Newest College Application Essays

My program was successful, but the determination to continue competing further eluded me. I longed for the hackathon to finish, staring at the minute hand on the clock as it inched closer to the hour. As soon as the buzzer sounded, I felt I had to...

At Hogwarts, House Cup rivalries & petty squabbles are more often than not, the norm. Although our community is large and diverse, its existence is threatened by dark forces - the ever-present danger of plastic pollution, unequal opportunities...

In Biology, acronyms make learning easier. I took the liberty to create my own, CELL, allowing exploration both inside and outside the classroom.C: Cleveland & ClinicsI talked to the Head of the Department of Ocular Oncology at Cleveland...

While our teacher was explaining the impact of COVID-19 on international trade, I was creating a fairytale: finding a savior amidst warring global economies. When the textbook spoke of symbiotic relationships, I was weaving a fable on luminescent...

I did not realize life could be so fragile and unpredictable until my grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer. With social security as her only form of income, my family was burdened with extreme financial pressure. It was through this...

The smallest things in life often carry the most meaning.

I realized this when I found myself as the only teen among a group of teachers for a USACF meeting in Brooklyn. As I sat there nervously, clenching onto my shirtsleeves, I came face to...

From a one-man bake sale bringing in hundreds of dollars to spending hours between classes boxing stuffed animals, I have found the best of myself in my work for U.S.-Africa Children’s Fellowship (USACF). But more than finding pride in what I do,...

I come from a community of storytellers. My childhood is ravaged by tales of the brave and the beautiful, but rather than being told fantasies, I grew up on stories of brutality, violence, and death. While my father gave heart-wrenching recounts...

One of my first dissections was a cat brain. As my lab group carefully cut down the longitudinal fissure, we discovered tiny parasitic worms on the superior colliculi. While I’ve had the opportunity to dissect tapeworms, cow eyes, and rats, the...

I’m going to talk to you about my experience being mute. I erased the line, feeling immense anger as I toiled over the right way to tell my story without sounding fraudulent or, worse, inept. The task should have been a simple one, talking about...

The adrenaline pumping through all of us was palpable as we stepped offstage after our opening night performance, excited to see our friends and family who came to see us perform The Sound of Music. My castmates and I were proud of our successful...

As I drove up the driveway, my little sister called from the backseat, “we’re home!” I immediately launched into a performance of “Home” from the musical Beauty and the Beast. I could hear my siblings groan from the backseat. The message was...

Our Town, a classic play by Thornton Wilder, is about as simplistic as it gets: no props, no set, and a simple story of a boy and a girl in a quiet town. Although the story may seem unremarkable, I was profoundly affected by Emily’s words toward...

While shaking the commissioner's hand, I felt myself overrun with emotions. Thirteen years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice all overlapped into one moment as I looked him in the eyes: a beautiful sense of accomplishment and gracious respect...

Tap-tap-tap. My fingers tactfully hover over my controller as a white ball darts between players on the screen. For me, the afternoon FIFA is a ritual that precedes even my mom’s famous grilled cheeses.

Soccer has long been a keystone in my life....

Dustin couldn’t read. He knew letters, but not words. I saw him throw his book on the floor, a tired copy of Little Critter, as I plopped down in bus 75 seat 11, the unforgiving Mississippi sun burning through the left-hand window. I looked over...

On my fourth grade Sports Day, my father proudly embraced me and called me his ‘Sherni’ - or ‘Lioness’ - when I finally outran a girl twice my size. I had been coming in second to her for years. It became my parents’ nickname for me, encompassing...

When I first joined Boy Scouts in fifth grade, I was the only person of color in my troop. I didn’t have a mentor who looked like me. I became aware that many minorities like me don’t have a role model to look up to, so I decided to be that model....

I’m hiking in the woods with a friend and suddenly, he stops and asks me “which way is north?”

“That way,” I say as I point correctly towards north.

Very often, I can pinpoint my exact location on a map and have a sense of direction with limited...

What was the worst mistake in US history? Could it be the Compromise of 1877? Or Vietnam? Or could it even be Columbus stepping foot on the Americas? This question has always intrigued me, and I would like to explore possible answers to this...

My crown! It's lost! My crown is gone!" cries Babar the Elephant. As a toddler, mom would read my favorite bedtime story Babar Loses his Crown, an elephant who (you guessed it) loses his crown in Paris. That story, and others like it, are in...

I showed up to school in thongs today... no not that type of thong. Indeed, Australians call flip flops, thongs. As my physcis teacher told me he 'reckons' I should take off my thongs and put on 'runners' (i.e. sneakers) to avoid labratory...

Growing up in a Taiwanese household, my whole life revolved around the term “buyaolangfei”, or don’t be wasteful. Everything from empty egg cartons to used sauce jars are all to be used with gratitude and never wasted. In fact, we have a Chinese...

When I was in seventh grade, my mom, who is an acclaimed pianist, was invited to participate in the Vienna ConcertoFest, a two-week summer program to perform concertos. My mom asked me to join and participate with her at the festival. I played...