American University Undergraduate College Application Essays

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the United Nations committed to eradicating poverty by the year 2025. Many foreign nations were skeptical at first and believed that such an ambitious goal was unattainable. But over the past twenty-five...

The thought that nearly eight hours later we would be dragging a canoe through a swamp in the dark never crossed anyone’s mind as we began to film. Clad in American Revolution-era attire, my friends and I made a short crossing of the Town River in...

My mother was diagnosed with cancer. It all started in April of my sophomore year when she complained of exhaustion, nausea, a back ache, and bad breath. I remember the day perfectly. It was Easter morning and my mom was scheduled for a procedure...

Please write a personal statement.

The day Kurt Vonnegut died my friend Becca called me crying. “So it goes,” I said, and we chuckled in spite of our sadness. We had become devotees of Vonnegut since our introduction to Cat’s Cradle two years ago,...

Describe an aspect of your childhood/upbringing that shaped the person you are today.

In a navy blue Volvo station wagon my entire childhood evolved. Inside, memories rested alongside the hardened French fries and squashed fruit snacks that lined...

Smack! Within a fraction of a second, my life was changed forever. A homemade slingshot snapped and launched a funnel and water balloon at an unimaginable speed directly into my left ear. Once I’d been hit, an incredibly loud whistling screamed...

“Repeat Dojo-kun. Seek perfection of character. Be faithful. Endeavor. Respect others. Refrain from violent behavior,” I call out. To my left, the line of kneeling students repeats my words. “Sensei-ni, rei,” I call to the line, and we bow to our...

It was hours before dawn when I awoke, but I was not tired. There was an almost palpable sense of apprehension and excitement spreading throughout the country, and I felt a wave of it hit me as I stepped out the door. It was dark, but the...

1. At four, her dad left a pot of coffee on the counter (a pot meaning twelve cups) while he went upstairs to take a shower. She climbed on the counter, took out a mug and drank the entire thing by herself. When her father came back downstairs he...

Shark Day 2011. 100 miles from the ocean, but the fate of the top predator of the oceans, key to the health of marine ecosystems, would be decided right here in Sacramento. The role I got to play on Shark Day was cutting off the tags that said “...

“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...

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...

When my mom gave birth to me, I weighed in at nine and a half pounds and measured twenty-two inches. One could say I was pretty big for a newborn, but whenever I tell this story, it is soon followed by a: “And that’s pretty much when I stopped...

To the outside world, my high school is the antithesis of diverse. When my peers considered me a legitimate minority for being a redhead, I assumed “diversity” to be a dirty word within the ivory-skinned social scene. However, I discovered that...

I remember when the flowers stopped blooming.

All throughout my childhood there was always one thing that would instantly make me happy. I had a beautiful backyard in my childhood home. The smell of the ripe red mango trees and the chirping of the...

Darkness permeates the early hours of a weekday morning as sleep wraps a blanket around New York City. The beaming moonlight penetrates the nighttime sky but steadily loses its strength as the first flickers of light appear. The color of the sky...

I felt an unequivocal sense of community when I gazed at my dinner plate one night at Chewonki and acknowledged that the beets, potatoes, and lettuce on my plate were plucked from the earth by me and my best friends. The hours that we expended on...

I am not a religious person. I cringe at the sound of Christian rock, think Broadway's The Book of Mormon is shamelessly hilarious, and am often scolded by my elders for flippantly exclaiming "Oh my God!" I find the following of dogmatic religious...

“Entonces, Max, ¿dime porque has venido a España?”

I stared blankly at my host Dad while trying to catch a glimpse of how large his moustache really was, as he glanced over his shoulder towards me, his car narrowly avoided the oncoming traffic....

Every time I strap on a guitar, a joyous juxtaposition of feeling washes over me. Sweet harmony glides on a smooth, still surface of my mind, while nervous anticipation rumbles underneath in a tumultuous undercurrent. Behind the neck of this...

I have never loved math—in fact, it’s always been my least favorite subject. I spent years attempting to keep up with even basic math that most of the kids in my class found simple. Despite my struggles, I had no motivation to actually learn or...

I have no idea why freshman me signed up for debate. However, I marked a check next to “DEBATE1” on my tentative schedule because it seemed like the thing nerdy kids do and I most definitely am a nerdy kid. My first time competing at a debate...

My grandma thought I was going to die. By studying abroad in France, away from her care, I learned that I must be the one to make the most out of an experience, even if it’s not what I expected it to be. Coming from Hawai’i from a single parent...

“Wissen Sie, wo die Stadtamhof Haltestelle ist?” (Do you know where the Stadamhof Station is?). The German man directed his question to me, but before I had the chance to respond, my sister interjected, “Oh no, that's just my brother.” In that...