Newest College Application Essays

Like any toddler, I despised my car seat; I’d arch my back and defiantly kick my feet as Mom strapped me in. Finally accepting my fate, I’d sulk throughout the drive to ensure Mom understood my frustration. One day, however, this scene played out...

The blazing summer heat wears away at my body. I stare at the children laughing and splashing each other in the cool pool water. Sweat drips down my back begging me to jump in. I sit there, letting my mind race with ideas of excuses to leave. I...

“Let’s get out of here, just you and me.”

This is what Molly, my friend, whispered to me one afternoon as she awoke from an “in-and-out” nap, as she likes to call it. Molly is a 90-something year old hospice patient who is wrapped in dementia and...

It was pouring rain as night crept in. Hauling heavy packs and tools, we trekked down the 19-kilometer unmaintained Galene Lakes Route, on our way back from constructing a campsite for BC Parks. Upon reaching a ravine, we ground to a halt - the...

It’s 10:30 pm, yet the streets are still filled with cars, with the bustling pedestrians. It doesn’t feel like nighttime. The glare of LED store signs, the glow of open dental clinics, and the glimmer of the myriad of food stalls in the night...

Often, when I speak I have a slight stutter. I am accustomed to spending hours pacing my room, practicing a confrontation in my head, attempting to predict how the other person may retaliate, all in the hope that I won’t stumble on my words. Up...

“It’s pink!” I shouted to my lab partners, beckoning them over. “Look, Dr. Gallos, it’s pink!” I gushed to my chemistry teacher. Everyone else who passed by my lab table was greeted with a “Check out this solution, it’s pink!” from me. True...

As much as I loved the stars as a child, I was rarely given the opportunity to be outside at night. Since the annual Christmas reunion at my aunt’s house culminated after 10 PM however, I was able to spend some time on those nights staring into...

Sophomore year: I had just returned from a home football game. There, I had shouted and cheered, but the vibe changed once I arrived at my house, hearing chaos behind my parents’ doors. There was tension within my family. I had just conducted my...

Sometimes, kids don’t want to go home.

“It’s okay,” I assure one of them. “This is a safe place for you; we’ll both be here tomorrow.”

I give them a hug and hand them their bag. It means everything to me to mean something to the kids at the...

My father treats wrong turns on road trips as opportunities for new experiences. Sometimes, I think he’d take an early exit on purpose, just to receive Mom’s famous glare. Nonetheless, he’d always look back at me as we both exclaimed, “It’ll be an...

The shrill sound of the rushing ambulance pierced the summer air. I hugged the blanket in my arms, stretching to see if the patient has arrived. The glass doors swished open and an entourage of paramedics rushed in. This time, it was an...

In photography, "aperture" is one of three settings that dictates the quality of a photo. It determines how much light to let into the camera and can be adjusted to optimize a photo’s brightness, focus, and depth. It’s a fun word to say, but was...

The egg-sized bruise on my leg glowed black and purple, but to me, it was shinier and more valuable than any other medal of honor. All day long I carried it around like a trophy, proudly presenting it to others around me. I had received many...

My community can be seen through a window on a bus ride from my school back home. Safely tucked away in an air-conditioned bus, I glance out the window to see the world for what it really is.

The world beyond that window has shown me more than...

If I had the opportunity to paint whatever I wanted on the Beta Bridge, I would paint eleven numbers in navy blue contrasted by an orange background. I would paint the suicide hotline, 1-800-273-8255.

I didn’t realize to what extent conversation...

As a child, I viewed my city as an intertwining jungle, so varied in its inhabitants and artifacts, and so rich in culture and history. The twists and turns of each road were cluttered with children and their parents and the elderly and...

Three young children scrambled into the room— Amy, Sam, and Kevin. They were orphans soon to be adopted by families in Europe, so my job was to teach them English. Easy, I thought, all I have to do is make a lesson plan and give them worksheets....

Every superhero has an origin story, but the one I stumbled across wasn’t in any ordinary comic book or Marvel movie. It was in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

My tenth-grade biology teacher loved to squeeze in tidbits of information...

There I stood in my basement during spring break of my freshman year, just a few feet away from my old acoustic guitar which had been collecting dust for years. I can’t explain what had drawn me back to that neglected instrument, but I suddenly...

“I’m so excited! Tomorrow is Eid!”

“Eid? What are you talking about?”

I was flabbergasted. Eid was my whole life, what I eagerly anticipated all year long, and yet my classmate didn’t even know what it was! My 7-year-old mind couldn’t comprehend...

When I first stumbled across machine learning in 11th grade, I had no idea the challenges that lay before me in seeking to conquer it. To begin developing my understanding, I scoured the internet, read textbooks from my school, and sought help...

As I finished up my time in grade school, I had a long conversation with my band director. Bluntly, he stated that when I was in 4th grade, I was “the worst drummer this band program has ever seen.” To this day, I still take this as my greatest...

Everyone stops moving. No one breathes. The clock halts. For a split second time stops in its tracks. The air carries a serene joy. This moment of calm stands enveloped in chaos. A new baby has entered the world. No feeling can compare to the...