Newest College Application Essays

"The thnake thlithers in the garden."

My grammar teacher's smile flickered. My eight year old self beamed proudly. Somehow, by words spoken and unspoken, this moment marked a death. A call was made to my parents in hushed, urgent tones. Sombre...

“¡No podemos, mi amor!” Recently, while visiting my abuela, she told me she couldn’t afford to buy me my favorite caramelo. Growing up, I spent most of my summers with her in Argentina. On our walks back from the farmers market, we would always...

I remember in kindergarten, during my troubled sleeps, my mother would come in and sing the Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday”. I didn’t know what the lyrics meant then, but I do know that in her voice I found a universe of meaning. By first grade I was...

The score was 14-14, and 15 was the target. I knew the exact action I was going to make, no problem there. I was loose and having fun, only half aware of the pressure in the later rounds of a national tournament. I was ready to go. “...Fence!” the...

On the weekends I spend hours hunched over my computer, studio headphones in my ears, bobbing my head to the throbbing kick drum. Listening to the drum pattern, I pull out my MIDI keyboard and begin to play chords in rhythm with the drums. Over...

There’s something exquisite in the curve of a tiger’s tail. An elegant extension of the spine, carefully sculpted by years of evolution to be a flawless balancing tool. Such beauty is not uncommon in the animal kingdom. A dragonfly’s wing, a deer’...

The radio crackles to life, a voice blaring into my ears: "Run faster….stop slowing down...." I wait for the man to finish his sentence, letting out a sigh when his voice dims, crackling under the effect of no service.The humidity leaves me...

Growing up, cooking was a way for me to feed myself due to my parents often working late shifts. Often Macaroni n Cheese or grilled cheese and tomato soup would be my go-to dish - that was my idea of cooking. However, as I grew up and my tastes...

One begins every ballet class with a simple tendu and plie combination and, as such, I have done a truly incalculable number of tendus and plies in my life. Thus, the story of my life so far would be entitled Tendu et Plie: To Stretch and To Bend....

I have been pricked a thousand times by them. They always get stuck in the bottom of my favorite running shoes and I can count the scars I have from brushing up against them. Growing up in Arizona, I cannot remember ever having a lack of...

Chemiscry is the study of what makes chemists cry tears of sorrow and joy. Students must complete the Proton Course and the Electron Course in order to receive their Bachelor of Science in Chemiscry. Additionally, they must fulfill the core...

Sweat crept its way down my forehead as I connected the last wire to the motherboard. For hours, I had been working on building this computer, and with my middle-school operating budget, there wasn’t any room for error. Everything had to work, and...

I made my first movie when I was seven.It was a two-minute slasher flick entitled “Psycho Killer on the Loose”. I spelled “psycho” wrong on the movie’s hand-drawn title card. It starred my five-year-old brother as “the psycho” and my best friend...

Diagnosed with ODD, he was one of my hardest students to teach Taekwondo, but undoubtedly the most rewarding. He would climb on top of the fridge, scream at other kids and defy every word I said. His mother was an alcoholic who was always late to...

Indonesian-ness is hardly quantifiable, but per my parents, mine was a five out of ten. This poor rating stems mainly from my parents’ belief that second-generation immigrants, like myself, were diluted versions of an original product. Though I...

He busted through the black doors of the Taekwondo studio running around screaming. I caught him and told him this was no place for mischief. Consequently, his cold, hard saliva slapped me across my face and he took off.

He was not the first...

I assume kicking position. My fists held near my chest as I stare down my enemy and consider all the things that could go wrong: kicking the holder's hands, injuring my foot or leg, and worst of all, facing the humiliation of not breaking the...

The competition had come down to the wire with my rival classmate, who I have competed academically with since elementary school, and me. It was my turn. My overconfidence bounced me out of my chair as I cheerfully awaited the next word. “...

It’s 7:00, an obnoxiously humid Thursday evening. After 8 hours at school, and 5 at work, I am frankly exhausted: ready to relax, finish my homework, and watch the Texans game. As I open the front door, ready to get a quick start on my tasks, I...

5. you’re taught to be an object

Imagine, you’re a fourth-grade body on a rare 100 degree day in San Franciscoin a classroom filled with pre-pubescent laughter, occasional voice cracks, and the crinkling of notes being passed. A smile spreads...

After the last shot had been fired, I realized I had been holding my breath. As fatigued comrades began to scoop stray bullets from the ground and put them into sacks containing plastic props, I took my first stilted breaths in four weeks. We had...

"Who is your hero?"

I remember seven names on seven different sheets of crumpled paper: Chimamanda Adichie, Ocean Vuong, Martha Johnson, Alan Turing, Emily Dickinson, Toni Morrison, and James Baldwin. Each name belonged to an incredible human...

One of the most important failures I have experienced was in a program called DI (Destination Imagination), a creative problem solving competition. DI has been a major part of my life not just through my own experiences, but through my family as...