Newest College Application Essays

The fan is chugging away overhead, desperately fighting off the heat that Jinhua’s summers are infamous for.

But I am oblivious: I’m finishing my drawing of Mickey Mouse. With pencil in hand, markers sprawled about, and a new book of cartoon...

Just like many others, I've spent my life hearing the hackneyed phrase “actions speak louder than words.” Based on personal experience, however, I've decided that I disagree. I believe that words are magic. Not magic in the conventional sense; a...

Bound by the limits of my hearing impairment, it took me three years to realize the clocks at school actually make a noise. As Mrs. Neilson lectures, pressured by the deadline of the AP test, she leaves little room for pauses. Intrigued by every...

My hand is moving with a mind of its own in a stream of creative consciousness. It may as well be a poltergeist. Rough shapes are being formed, abstract blobs that at first have no cohesion, no combined purpose. After time these strange,...

It wasn’t my first audition, yet as I looked into the intimidating mirror, I needed to reassure myself: "You are Beyonce." I gasped for oxygen as I entered the dimly lit room, attempting to calm the fire in my stomach, but listening to other...

To term it a blessing would understate my first semester experience. Working with a group of brilliant professors and highly motivated colleagues has provided me a unique and enriching experience. Additionally, it has helped me clarify and define...

At the core of a successful leader is a strong sense of personal responsibility. In this global economy, that means taking the initiative to understand the culture of people with whom we work. When I was teaching, I learned that the only truly...

Nearly 80 million members strong, “Gen Y” or the “Millennials” are defined by experts as those born roughly between 1978 and 2000. My generation has been shaped by events like the Columbine Massacre and September 11th, stirred by technological...

When I left my position at Goldman Sachs last year, I did so with the intention to go back to school. The American Express headquarters in New York is directly across the street from the Goldman Sachs headquarters. When I transitioned to American...

Ever since I was a young boy I have been curious and excited to learn new things. My favorite books where the Curious George books, as I thought the little monkey, George, was very much like me. George was certainly lovable, but he was always in...

Unlike most children, I loved the doctor. As I bubbled after hearing the news of a doctor's appointment, I'd begin preparing a list of questions. At the clinic, the nurses laughed at me, but I was determined to get to the bottom of my quest of how...

As a French-American, I am symbolically bound to two altogether different cultural spheres via the hyphen. In its relation to me, the hyphen holds more than symbolic value alone. Growing up in America with divorced parents, my mother French and my...

Looking down at the college preparation pamphlet laying on my dresser never seemed so dramatic, but with every word I read, and every page I turned, I could practically feel my future rushing towards me. As I approach the end of my high school I...

“Aap meri choti shezadi ho, Hannah,” my Pakistani grandfather told me before I moved to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. I was later able to translate his loving Urdu words into English: “You are my little princess, Hannah.” I am a...

Alone and terrified, I lay there trying to recall the events that had just happened in my own bedroom, in my own bed. Where I used to feel the safest now made me tremble with fear. My breathing became slow, almost non-existent.

Finally, the words...

My father is a rocket scientist. Literally. He and my mother met while working as engineers at NASA. Brilliant, logical, extremely analytical, and with a PhD in Biomechanical Engineering, he is the most overqualified stay-at-home dad, completely...

Eyes lock in on the cross and follow it down the aisle as its bearer leads the procession until the last person of the seemingly endless line grabs the entire congregation’s attention. Entering the back of the sanctuary, Father Mark’s flowing...

The entire high school packed into the auditorium on a December morning for the weekly assembly. After a few student announcements, the chairman of the Community Service Board asked us to step up our contributions to the gift drive because we...

Excellence: a virtue, an ideal, a lifestyle. Excellence has not only come to embody myself; my actions, from their very core, induce excellence. A misconception exists that success is an indication of excellence—in fact, excellence is an...

Computers, video games, iPhones. Fuel injected, cereal box import rice rockets dominate the streets. Hybrid cars and green technology. Pop, rap and screamo. For better or for worse, times have changed. While modern applications serve their...

I find it incredibly difficult to go through life alone. As humans, we look to others for guidance because sometimes we do not know what is best. Four years ago I joined a new swim team and met my best friend, Andrew. Even though he is two years...

During the summer of 2011, I switched to a new club swim team with my best friend and we were motivated to push each other to faster times. That was also my second summer working at my dad’s office, so I was happy to have been given more...

My brain never turns off. Problem solving and efficiency have always been a part of me. I am always asking myself, “Can this be done better?” I’m not sure if it’s related to my effort to eliminate distractions, my ADHD, or the nature of being a...

It was my first day of high school- a public high school in Chicago. As I pushed past the sea of people bustling past me to get to my classroom, I felt like a buoy being tossed back and forth by the high tide. Three months prior, I graduated from...