University of California - Los Angeles Undergraduate College Application Essays

"Can you believe her? She's 240 pounds - no wonder she had a heart attack." The doctor scoffed as we walked out of the patient's room. The woman had just received an electrical shock to the heart. I had the opportunity to participate in a summer...

Normally, on a weekend, I’d sleep in. School work, family life, and track practice have a way of wearing me out. On this Sunday, though, my old-fashioned wind-up alarm clock sounds at 5:30 a.m. When I absolutely must get up, I don’t trust anything...

Jose is a seven year old boy at the Monrovia Boys and Girls Club. He’s a recent immigrant from Mexico, and he always has a smile on his face no matter what. The thing is, that smile covers a lot of insecurity. His English is shaky, and I know he...

This is a fact: I go to the post office much more often than your typical high school student. No, it’s not because I constantly miss packages that are addressed to me. It’s because I send packages full of little handmade goodies to other people.

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...

My mother would throw a fit if she knew I spent an evening during Mosaic roaming downtown, unsupervised, in the company of a homeless woman and a high-school sophomore, searching for a homeless couple. Granted, it was her fault I was doing it. She...

A pair of tiny Mary-Janes and ruffled socks stirred anxiously in anticipation. Ms. Bush’s kindergarten classroom leered ominously over our small heads, making my friend Corinne’s knuckles whiten and eyes instinctively shoot downwards. My navy blue...

To begin, I am going to describe the state of the desk on which I am currently writing this essay. Besides the normal clutter of assignments, one film and one digital camera sit directly across from me. At least five rolls of film wait patiently...

In the summer going into junior year, I signed up for a Rustic Pathways photography trip to the Himalayas. Going into the program, I was ecstatic that my parents had allowed me to do this and I couldn't wait to take my first solo trip out of the...

“How’s your brother?”

“He’s dead.”

Silence filled the line.“Wow...that’s awful. It’s no wonder you’re afraid,” I replied. There wasn’t much I could do. This teen was struggling with drug abuse and feared leaving a gang whose members murdered his...

Studying the feeding habits of exotic Nicaraguan birds, documenting the traits of Zanzibar's Red Colobus monkey and tracking elephant populations in Tanzania's Mikumi national park were all part of my curriculum growing up. I have a long-term and...

In our increasingly madcap age, the great American pastime has shifted from baseball to pranking. I concur by aspiring to place staplers in jello, just like Jim Halpert from The Office. My creativity isn’t expressed through art but through the...

It was 2:00 AM local time in a continent where I had never been. There were 18 of us rumbling down a poorly paved road, in an old bus that could not have been meant for more than 15. The seats were uncomfortable, and a horribly made music video of...

Telling my peers that I intern at a morgue catches them by surprise; typically, they look at me in bewilderment. Many question why I would want to do something like this. But I honestly do not think they would react with such astonishment if they...

I fill my search history with mug shots and tear up a nice school shirt as an incoherent combination of thoughts, memories and questions swirls in my head. As always, when confused, I turn to my oils and brushes.

In 2008, I watched Professor...

My mother’s hands tell the entire world of my life. They were the first to hold me when I was first born and feed me when I cried. It was her hands that have raised me on behalf of my busy dad, patting me when I behaved well and spanking me when I...

So ubiquitously sold in the streets of cold breezes of winter in South Korea, a red bean bun brings deliberate warmth and joy to many people. Sold at a price of only forty cents back in the 90s, the red bean bun was more than just a snack; it was...

Our Pre-K classroom was in a trailer outside the actual school. Public school budgeting. But Mrs. Ellis made do, decorating with colorful posters and animal silhouettes. The floor was laced with floor mats that we were each assigned to. I sat in...

At Waffle House, the waiter asks where I go and I reply, “Brookstone.” He scoffs, “Heh, the rich kid private school.”By reputation, Brookstone is full of kids that grew up with cotillion manners, groomed for debutante balls, settled in gated...

I inched closer with silent footsteps, holding my breath… and Click! As the moment froze in my camera, the sparrows whizzed past and flew into the trees.

My tryst with photography began many years ago upon discovering the old 35mm Leica in Dad’s...

I slowly wipe away the droplets of sweat rolling down my forehead as I glance outside the black curtain at the other dancers. The vibrant reds, pinks, and blues are all a blur as the dancers mimic each others’ graceful movements. I shut my eyes,...

In a strong, confident voice, I began: “I would like everyone to close their eyes and imagine the stress and frustration you have experienced with fake news.” This was the opening of my team’s presentation to a group of venture capitalists judging...

I’ve always seen the world through a comedic lens. Even when I’m immersed in something serious, like writing college essays, I can’t help but consider the situation’s ridiculous extremes, such as: How would accomplished historical figures...

My award winning app, Cappable, built to help people with disabilities find employment had just made a record of sorts. We had faced our 100th rejection.

Cramped into my bedroom, the four members of our team stared at the dashboard. After months...