Reed College Undergraduate College Application Essays

Recently, my family unearthed a home video on an old Beta tape from when I was three years old. In the video, I was sitting on my dad's lap with a globe in front of me, and he was asking me to point out different countries. "Where's Vanuatu?" or...

I arose unusually early that morning, rather disheveled. My typically straight and stagnant hair had deteriorated into a lopsidedness that seemed to defy the laws of physics. My pajamas, generously dotted with dinosaurs of the multicolored...

"Northwest, this is La Crosse Tower. Hold-short runway three-one for Cessna on final."

Knowing that I had personally delayed a plane full of commercial passengers on my sixteenth birthday was not what I had in mind for my first solo flight....

“Lower your lids!”

Gilad, my drama instructor, paced back and forth on the stage, arms folded over his belly, Israeli impatience rising in his voice. His eyes narrowed, scanned me through bushy slits, and he barked new commands.

“Let your smile...

I glanced upward from my computer and saw a wall covered with posters, each displaying a beautiful computer modified image of a college campus. One of them struck me for months. It was a clear aerial view of a field of green trees dotted by...

I grew up with my grandparents in a rural town near the coast of eastern China. I have never seen my biological father. This is not an obstacle, however, because my mother has always been my source of motivation. She first introduced me to the...

It was to my temporary Italian address that a package arrived in mid-November. Even though it had been only a couple of months, I had yearned for something to read as a respite from the unending flow of Italian, which inundated my still-untrained...

I had never before seen a sleeping bee. Yet there it was, nestled among lavender petals. I could see the yellow pollen dusting the bee’s delicate wings. As I looked around, I could see other life in the garden settling down as well. The constant...

I've always had a special interest in physics, and if I could teach the Reed community anything, I'd want to talk about Biocentrism. Biocentrism is a relatively obscure theory that states that we, with our consciousness, create the universe,...

The line between water and sky is two shades of black. Silence hides between the crevices of elements, and I convince myself that I can weigh the air.

I cannot see my body or my paddle or my kayak, but I am kayaking.

The trees’ shadows reflect on...

Welcome to Dancing for Terrible Dancers 101, taught by me, the world's worst dancer. Nope, this isn’t an oxymoron; it’s just me sharing what I've learned after finally coming to terms with the fact that I’m a terrible dancer. Dancing is a vital...

I am a wilderness survivalist. Over the years, I have found myself thriving in conditions ranging from torrential rain in the Valley of the Kings to white-out conditions on top of Mount Lassen. Some would call these situations miserable, but to me...

184,000 miles. This is the number glowing green on the dashboard of my 2008 gold Prius. Although most people might interpret this number as a sign my car has been on the road for far too long, I see it as a badge of honor. Despite the strange...

I was confused when I saw “85%” scrawled in red ink on my eighth-grade algebra worksheet despite all of the answers being correct. Underlined at the top of the page were the words "No Doodling!" and a large arrow pointed to a cluster of flowers...

I believe in hiking boots. Stiff, clunky and unapologetically dorky, preferably made of waterproof leather. Neat rows of hiking boots line the back wall of REI. An employee who calls himself a “shoe expert” lists the pros and cons of each pair. “I...

In today's food-centric culture, different cuisines give communities and regions distinct identities, from the wine and brie of France to the beignets and Chicory coffee of New Orleans. Yet for all the conversations we have over food, we rarely...

Few things rival the rigorous blend of dexterity, reflexes, and chess-like foresight that true mastery of ping pong demands. When I entered boarding school as an anxious and introverted junior, though, ping pong became more than just a thrill. It...

It was my turn to speak.

The Korean girl across the table and I had spent the past hour in a back-and-forth of stilted conversation. Our pre-collegiate institute had demanded that all disciplines “mingle,” and the silence told a story of two...

Summer begins with skin made of ants. The months between school years were designed for sitting on the border of the sandpit at the Jewish Community Center with ants crawling over my hands.

“Sugar ants don’t bite people,” my friend assures me...

Little grains of rice, smothered in my mom’s pomegranate-walnut stew, danced around in my mouth as my mind strayed away from my hectic day. Our shadows remained beneath us at the dinner table as the kitchen lights burned a picture of what I wouldn...