Newest College Application Essays

As I plug in the radio and balance the camera on a few shoeboxes, I yell for everyone to get in their spot, then hit record. We dance around the room and jump on the bed shouting the lyrics of the new Hannah Montana CD. I don’t have a worry in the...

All I ever had to define myself, all I know, is that I am part French. Warm French summers in the countryside, full of laughter, good food, family time, and my French education, that was what I considered my culture. Knowing not of the severity of...

My legs are dotted with faded scars left behind by mosquito bites.

Sitting in a stuffy classroom in early September, I look down at them nostalgically. In June, my feelings towards mosquito bites were less cordial. I had just begun a 45-day...

I know for a fact that my grandfather picked up every single piece of trash he saw. It didn’t matter where he was (in town, at church, on the beach), or what it was (a receipt, a broken beer bottle, a plastic fork); he was going to pick it up. It...

Dear roommate,

Fair warning: when you walk into our room, you’ll smell an odd, sweet tanginess. Yet, before you have the chance to investigate, I’ll be jumping off the bed and pouring you a mug of my signature orange oolong tea — the source of the...

I wrote for my first newspaper in 4th grade, the Fourth Grade Weekly. I was the owner, editor in chief, and lead writer. The Weekly contained hard-hitting pieces - by 4th-grade standards - such as Joke of the Week, Restaurant Reviews, and Sports...

I stand alone in the middle of an empty square, looking at the period Chinese pavilion that was built less than a month ago. The park is new. The smell of paint is still fresh in the air, the carved characters still sharp on the edge, the cement...

I hadn’t seen Empire of the Sun in years.

It was the last film I ever watched with my father--him, sick, lying on a hospital bed; me, 11, completely unaware that this would be the final thing we’d ever share.

Before, I’d often complain: “Dad, you’...

The world stops when my fingers make contact with my piano’s black-and-white keys. Music modeled after the Romantic style makes me feel truly alive—brimming with enough raw emotion to make my breath catch. Von Goethe’s statement is most relevant...

2007: “Are y’all comin’?” I yell to the kids on the playground as I run over to the swings. They look at each other and laugh, clearly making fun of the way I speak. I put my head down, embarrassed, and walk to the swings alone. I wish I hadn’t...

Tradition! From The Shirt to the senior section marshmallow toss to much much more, traditions make Notre Dame unique. But more than that, these traditions give Notre Dame a community feel, both large and small. Whether you are helping your friend...

I revel in an eccentric painting of a curled up, blue-haired woman; I overhear a girl rehearsing a classical monologue, maybe Shakespeare; I soak in the haunting sound of a violinist playing a Tchaikovsky concerto in a nearby classroom. Walking...

I don’t usually get excited over lengthy essays. But when my Sociology teacher assigned a six-page response to Herbert Mead’s theory of self, I was elated. Mead’s theory, in short, describes how we humans act as mirrors. Our own self-perceptions...

Few things rival the rigorous blend of dexterity, reflexes, and chess-like foresight that true mastery of ping pong demands. When I entered boarding school as an anxious and introverted junior, though, ping pong became more than just a thrill. It...

“Lemonade! Twenty-five cents a cup!” Some say that our earliest memories are indicative of our later years. Sometimes I wonder if I was born to sell.

My earliest memory dates back fourteen years, when I opened a lemonade stand outside a...

When I ventured out onto the rural homestead occupied by Tambudzai and her family in colonial Rhodesia, I never returned. My mother's worn copy of Nervous Conditions, the book that tells of their adventures, was surreptitiously slipped back into...

My heartbeat mimicked the blare of the sirens. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” I stood by as the detective searched the scene. It was then that the face of the perpetrator...

My love for wearing costumes developed as a child. Even today, I’d have to say, I still enjoy wearing them. As the president of the DECA chapter at my school, I get to dress up in pant suits and pearls, while role-playing as a CEO. While my...

“The title Looper implies time is a continuous loop, right? The future interacts with the past like it always does, because it’s meant to. So how does Bruce Willis break away from it, all of a sudden? And when he does break away, how doesn’t he...

I was tired of being that "fat kid.” I’ve struggled with my weight since…. well, the name calling started to sting. My weight, and its effect on my attitude, prevented me from feeling comfortable socially. It became more worse when I changed...

I had the spent majority of my days here, spending my time exploring the nooks and crannies when my parents were at work and looking for the ancient photos and relics dating back in my family’s history. Whether I was on vacation or living in...

As a business development intern for Mason Bottle, a mason jar baby bottle company fresh out of a successful Kickstarter, I was very excited and totally out of my zone. My previous summers had been science and research oriented, but when I was...

Born six years apart, my brother and I had never had a meaningful conversation: I was too young to be respected like a parent, but too old to be considered a “friend” whom he can trust. It’s only when we discovered our mutual fondness of Steven...

Each summer, I work as a high ropes counselor for middle school students. My goal: to push campers out of their comfort zones and into the “growth” zone. Yet that goal isn't always easy to reach. I had one camper named Aldo who was absolutely...