SUNY Albany Undergraduate College Application Essays

Giving up my weekend nights for swim practice was something I was used to by the time I reached high school. Swimming, I felt, was my niche, and with that niche came many sacrifices. Yet, for all the “hardships” that came with it, I earned the...

As a native of New York City, my use of the subway system is an inevitable aspect of life. By the age of five, riding the subway was not a new phenomenon for me. Day after day, I went many places with my mother and sister. Although these places...

"I'm not spending money on piano lessons," said my mother. "It will be a waste of time and money since your hands are too small and stiff." The condescending smile on her face enraged me.

I felt a sudden impulse to bang at the black and white...

"See you on Sunday, Brandon," Pastor Park says. After gathering my things, I shake his hand appreciatively and leave through the exit at side of the sanctuary. The pastor closes the broad, brown doors as best as he can, but they never quite meet...

I never took the saying "window of opportunity" literally until I walked up to the "pick up" window at my local CVS. Better yet, there were two windows, one for "drop off" as well. These windows served as a sneak peek to the world behind the...

In checkers, players must strategize and plan in order to make their moves and win the game. This is what my dad taught me when we played, almost every day after school. After I learned the basics, it was up to me to figure out how to beat him. He...

“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...

“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...

Salmon Point beach and campground in Bridgton, Maine on that early summer morning was idyllic, with maroon picnic tables staggered along the lake’s edge and sand bridging the distance. A simplistic playground with a swing set and some monkey bars...

It was in my freshman year of high school when my father gave me the gift of a desk for my new room in our new house. A small black desk from Ikea. A desk that went unused for the first year I owned it. It saw no work. Housed no books. It sat...

What is the ENDA Act? The act that would end living, employment, and service discrimination against those who don’t strictly identify as heterosexual or cisgender (those whose sex matches their gender identity). The bill that would jump-start my...

The night air is just cold enough to see my breath through my facemask as the familiar “clacking” of our cleats on the pavement continues to the luminescent stadium that is our haven. The once low rumble of the crowd becomes a roar as we draw...

I woke up to the sound of sergeant instructors yelling to the top of their lungs at 4:30 in the morning - myself bloused in desert camis, and covered in blisters from the six mile hike the night before. Marine Corp Training is not a place to be...

While shaking the commissioner's hand, I felt myself overrun with emotions. Thirteen years of hard work, dedication and sacrifice all overlapped into one moment as I looked him in the eyes: a beautiful sense of accomplishment and gracious respect...