Newest College Application Essays

As the sunlight began to dim, my panic rose. The street signs were incomprehensible, and any request for assistance only resulted in a barrage of unfamiliar German. I found myself hoping for a rapid rescue, yet I knew that I needed to find my own...

One of my favorite business mantras is from Simon Sinek: "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it." This idea is based on what Sinek calls the "golden circle" of business. The outside of the circle is the "what," the middle is the...

On the top shelf on the far right wall of my closet, there are stacks and stacks of dog-eared, worn-out, bent-up composition notebooks. Well, mostly composition notebooks, but there is some variety -- like a locked plastic purple diary that my...

Fingers at the ready. Arms at the ready. Feet at the ready. Stomach at the ready. Eyes at the ready. Keys, bow, steps, song, speech – all at the ready to create another person, another emotion, another world. This genesis, this nebula that hatches...

I remember walking down Kreshatik Street on October 31 at 4:30 am, with a couple friends on each side, talking about the party we had just left. Suddenly, I spotted a group of students across the street, running, trying to escape from something....

He reached out, unfurled his hand, and looked up at me with what can only be described as a look of pure desperation. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a crumpled five-dollar bill and handed it to the man. "It's a cold one," I remarked. "God...

The school day is over, which means it's time for ESL American Social Studies. Spread all over the table are primary sources from the Civil Rights Movement. Sitting across from me are Carlos from Mexico and Durgam from Iraq. As a peer tutor, I was...

I was jealous. Sally could draw a perfect circle and I couldn’t. She always created beautifully proportionate people while I sketched a blobby figure with one arm. I tried over and over, listened to instructions, but as hard as I tried I could...

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...

Behind the camera’s shutter, I am never calm or collected. I am, more often than not, trying to figure out my next shot, my eyes darting from my subject to the light source to a detail of the scene. However, I am perfectly content.

When taking...

I walked into the hospital that morning wearing my red polo and khakis, which I feared made me look far more like a glorified Target employee than a capable intern. As I stepped out of the elevator, I realized that four hours of basic training...

I sat across the room, watching my father in awe as he typed out a document with mind-blowing speed. I had no idea precisely what I was watching him do, of course, since I was only six years old, but still -- Wow. How can someone move his fingers...

If I ever felt like an outcast, now was the time. Loose brown hair, dark eyes, and olive toned skin, my Middle Eastern features were nothing like those of the other 500 or so passengers. As the plane rapidly reached a halt, the flight attendant...

At the top of the page were the words “Rosalind – Piper Hill.” My head began to spin. I had been hoping for Phoebe or Celia, or even Audrey. But I was certainly not expecting the lead. A lead certainly, but the lead? No way. I was expecting a...

My journey with the animal liberation movement began almost a decade ago, at the tender age of nine or ten. I had not yet been exposed to what animal cruelty really is, but I somehow knew that something wasn't right in the way we fed ourselves. My...

There’s something oddly comforting about sitting in an airplane and barreling through the sky at 37,000 feet. Granted, the food could be better and the seats a little bigger, but I’ve never been able to find a place quite like this one. When I’m...

Saturday, early December 2012. Auxiliary Court 3. Lewis University, Romeoville, Illinois. The last match of the day’s tournament had finally come to an end, and I lay cowering on the court in eye-watering pain. The nature of my agony perfectly...

While most kids are excited to learn how to tell time, I was captivated by what was in the background -- how a clock actually works. I found the tiny details of clock movements fascinating, and this preoccupation led me to a love of watches and...

Nestled in the verdant outskirts of the humble town of Tinjaca, my great-grandmother's farm rests in the rolling Colombian hills -- a rustic tribute to the agrarian culture of my forefathers. Upon entering the little hacienda under the original...

Being Indian -- and I am 100% South Indian by birth -- is not about Bollywood or cricket for me. Rather, my culture revolves around food. Few countries can lay claim to cuisine influenced by Anglo-Saxons, Mongols, Turks, and Persians. No other...

“Play with passion and heart. If you don’t carry passion into the sport – or into any job for that matter – you won’t succeed.” The words of Bruins legend Phil Esposito echoed through my mind as I painstakingly laced up my skates, my fingers made...

Of all the places to experience a pivotal moment in life, a graveyard was mine. After a week of research, my grandmother and I stepped through the old, rusty cemetery gate and were surprised to see the headstone of Moses Short a few feet from the...

My eyes were greeted by the luminous glow of fluorescent lights and sterile white walls of Rumah Sakit Bunda (Bunda Hospital). This was a stark contrast to the escalating chaos and barbarity in the dilapidated Indonesian streets. In due time, the...

As dawn broke and the rays of sunlight shined through the tiny cracks in the cabin walls, I woke up to the sound of creaking doors and the smell of urine.With one eye open, I peeked below me, where my beautiful 27-year old Sarah was wide awake...