Newest College Application Essays

I was at a loss for words.

Before we traveled back to New York, my dad insisted that we visit a nearby plantation. As I walked across the Carolina cotton field, I pictured myself in my ancestors' shoes. Imagining the verbal, physical and mental...

The date was near...even before I even glanced at my calendar full of sporadic events and reminders, I knew it. It’s finally Homecoming Week: the ultimate week for high-schoolers to go wild (within the confines of the dress code, of course)....

As the youngest in my family, I’ve always been what my older sister would call an attention-seeking leech. Always hungry, I feed on love, attention, and adoration as if it is my life source. But because I know how much it means to me, I try to...

Some people aspire to be the man in the grey flannel suit – or dream of going to work in a pinstripes baseball uniform, green hospital scrubs, a yellow firefighter’s coat, a pink tutu, a police officer’s dress blues. But me, I want to wear white –...

I strolled into Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, slipping off my tennis shoes and socks to embrace the cold tile floor of what was once a Buick dealership showroom in the 60s. Eagerly awaiting the start of Theatre Ensemble, I socialized...

To do today:

1. Conduct dramatics selections in snack-break2. Script finalization with class teacher in club period3. Production practice after school

It wasn’t always like this, though.

I’d had major body image issues and faced the...

I like to think of myself as tantamount to avial - a South Indian stew with a motley variety of vegetables and spices. A tablespoon of the American culture that has diffused seamlessly into our household, peppered with Tamilian roots that leave a...

“It is a truth, universally acknowledged...”

A seemingly proper novel, Pride and Prejudice began with ostensibly proper words. The satire of an endearing family was all I presumed upon cracking the cover.

I was wrong. Contained in those pages was...

My final task was to finish coloring Spider-Man’s leg, and as I laid on the floor discomfort enveloped the room so intensely you could hear a pin drop. This situation came about because I was one of the three people chosen to be apart of the...

“10-64. CODE 10-43! Suspect Heading Northeast!” she said while running in her heels, dodging cars and people. Suspect five feet away. Jumps the fence, gets cuts on her palm from the shattered glass on the floor. Suspect takes out a gun, but she is...

My eyes only followed the two figures, donned in white, squat-walking back, forth, extend, stab. I watched as the fencers calculated their every movement with precision and speed. What do the arm movements of the ref mean? How do I know when...

I always find myself sitting cross legged on my bedroom floor, body hunched over a canvas, with the aroma of paint surrounding me. I follow the bleeding of one shade of brown into another and decide on using oil instead of acrylic to magnify the...

My mom loves people-watching. Every time we step inside a downtown café she insists on sitting by the windows.

I initially deemed the hobby strange and senseless, but people-watching has taught me to look outside myself—to witness the pigtailed...

I search “how to grieve properly” in the naive but hopeful belief Google knows the answer. An article tells me “broken crayons still color.” This strikes me as not only condescending but false. I am in pain and I am healing, but I am not broken....

Tilt of the head, toes on the tips and fingers striving to get hold of one of the dusty tomes which no one reached for, to hands confidently binding around a volume with admiration for the work in my eyes is my life in a nutshell.

“ They had...

The pungent odor of my mother’s borscht drifted across our campsite, along with the smoky smell coming from the fire. The field was filled with cars, tents, and a large stage. Onstage was a famous Russian group, “Masha and the 3 Bears,” playing...

My life in poetry didn't begin with the slam sessions or political activism I know today. Instead, in first grade, I wrote a haiku about my bunny, Brownie. I can’t remember the gory details, but I know it contained the adjective ‘fluffy’ at least...

I’m at Chinese school listening to my Laoshi, or teacher, Qian, berate me about my behavior: I brag about cheating on and failing tests, throw school supplies and generally wreak havoc. “Why do you even bother to show up?!” Feeling guilty, I...

I don’t like hospitals. Sharp needles, surgeon’s scalpels and other tools aren’t really my forte. Add to that the freezing air, devoid of any impurities, the impersonal white from ceiling to floor, and the moans and groans of patients in pain; a...

In childhood, amid Barbies and pink wallpaper, I had the privilege of ignorance. But when I was catcalled by a man twice my age, the uncomfortable reality came into focus. At age thirteen, I realized my gender influences how others perceive me....

It makes me angry that grape flavored medicine doesn't really taste anything like grape. It tastes more like some tonic that evil witches in fairy-tales would give to some person to poison them. I don't know who thought those medicines tasted like...

The ice breaks beneath my feet: merciless and quiet. The sunlight that had once been a hub of warmth did nothing to ease the pain the ice brought. It all happened so quickly that I wondered whether anyone saw it occur. In the course of falling...

3 decks of cards, a few puddles of sweat, and a few hours of frustration later, I was finally done. I finally finished my house of cards. It was a simple structure, just made of the typical triangles, but I had to work for every single triangle I...

I am what any Colombian would recognize as a Sancocho. I am 32% potato, 11% plantain, 2% cilantro, 16% chicken, 9% cassava, 5% corn, 17% meat, 8% avocado. I could say I am a little bit of everything, but I am a mixture of interests, skills, and...