Newest College Application Essays

My hometown has been recently dubbed "The most segregated city in America." This past July, Baton Rouge made headlines after white policeman killed a black man. Two weeks later, an ambush on policemen left three officers dead, with the shooter...

“Niki Ragone? Is Thomas Ragone your brother?”

Before everything happened, this was a compliment. Five years my senior, he was a popular student, and I was proud to be known as his sister. The summer before eighth grade, though, that phrase took on...

At 9 years old, I thought I would never have to wrap my head around any words more challenging than the one that caused me to come in second place at the county’s spelling bee. Of course, I was a fourth-grader, not a psychic, and just one year...

Asian people do not discuss mental illness. While “Asian” is a broad term that cannot possibly encompass all the nationalities and ethnicities of the Asian continent, this is a solid fact in the most prominent cultures: China, Japan, Korea,...

“Oh, wow! You look like your skin's gotten lighter!” were the first words out of all my relatives’ mouths when I visited Bangladesh. Everyone expected me to say “thank you” as if it were a compliment. I’ve always known that within the South Asian...

In the spring of my second year of high school, I shaved my head in front of the entire school. Yes, it was for a greater cause than my own teenage restlessness, but I cannot confidently say it was for that sole reason. In a way, this act of...

“Molly Christine McMillen! What in the world is this?” My mom scorns, as she drags one of her best tupperware dishes out from under my pink, Disney princess bed. My wide, five-year-old eyes look up at her with bewilderment and fear, yet with...

The American, Henry James

Unbroken, Laura Hillenbrand

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

A God in Ruins, Kate Atkinson

The Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown

In The American, Christopher Newman, an American expatriate in France in the...

Albert Einstein remarked, "If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music...I cannot tell you if I would have done any creative work of importance, but I do know that I get most joy in life out of my violin"....

Peering around the corner, I scouted the room, assuring myself that no one stood guard over the treasure. After a few tense seconds, I slowly crept into the kitchen, constantly glancing over my shoulder should the unspeakable happen: someone...

“Do you want a shaadi ka laddoo?” My aunt would offer me with a smirk, nearly every day I went to her house after her daughter got married. It wasn’t a surprise that she had a bountiful supply of sweets, as everyone who was invited to the wedding...

My fingers peck across the keyboard in swift and decisive strokes as they complete the final sentence to my paper. When my hands resign from my desk, I scan their impeccably crafted prose. I wince as the moment of truth approaches. In a bout of...

Splashing in the pool, I’m wearing my one-piece, per camp policy. My girls are holding hands with me, running around in a circle, attempting to create a whirlpool. It’s the summer of 2013, and I’m a Counselor-In-Training at YMCA Camp Cheerio.

I...

As a child, I would enjoy playing dress-up for hours. One moment I would be a princess, and the next I would have transformed into a doctor, a chef, or a model. The dolls that I played with could never stay the way they originally looked, always...

I feel myself jump as the ground shakes, and Horace Vandergelder storms out. My heart beats, and all I can think is to wait for it, wait for it—dialogue, more dialogue, finally singing… “And now that we’re dancing who cares if we ever stop!” That’...

When most people think back to their early childhoods, they tend to remember the play dates, scraped knees, and carefree feeling that comes with being a kid. For some reason, my mind is mostly filled with the memories of drowsy, everlasting car...

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...

There are few places in this world as diverse as my high school cafeteria on a food sale day. A tell-tale spicy aroma draws students with jingling pockets to the back table where they are greeted by an array of cultural foods. They fight over the...

On my first day of third grade, I wore tap shoes to school. The majority of my elementary school years was a blur, but I vividly remember this occurrence as it is the earliest memory I have of going decisively against the crowd. They were a creamy...

Did you know that arachnophobia, the fear of spiders, is one of the most common fears in the world? It affects approximately 10% of men and 50% of women worldwide, myself included. This past July, a man residing in West Seattle attempted to kill a...

I have read that our brains can store about one million gigabytes worth of memories. Those memories shape who we are and how we perceive things. What do my memories consist of? I have memories of Mexico: bringing my Polly Pocket suitcase to my...

If someone inquired what the end of the world would be like, the responses in return would envision a million different disasters, and then some, from the realms of science, folklore, religion, and more. From the sun crashing into us, to the ice...

When some hear my name, Mujahid, the first thing that may come to mind is the Mujahideen, the Afghan warriors in the Cold War era who later became extremist jihadists. Some are taken aback upon hearing it, but I don’t blame them for their...