University of California - Berkeley Undergraduate College Application Essays

Since I was three, I have enjoyed the most tedious activity known to man. If one were to peruse old family photos, one would likely find me standing atop a stool—favorite Scotch-Brite sponge in hand—washing dishes.

While my parents have allowed...

Amidst the monotonous stroll of daily life, it is easy to forget what happened. People never inquired, so I never remembered. Friendly conversations seldom reached that socially awkward barrier. After all, the “Great East Japan Earthquake,” was...

I am a quantitative entity. Throughout my entire life, I have been defined by a set of numbers. From the number on my birth certificate to the grade I got on a math test this week, they have always represented me…well, a watered-down, inhuman...

Off the wall.

That's how I'd describe my family. My sister just took a semester off from studying financial economics in New York to attend the Cordon Bleu, a pastry school in Tokyo. My brother is a reserved, taciturn character with an interest in...

Feet. It’s 6:30 in the morning and I wake up to the sight of ten mini-sausage toes. Exasperated, I recount last night’s struggles trying to sleep with my little brother at my side. First came the turning upside-down. He had a habit of gradually...

"Areh bache! Return to class!" The teacher's booming voice couldn't stop them. The students, identically dressed in white polo shirts, navy shorts, and polished shoes, climbed on top of one another to see if they could catch a glimpse. "There it...

Twenty-five familiar faces stare at me as I pull down the whiteboard to start the day's lesson on how to use if/else statements to follow a black line. Teaching robotics every weekend at the Catholic Church off of Paseo Padre Parkway every...

I want to change the cynical, bitter stigma attached to politics. Many only see corruption and greedy lobbying, but politics is my outlet to solve the growing problems of our modern world. Nothing else has the potential to affect the lives of...

As my tongue swelled, I realized — hold on, this might be a peanut butter cookie. Immediately, I began to panic — “I’m too young to die! I haven’t even gone to college yet!” Then I reminded myself. “Stay calm. Getting worried won’t help.” Instead,...

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...

“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 only three-years old, my sister lost her heart-wrenching battle against cancer. Four years later, I helplessly watched as two of my most-beloved cousins lost their own lives to this disease. It was while dealing with this onslaught of...

Of all the people I’ve met in my lifetime, three in particular have overwhelmingly influenced who I am and who I want to be.

At 4 years old, I found myself in Vietnam, racing a motorcycle with my mischievous cousins through chaotic streets against...

A smile spread on my face even before my feet touched the ground as I landed my flip and saluted the judge. I had just finished competing at the last meet of my first gymnastics season with Irvington High School, and my routines had all gone well....

I rushed home, moving as fast as my gangly 12-year-old legs could take me. After an obligatory “Hi Mom!”, I set about gathering materials to fuel my latest experiment: loose sheets of paper and paper clips. Today, my music teacher had presented...

The physician didn't have to say a word for me to understand that foreboding news was to come. I had seen that expression before: unseeing eyes, unmoving lips.

“Your uncle has been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer.”

Images of patients...

It's 2:00 AM on Christmas Day: My fourth grade self tumbled out of the warmth of my comforter, stumbling to the closet where I had hoarded gifts for the last seven months. Buried beneath faded bedsheets, I pulled them out: a jar of cookie butter,...

On any given dusky afternoon, I find myself asking the pressing question: Will I make it a third time in a row? I raise my arms, examine a dulled orange orb clinging to my aching, sweaty palms, and squint at the near-invisible net. Far from...

“…Thus I advocate for the global suicide of humanity as a solution to anthropocentrism…” I dropped my pen, frozen in shock and hilarity. Surely this was a joke; although I had only attended a few debate tournaments, I had never encountered...

Having started out small, I began by helping students through the Afterschool Academic Program, an organization of teachers and students devoted to assisting those that are struggling in classes at school. I managed to help many students by...

While many other candidates applying to the University of California perform volunteer work, I feel my volunteerism in economically deprived neighborhoods as a devout Catholic provides me with insight on life that is only available through...

Music has always been something that interested me. As a kid, I adored the piano and took every moment I could to play the ivory keys with the very fibers of my being. However, as I became older and listened to different kinds of music, the genre...

1,2,3,2…1,1,2,5…1,6,5,3…at first you have to remember each combination, which move is next, but after a while it becomes instinctive: in a bout you don’t have time to think. Despite boxing’s bad rap for being barbaric, it’s long been known as the...

When my Spanish teacher introduced conjugation, most of my peers could not comprehend the concept. For me, however, having been raised bilingual in Russian and having studied its verbs, conjugation made perfect sense. While explaining to baffled...