Newest College Application Essays

"One dollar." I smiled with satisfaction as I handed my friend a can of soda and hid the money he gave me in my shoe. It was at summer camp, when I was thirteen years old, that I discovered the "Law of Supply and Demand" and created a system that...

In the crowded waiting room of a medical facility, the tension was palpable. The few doctors rushed around, overwhelmed by the number of sick children. The kids’ cries and screams filled the air, while mothers competed for the staff’s attention....

As a child, I worried about everything. Things that most kids enjoyed like school, roller coasters and junk food made me nervous and uncomfortable. I became used to having a persistent stomach ache; I was always anxious and reluctant to try...

Having been born and raised in the multicultural hub that is Miami, I was always in the midst of so much diversity. Growing up, I was immersed in my hispanic roots. Arroz con pollo y frijoles, rice with chicken and beans, was a staple in my...

New York–the city that never sleeps, the concrete jungle–is home to the Empire State Building, Strawberry Fields, and bustling Wall Street. It is a city that rose in the awe of American pioneers, and was built on the backs of immigrants. New York...

I cannon-balled into reading in first grade and have not emerged to catch my breath yet. Reading is the medium through which I grow. Books have swept me light years and alternate realties away, but have always returned me with more understanding...

As I savor the rich chocolate and caramel found in my Magnum ice cream bar, I am suddenly brought back to the cobblestoned streets of Luxembourg, just one of the few places I remember eating the same delectable treat. I hear the festive Christmas...

I stir fried the noodles, steamed the broccoli, pulled pie out of the oven, and set the table. My younger brother Roy put down the forks. We both sat down, and Roy took the first bite. He chewed for a few seconds, looked up at me, and gave me a...

The moonlight creeps through the blinds and I know it’s still too early to wake up. I roll over to check my clock… of course it’s only 4:17. I curl back into my burrito of blankets and listen to the waves a mile away crash violently onto the...

The average Radio City Rockette is 5’8” tall. I am, and probably will be from now on, several inches shorter than that average. So you can imagine how pathetic I felt standing in line with possible future Rockettes to audition for the Rockette...

I stared down at my bowl of coarse, mushy oatmeal as everyone surrounding me at the table began to devour their overflowing plates of eggs, bacon, and French toast.

This is going to be a long ten days, I thought.

The summer between my junior and...

It was only a short bike ride, a temporary goodbye to a town I’d be leaving for a week or two, just there and back I told myself. Little did I know that on June 10, 2007, my life would completely change. The greatest obstacle I have had to...

I belong to a secret community, one where nobody has seen another’s face or knows the other’s name, yet we still support, motivate, and learn from each other. I belong to NerfHaven, an online community of “Nerf Modders.” As Modders, we modify toy...

When I was eight, as my father and I were walking down an ordinary street in Bangladesh, we passed several street vendors, all shoeless, dirty, and tattered. I halted. “Dad,” I whispered, tugging on his arm. “Do they earn enough to eat?”

My shock...

Euler once wrote out the following equation: (a+b^n)/n=x.

At first glance, this function is unremarkable; there are too many unknowns for a single solution to exist. Though there are infinite combinations of a,b,n, and x to satisfy this function,...

Imagine strolling into the dimly lit study of your home to find your 10-year-old son hunched over a sheet of paper. His hair is tousled, his dull pencil furiously scribbling, crumpled up sheets of paper littering the area surrounding his chair....

If there is one important thing I have learned as a Latin student, it is that if Latin were translated 100% literally, the English translation would make less sense than the original Latin text itself. The beauty of Latin rests in the multiple...

A week after New Year’s in 2011, the cherry blossom tree outside my apartment’s living room erupted in pink and my best friend died. Two weeks later, I stared into the eyes of seventeen eager 9-year-olds in my first classroom. By the end of the...

Bright, boiling hot days spent in the backyard. Heavenly, refreshing water against sun-kissed skin. All the time in the world to enjoy a lovely summer. When schools release students for the three-month long break, the first plans of the warm...

A week after New Year’s in 2011, the cherry blossom tree outside my apartment’s living room erupted in pink and my best friend died. Two weeks later, I stared into the eyes of seventeen eager 9-year-olds in my first classroom. By the end of the...

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...

Why was the Fatimid Empire so important? Did al-Khwarizmi really invent Algebra? Who were the Zoroastrians? Each week, the walls of Room #2 witnessed my chubby face transform into a tomato as my religious education teacher answered each of my...

Disgusted by the foul urban odors of Pakistan, my younger brother and I became possessed by the utility of our iPhones and remained confined within the walls of our uncle’s apartment. Eventually, my uncle became frustrated with our self-isolation...

“Food is the way to a man's heart.” This surprisingly sexist saying has always been a coveted motto among the women in my large Latino family. The number of times my abuela disclosed what she believed to be the secret to love to me is...