University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Undergraduate College Application Essays

Touring historical museums, monuments or structures was never a shoulder drooping, heal dragging excursion for me; rather, I would spend the entire outing seemingly staring off into space at the visual delights and spiritual energy of what my...

When I was young, my family owned a beat-up old couch. The couch was nothing out of the ordinary: it was a simple floral-print loveseat that had somehow survived the wear and tear that only a toddler can provide. The time came, however, when my...

One of my greatest joys in the world is the feeling of ice crunching under my skates. I love playing ice hockey. It has been a major part of my life since I was seven years old. I started out figure skating, then one day I noticed the kids my age...

There is a certain type of rebellion that is advantageous. It is the curiosity that cannot be tamed, the courage to challenge authority, and the tactfulness to make things happen. It knows no bounds, for the ambition exceeds personal potential....

It’s an uncomfortable topic. It makes people squirm in their seats. Avoid eye contact. Talk in hushed voices.

Suicide.

This year it was a fellow classmate, whom I never got to know. A year ago, it was a young middle school student who rode my bus....

It didn’t take me long to figure out my family wasn’t the typical white picket fence American family. Both my parents immigrated to the United States from China. Neither of my parents pursued a college education—my dad dropped out of high school...

The literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa hovers around 70%. The ratio of those living below the poverty line averages out to roughly the same number. Privileged as we are, and consciously or not, we readily dismiss these numbers as simple...

Lists are my forte. To-do lists, shopping lists, top ten lists, BuzzFeed lists; just name a list and I have a detailed version doodled on my planner. My list-making habit originated at an early age, around the same time I started to engage in...

When I was sixteen years old, I stayed for two weeks in the heart of the third arrondissement with a bronze-colored, balding man named Antoine and a white cat named Snodgrass. My mother was there too, of course, and it was technically a bed and...

When my iPhone shattered against the pavement, I watched in horror as my $650 investment instantly became a $650 paperweight. Soon after, I stood dumbfounded again, when my local Apple Store provided me with a $169 repair quote. There had to be a...

$10 million villas in gated compounds rest side-by-side with $10,000 brick village houses. On the streets leading to these communities are BMWs and Porsches, and also rusty bicycles and decades-old Chinese cars. Farther down the street is the...

As I sit typing my final paper for eighth grade on a rainy Portland night in May, I hear my mother suddenly call, “Andrew, your father and I need to talk to you”. From her tone I know the subject of the conversation. She used that tone at the end...

I have two brothers. They’ve always been everything I’ve ever hoped to become. From the beginning of my life, they enchanted me. I was not only drawn to them because they bore a strong resemblance to me, but because everyone else was fascinated by...

The sun warms my frozen skin, and the granite flecked with pine needles and ants is rough under my beach towel. Gratefully I accept an apple and a piece of baguette with cheese from my father, and reluctantly pass the bag of trail mix resplendent...

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...

Muted pastels climbed sluggishly into the sky that morning, pale pinks and periwinkles barely peeking through the marine layers of Imperial Beach. It was the kind of morning ideal for lounging in pajamas. And yet as dawn shed its light, I found my...

Even in the very Southwest corner of the continental United States, 2301 miles away and weather patterns worlds away from Ann Arbor, it seems that ever since I began the process of college exploration, I cannot escape the presence of UMichigan....

I'm standing in the arena, facing my opponent. Hands on guard and ready to fight, fists clenched and sweat dripping down my fingers. In the distance, I hear the command, "fight!" The match has begun.

Sparring, kata, sweeps, hooks, and grabs had...

Two broken brushes and an empty spray bottle of water later, I am left with a less than curly, more than straight, brown mane. I turn to my mom's drawer of worn-away labels of mostly expired, nearly empty bottles of ancient hair products. I...

As a volunteer fireman and EMT trainee, I have witnessed archaic machinery’s fatal effect on lives and buildings. In my short time with the Great Neck Vigilant Fire Company, I have already begun to outline prototypes to help my colleagues ensure...

When people imagine a setting for intellectual enrichment, they often envision libraries, universities, and Fortune 500 businesses. Although a local firehouse does not usually cross their minds, it actually provides unparalleled enrichment for its...

Immediately after placing the finishing touches on my homework, I grab my headphones and rush downstairs to the small, confined room that stows my drum kit. I proceed to “jam out” to a plethora of music, including Jazz, Rock, and Samba. The...

I refused to leave Sedona, Arizona, home to a "spiritual vortex," without visiting at least one of the city's renowned psychics. Sharing my spirited lust for travel, my mom brought my sisters and me to "Sedona Center for the New Age," where I was...