Pennsylvania State University Undergraduate College Application Essays

The women stood in the doors looking out at their husbands, who were talking to the landowners. The children gathered behind them, one bare foot on top of the other. They all watched tensely as the negotiation dragged on; their lives hung in the...

(A)mbition, balance and commitment are the three qualities that I refer to as my "ABC's" for achieving "D", my dream. (B)eing successful depends on continual awareness of your ABC's. (C)arefully following this philosophy has guided me through...

It was a crisp, clear January day in Park Ridge, New Jersey, a few miles from the middle of nowhere. Before me stood an imposing sight: Schubert’s Impromptu. With a length of fourteen pages and a required foundation of meticulous technical skills,...

I clicked a button and created a canvas. A lonely, almost blank screen, it was one of thousands of standardized and tabulated web pages, with only my online moniker at the top to distinguish it as my own. That was my debut, an admittedly...

I still remember the day I was first introduced to him -- a man I would never meet in person, but who would have a significant effect on my life. My sixth-grade music teacher did the introduction, as he played various clips of songs by The Beatles...

Here’s a sob story for you: my father died when I was four. My mother has always been legally blind, but shortly after my father’s death, when I was six, she fell and broke her back. Two years later, she had a brain hemotoma and nearly passed...

It was May 3, 2007, a warm, bright day. Every field was filled with blooming flowers and all the trees were covered with lime green leaves; everything seemed beautiful and normal besides this madness. I was in the back seat of a police car that...

Although I woke up that morning and most likely performed my usual routine, I cannot recall what was going through my mind. I can tell you for sure that I had no idea that day would end up altering the way I value life. Before the sun ruptured the...

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...

Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.

--Hippocrates

I am fortunate to have grown up in a medical family: my grandfather and his brothers are traditional Chinese medical doctors. In fact, since my parents took...

Today there is a common misconception that gender inequality no longer exists. Yet Stephanie Coontz of the New York Times has analyzed the data and, for me at least, put this misconception to rest in her article “The Myth of Male Decline.” She...

All it took were fourteen words to obliterate twelve years of passion. It had all been taken from me.

As I sat in the cold hard chair across from the neurologist's desk, I heard her voice, but I didn't want to. Her words were a blur, as if my ears...

"Mr. Grove, you can come back in the room now." Wiping pints of sweat off my forehead, my heart racing, I reenter the room containing four people: the four people whose sole job is to challenge everything I have done for the past six years. Maybe...

“So many emails say so little,” writes Norma Cone in her first letter to me. Her penmanship incorporates elaborate loops and smoothly conjoined letters from years of perfecting her cursive. In comparison, my script is poorly developed, a...

When my mother was going into labor, she felt inclined to call my grandmother, who was long awaiting my birth. Frantic with excitement, my mother rapidly spoke into the phone, informing my grandmother of the news. My grandmother's shaky voice was...

My confidence is always tested within the first few seconds of revealing that I'm a feminist. Misconceptions of feminism usually surface to repudiate the validity of my stance, and since feminism isn't a common attribute within my age group, I...

Akim, Jerusalem. That is where I was sent for the summer by my parents, after they heard that a school for the mentally disabled was in need of volunteers. I appreciated the idea of helping children in need, but was not thrilled about it being in...

Salmon Point beach and campground in Bridgton, Maine on that early summer morning was idyllic, with maroon picnic tables staggered along the lake’s edge and sand bridging the distance. A simplistic playground with a swing set and some monkey bars...

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...

“One more bucket of ears and you can go inside,” Momma said. Those days spent picking corn in midday Mississippi August heat are ones that I remember well. I vividly recall my toes digging into a mix of decomposing potato roots and freshly toiled...

It was as though Medusa had looked me straight in the eye. I saw my mother’s lips moving, but all I could hear was the turbulent rhythm of my heavy heart. I clutched my fork tighter in my fist and disappeared, desperately figuring out how to turn...

A six-year-old girl stands at the edge, unsure about the leap she must take. She is nervous; very aware of the challenge at hand and the expectations she must meet. In the next moment, she finds herself suspended in the air, entering the watery...

I wasn’t going home with my mom that night. She was waiting outside the clinic to pick me up just like she did every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday night, and I heard my phone buzz with the predictable “I’m here” text. But instead, I told her to...

Most ten year-olds have a themed birthday party, Minecraft, Disney princesses,shows, you name it. However, I had spent my birthday 18 hours on a plane, emotionally tense and sleep deprived.

Growing up, I wasn’t exposed to diverse groups of...