understood anyone; this, in short, was the beginning of my first day of school in the United States. I walked into my math class and...

Newspapers and magazines strewn over the table, heated discussions about the financial markets, and closing prices of the Dow Jones scrawled on post-it notes. One may think that this is an office in a major banking firm, but it’s not—it’s my...

I thought I was going to faint. I was a junior sitting in Senior Chorus, the most prestigious choir at my high school. Sitting among piano prodigies and future opera singers, I could not help but feel out of place among my virtuosic peers. We...

Here, a door; pale and pink. Two boarded windows painted blue to reflect a cloudless day. Here, the field will be perpetually filled with fragrant blooms because that is how we imagine it. I feel eerily calm as I guide little Grace's hand within...