Newest College Application Essays

I wrote for my first newspaper in 4th grade, the Fourth Grade Weekly. I was the owner, editor in chief, and lead writer. The Weekly contained hard-hitting pieces - by 4th-grade standards - such as Joke of the Week, Restaurant Reviews, and Sports...

I stand alone in the middle of an empty square, looking at the period Chinese pavilion that was built less than a month ago. The park is new. The smell of paint is still fresh in the air, the carved characters still sharp on the edge, the cement...

I hadn’t seen Empire of the Sun in years.

It was the last film I ever watched with my father--him, sick, lying on a hospital bed; me, 11, completely unaware that this would be the final thing we’d ever share.

Before, I’d often complain: “Dad, you’...

The world stops when my fingers make contact with my piano’s black-and-white keys. Music modeled after the Romantic style makes me feel truly alive—brimming with enough raw emotion to make my breath catch. Von Goethe’s statement is most relevant...

2007: “Are y’all comin’?” I yell to the kids on the playground as I run over to the swings. They look at each other and laugh, clearly making fun of the way I speak. I put my head down, embarrassed, and walk to the swings alone. I wish I hadn’t...

Tradition! From The Shirt to the senior section marshmallow toss to much much more, traditions make Notre Dame unique. But more than that, these traditions give Notre Dame a community feel, both large and small. Whether you are helping your friend...

I revel in an eccentric painting of a curled up, blue-haired woman; I overhear a girl rehearsing a classical monologue, maybe Shakespeare; I soak in the haunting sound of a violinist playing a Tchaikovsky concerto in a nearby classroom. Walking...

I don’t usually get excited over lengthy essays. But when my Sociology teacher assigned a six-page response to Herbert Mead’s theory of self, I was elated. Mead’s theory, in short, describes how we humans act as mirrors. Our own self-perceptions...

Few things rival the rigorous blend of dexterity, reflexes, and chess-like foresight that true mastery of ping pong demands. When I entered boarding school as an anxious and introverted junior, though, ping pong became more than just a thrill. It...

“Lemonade! Twenty-five cents a cup!” Some say that our earliest memories are indicative of our later years. Sometimes I wonder if I was born to sell.

My earliest memory dates back fourteen years, when I opened a lemonade stand outside a...

When I ventured out onto the rural homestead occupied by Tambudzai and her family in colonial Rhodesia, I never returned. My mother's worn copy of Nervous Conditions, the book that tells of their adventures, was surreptitiously slipped back into...

My heartbeat mimicked the blare of the sirens. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” I stood by as the detective searched the scene. It was then that the face of the perpetrator...

My love for wearing costumes developed as a child. Even today, I’d have to say, I still enjoy wearing them. As the president of the DECA chapter at my school, I get to dress up in pant suits and pearls, while role-playing as a CEO. While my...

“The title Looper implies time is a continuous loop, right? The future interacts with the past like it always does, because it’s meant to. So how does Bruce Willis break away from it, all of a sudden? And when he does break away, how doesn’t he...

I was tired of being that "fat kid.” I’ve struggled with my weight since…. well, the name calling started to sting. My weight, and its effect on my attitude, prevented me from feeling comfortable socially. It became more worse when I changed...

I had the spent majority of my days here, spending my time exploring the nooks and crannies when my parents were at work and looking for the ancient photos and relics dating back in my family’s history. Whether I was on vacation or living in...

As a business development intern for Mason Bottle, a mason jar baby bottle company fresh out of a successful Kickstarter, I was very excited and totally out of my zone. My previous summers had been science and research oriented, but when I was...

Born six years apart, my brother and I had never had a meaningful conversation: I was too young to be respected like a parent, but too old to be considered a “friend” whom he can trust. It’s only when we discovered our mutual fondness of Steven...

Each summer, I work as a high ropes counselor for middle school students. My goal: to push campers out of their comfort zones and into the “growth” zone. Yet that goal isn't always easy to reach. I had one camper named Aldo who was absolutely...

Mr. M—with his bird-eye view, long-winded conversations that often dipped into digression, and signature loose Hawaiian shirts for all seasons—wasn’t your run-of-the-mill teacher.

Every other week, we took the subway somewhere: the crimson-soaked...

One day I was playing piano, lost in own musical universe, when I was interrupted by a faint tapping sound not of my own making, accompanied by a superficial fragrance. Tap, after tap, after tap. I stopped playing, turned around, and saw my mother...

My dad's yellow courier van has been a part of my life ever since I was born. Every day before light floods the sky, I would hear its engine rumble as my dad headed to work. After school, I would sit in the passenger seat while he finished his...

I joined Theater freshmen year out of curiosity for its technical aspects. As a person of science and logic, I was, at first, skeptical about the artistic club and shy to interact with the boisterous Theater community. But the club was full of...

My eyes were burning from the tear gas and I was having trouble breathing under my white bandana, but I was determined to keep going; I was not going to let them stop me—stop us from peacefully marching for our freedom. I was part of what seemed...