Newest College Application Essays

It is 9:30 on a sunny June morning, I’m standing alone in the ferry ticket line pretending to look for friends that aren’t coming with me, hopelessly trying not to look so uncomfortable. I move forward in line and see a group of people who I know...

When I moved from China to the Philippines during my sophomore year, my world turned upside down. Instead of ancient Chinese classics, Chinese geography, and Chinese history, I studied Shakespeare, geography, and U.S. history. In China, catching...

6:00 AM, small industrial town of Zhodino, Belarus. Summer 2008. I reluctantly boarded the bus, immediately noticing that it was absolutely packed. The bus, of course, was to my grandmother’s dacha, a cottage where she grew and tended to what I...

I walked up to the half-open garage and peered uncertainly into the cluttered space. At this point, I was alone in London, navigating purely by gut and intuition. My voice shook as I rasped out an indication of my presence. As I waited for an...

Here, on top of this duvet there exists a sun-soaked, silent universe. I pick up the object in my lap, lazily stretch out my legs and fill my world with the sound of its cracking spine. A gentle shhhhh, smoothing the page beneath my hand. The...

I am from the "Arab Spring generation": the generation that took the street in 2011 to fight for their dreams. I can no longer talk about a flourishing spring when I think about what is happening in Libya, Syria, Yemen and Egypt. However I am very...

My name is Nawal, but I used to call myself Titan.

If there was ever a moment when I thought the stars would align for me and my one wish would come true, it was a moment not taken for granted. I would always ask for the same thing: to be a...

Until now, it has never occurred to me that a spider taught me how to forgive.

In all honesty, I never knew how to feel about my father. I loved him because I was supposed to. But I feared him even more. I feared him like I feared spiders. Perhaps...

“Let’s try that again” my Mom says as she picks up the piece of dough that I have rolled into an unrecognizable shape. “Now remember, the key to making your roti round is to move your shoulders and loosen your grip on the rolling pin.” I do as my...

“Do not touch” signs are probably my biggest temptation. The simple statement of a rule makes the action it advises against almost irresistible to me. There is no better way to ensure that something is done than to tell me I can’t or shouldn’t do...

I initially noticed it at my first A Level Physics class. This was the second most popular subject at school, and yet I was the only girl there. Ditto with Advanced Mathematics: I was the only female student there, and I wanted to get to the root...

As the cliché states, anything worth achieving only comes through blood, sweat, and tears. Well, in my case, it was lots of sweat, some tears, and a little bit of blood—I tripped over branches periodically. At the age of fifteen, I encountered an...

From saying “Rabbit-Rabbit-Rabbit” on the first day of the month, to drinking hot water (with exactly three ice cubes), I personify idiosyncrasy. However, I have one secret quirk that begun several years ago with Fluffy. My dad and I went to pick...

My favorite place in the world is behind the lens of a camera. When I was fourteen, I saved every penny I made babysitting and washing dishes for a Canon t2i, and the satisfaction that came with the overpowering smell of lens cleaner and the...

Having explored the myths from ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt, my curiosity was piqued in eighth grade by a simple legend from Japanese lore. If you fold one thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant you one wish. I took it as a challenge. My...

Four years of Latin have taught me several truths: the great Julius Caesar’s writings are unexpectedly boring; almost all novels derive from The Aeneid; and most people see no value in a ‘dead’ language. Despite these apparent drawbacks, Latin has...

When I think of food, the first thing I think of is happiness: memories of my family and friends eating, chatting, and laughing together flash through my head. In particular, I am drawn back to a birthday dinner for my dad. I can almost taste all...

Bok Choy and mushrooms. Pig tongue and beef liver. Dishes like these grace our dinner table every day. These unusual, even exotic animal parts and vegetables may turn away the average diner, but my family welcomes this cuisine with gleaming eyes.

It is 7:00 on Saturday morning and I walk into the Chick-fil-a kitchen. Attempting to prepare my mind for work, I enter my daydream of war to get through the upcoming seemingly endless morning. My ingredients suddenly turn into weapons and armor;...

I looked down at the robot before me. I had spent weeks and weeks programming and building it, putting in countless hours of concentration. Then I looked up at my robotics teacher, excitedly, as he tested it himself — and it worked perfectly. The...

As I rolled my eyes at the kids running around, I was at a loss. I was given the responsibility to teach children from the orphanage to play the cello in preparation for a concert, but I couldn’t even get the kids to sit down in their seats.

“...

A novel with a body eating itself from the inside is sure to generate some deep thinking, especially when, while fictional, it presents real scientific possibilities. The Cobra Event, a bone-chilling novel by Richard Preston, does just that. A...

Paper plates. It was always the favorite medium for my five friends every Saturday morning. Through connections with a certified neurologist, Kyung Il Park, I helped to develop an art therapy program for children and adults with special needs....

I am always interested in making something radically new out of an ordinary idea. As I explored different styles and media at the Orange County School of the Arts, I became an artistic nomad, seeking for something new each and every step in my...