Newest College Application Essays

“Does Mr. Fishy go up, up, up or down, down, down?”

I ask my class as I lay a plastic toy fish on top of the water.

“Up, up, up!” a little boy named John exclaims.

“That’s right! Mr. Fishy goes up, up, up like we do!” I tell my class.

A plastic...

Alice has her rabbit hole; Lucy has her wardrobe; Harry has Platform Nine and Three-quarters; as for me, I have my bookshelf. Reading is something I have always loved to do. It allows me to escape to another world from the comfort of my fuzzy...

How can some children let complete strangers take care of their aging parents?

Even at their advanced age, my grandparents join us every evening in prayer and stand by our stove stirring in their special blend of spices for our family dinner. Back...

I approach Wallace Stevens’ poetry with frightful bewilderment, occasional terror, and a sense of ambitious delight—much like how the Macbeths approached the murder of King Duncan.

Stevens was my first “difficult” poet. For fourteen years, I’d...

Peonies, marigolds, asters, tulips. My small hands stroke delicate yellow, pink, blue, and I hold the petals up to the light of the bright window in awe. When the strong sunlight beams down, the flowers remind me of fairy wings in their...

“We don’t have time, Navya!” my teammates groaned, as I approached them to sign up for the Swimathon to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. I’d been inspired to spearhead the fundraiser due to my father’s health scare. As a competitive...

My story starts here, in San Francisco. Today, I hate it. I hate the sweat trickling down my back from the walk to breakfast on the steep ascent of Castro Street. I hate the suspicious gunshot-like sounds ringing outside my window as I try to...

“Hey, dude! Bet you can’t run a 5k,” goaded my friend.

He was the track all-star at school. The student-athletes would joke about the rivalry between us, as I’m a competitive swimmer. So, I took up his bet and registered for the Dublin Distance...

“Our merger deal fell through...let’s pull back our press releases,” my dad whispered.

Sophomore year, I was ecstatic for my parents to ring the IPO bell on Wall Street; their IT company of 7-years was set to be acquired! But 12-hours before, the...

Roaring in the crowds of the 2008 Rose Bowl Stadium and immersed within a sea-of-gold-and-cardinal, I chanted with the Trojans to the USC Fight Song after the FIRST touchdown! That game, Trojans won against UCLA Bruins 28-7.

At 6-years-old, I was...

I grasped the empty, plastic one-gallon container within my right hand as I strolled towards the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico, trying not to gain others' attention nor look awkward. It would seem unusual and strange to others when they see a...

All summer I had been speculating about the first day of high school, but not for the same reasons as my peers. While others were perfecting their “summer bods,” I was worried about one particular class and one particular teacher. As I took a...

From my upbringing in Northern Ireland, a small corner of the world, I’ve learnt that it’s possible to catch pneumonia and get sunburnt in the course of one afternoon, so I always over pack. So too have I discovered that “I’ll pop the kettle on”...

My legs were sprawled out on the bed as I lay texting my friends about the latest gossip, occasionally chuckling. From the corner of my eye, I saw a brown dot crawl up the inside layer of the curtain on my canopy bed. I felt my body stiffen into a...

I’m the heart of a million questions in your math textbook. Universally cursed, universally appreciated. I’m immensely thankful to have the privilege of enjoying a timeless celebrity status -the king of the Hollywood of mathematics. Don’t roll...

My path to West Point starts out grimly. It was the beginning of a new year, 2013, and I stood gazing at the shining medals on my grandfather’s chest. I stared at the medals intensely, as if I had just been handed a test I knew nothing about. I...

For as long as I can remember my mom has had this nickname for me. It may sound kind of strange, but she has always called me “Mommy”. While it may just be a nickname, I have always seen it as part of my identity.

My actual mom is no stranger to...

For as long as I can remember, my parents have always been insistent on taking photos whenever they got the chance. I used to find it annoying, always having to look at the camera, smile, and pose on demand, but now I realize the value of those...

The air in my grandparent’s house is filled with the aroma of pomodoro sauce and the sounds of a slightly out-of-tune piano. There is a contagious energy the minute you walk through the door. Sunday afternoons are marked by delicious meals, family...

As January snow fluttered outside the window of the hospital where I was born, my mom carefully chose a Chinese name to give me. While I go by Carolyn in America, I am Xuě Líng in China. Years later, my mom told me that my second name translates...

Every winter break, my siblings and I snuggle under the fuzzy Eeyore blanket in the bonus room, watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. As the December blizzard shrieks outside, we find warmth in following the wholesome, familiar banter between the...

My grandfather found himself in the yellowed pages of a Bible, my father in the South African anti-apartheid movement. I found myself in a 2004 Scion xA hatchback nicknamed Oliver.

Writing flash-fiction until my hand ached, reading library books...

When I’m on my drumline, I can sense the power of rhythm; drums show me how a consistent rhythm can guide people to work in unison. Our drumline requires the extremely cautious cooperation of nine of us at once, so it has sharpened my ability to...

My mom loves to tell the story of when I was a baby, and I would pull the biggest book I could find off the shelf and into my lap, tracing my fingers over the words and pretending I knew what I was reading. Since the night I came home from the...