Newest College Application Essays

<BLOCKQUOTE>“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” --Plutarch</BLOCKQUOTE>

I asked everyone how to write a perfect college essay. “Show your passion,” they said. “Proofread” was another common admonition. The...

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the United States ceased to be the backdrop to my life and instead became an ideal, a cause, a veritable force. The autumn parade in my town, which had previously been a ragtag band of candy-throwing Girl...

“Go fish.” The vibrant smell of freshly crushed Roma tomatoes and oregano splashes across the dusty kitchen, letting me know that it’s time to stir the red sauce for tonight’s lasagna.

Silence. My opponent stares defiantly. How dare I insult her...

When I was young, my family owned a beat-up old couch. The couch was nothing out of the ordinary: it was a simple floral-print loveseat that had somehow survived the wear and tear that only a toddler can provide. The time came, however, when my...

My hero is not the world’s hero. He is not graced with fleetness of foot, excessive charm, or vast amounts of wealth. He neither asks for nor receives much attention or help from others, and he certainly does not limit himself to the confines of...

Two things happened to me in elementary school that changed my life: I started organizing small local peace rallies with my mother and I got my first alto saxophone. In those days, the two were unrelated. Years later, however, upon joining the...

I open my front door and the rich perfume of pine needles fills my nose. I step in, close the door behind me, and smile at the familiar scene. To my left sits the Christmas tree, covered in various decorations, ranging from tiny tin stars to...

“We’re moving,” my father announced to me, a happy eleven-year-old boy being picked up from his first summer at sleepaway camp.

Excited that we might finally be moving out of our too-familiar house in Miami and into a house closer to all of my...

When I was sixteen, my parents handed me an itinerary and said, “Make sure you don’t speak English.” I arrived in Bordeaux by myself, with just four years of classroom French, and waited for my cousin to pick me up from the airport.

I have visited...

The stage trembled under the rhythmic tapping of wood on wood as glossy ringlets bounced in the summer sun. After an energetic jig, a dozen grinning and giggling girls filed past me in their sparkling dresses. Meanwhile, I anxiously adjusted the...

I vividly remember running home from the library and locking myself upstairs to begin the reading. I rifled through the nutrition book with as much excitement as if I had found the Holy Grail. I stayed up all night to read it, to consume it, to...

At an age when most young girls spend their days watching Sunday morning cartoons and playing with Barbie dolls, I was struggling with the emotional turmoil that was my family. Growing up in the slums of L.A., my living situation was abominable: I...

“I wanna go home!” I say as I sit on the kitchen floor watching my mother cook.

“What do you mean?” she asks, giving me a questioning look. “Ethiopia?”

“I don’t know.”

Home. For most people, the word can be easily defined as the place where they grew...

All my life, I've considered myself an American. Born to a Jewish-American father and a Japanese mother, I've been surrounded by two cultures in drastically unequal proportions. I never understood what it really meant to have more than one...

Perfection. Boredom. Anxiety. There is probably a subconscious reason for my nail biting, but the origin of this habit has been lost with the years of my childhood. Regardless, it reflects my consistency as a person and my devotion to familiarity....

June 16, 2000 -- My sense of uncertainty had never been so overwhelming, my emotions never so mixed. Born seven weeks early on what I now view as a blessed day, my youngest brother, initially referred to as “Baby Malone,” hung on for dear life. He...

One of the most significant reasons I want to attend Michigan State University is for the beloved “college experience.” To me, the best part of this experience is meeting people that I would have never met in my small hometown of Memphis,...

I am currently seeking admission to the history program at Montclair State University. As a prospective student, I believe Montclair to be the perfect fit for my educational goals. Earlier this year, I attended an open house at the university; to...

I had a dream last night that my most revered mentors came together to weave their unique threads into the fabric that ultimately became my Common Application essay.

Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite novelist, was in charge of the introduction to this...

As a young child, I always experienced awe and inspiration through art. Even twenty minutes of finger painting or dabbing emerald green petals with soap paint in the bathtub or doodling with chalk on the sidewalk reflected my passion as a young...

Have a minute? Good. Because I never do. I spend every available moment of my life organizing and directing a group of 25 juniors and seniors in the news studio at my high school. If I am not in the process of assisting my fellow students,...

A wave of feelings crashed through my mind as my eyes confronted the horror. Living, breathing animals were reduced to commodities before my eyes as workers shoved turkeys into crates and slammed piglets headfirst onto concrete floors. I could not...

"On Thursday," announced my religion teacher, "we will be going to the zoo to find our animal totems." For those that don’t know, an animal totem represents the Native American belief that each person has a connection to a specific animal. I was...

I sometimes daydream about how my life would have been if I led the carefree life of the average teenager. Then I snap back into reality, realizing that life is never average. There are always obstacles to overcome. My transition into high school,...