Newest College Application Essays

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...

Metal. Glass. A camera is made up of a few simple elements, but photographers can use it to stir a large emotional response. I wind the film and look through the lens. I’ve carefully composed my shot. I envision the finished photo in my mind, the...

It was a brisk summer day in the park next to my house. I had just finished my Eagle Scout project I had been working on for the past week and I was preparing for a quick jog to unload all of the stress and grogginess of the past couple of days....

Falling asleep in class is never a good idea, especially when the teacher is your 86-year-old grandfather and the classroom is his bedroom. How did I get roped into giving up my limited, beautiful summer days for a fluorescent monitor and fourteen...

“Can’t you make it 40? I come here every day!” my grandma smirked at the vendor’s defeated face. She looked at me with a victorious smile as she claimed her trophy from the vendor. The vibrant color of the freshest produce, the unforgettable aroma...

There is nothing quite as extraordinary as witnessing a Haitian sunset. Watching as the sky folds itself to form a dichotomy of colors that bleed into the horizon. If I climb a roof high enough, or stand on a hill tall enough, it looks like the...

I walked up to the first of many homes to visit during our missionary trip to Montana. At first glance, the house looked dusted and worn, as though the paint had worn off and nature decided to take matters into its own hands. A bronze, rusted...

My first vivid memories are of me, in a diaper, swinging a golf club on the 5-hole golf course my father created on our family farm. At six years old, I played my first competitive tournament and was the youngest player in a field of...

Blistering aluminum pans flying through the air. The head chef yelling orders at the sous chef, who would then relay them back to the line cooks. I pushed through the swinging doors to the back area, dropping off dirty dishes and yelling “corner”...

To my future roommate,

Over the summer, I became somewhat of a trail mix connoisseur. I discovered a deep love of trail mix while spending time in a residential program where I essentially subsisted on the stuff. It makes sense for me to want to...

My Oxford-educated great-grandfather served as a high court judge in the British Indian Civil Service during the early 1900s. Administering justice with an iron fist, he earned the nickname “The Hanging Judge” and firmly believed this practice to...

I watched as eight people plummeted at the speed of lightning towards surefire slaughter. I watched lines of people eagerly waiting to embrace the same fate. I watched my sister giddy with excitement for her turn. Being voluntarily strapped to a...

When I was nine, my parents purchased a seemingly unspectacular piece of land. Eight years ago it was just mud and brick surrounded by a boundary wall. Today, it’s my home. Every weekend my father, an impassioned civil engineer, would drag me to...

Every Friday at seven a shouting match commences in my house. The same argument is dredged up week after week like clockwork but the end result is always different. Sides change and so do loyalties. Some days it’s children versus adults and on...

“Feminism is witchcraft.” someone said.

Adrenaline rushes through my body. Friends I’ve had for years vanish when we discover that we held polarizing stances on at least this issue and perhaps more. I found myself in a similar situation during...

After five years of cooking, I can confidently say that I am the master of burnt meat. As a middle schooler, I found the siren’s call for cooking when watching the show Chopped. After that first unforgettable attempt into cooking, I took it upon...

I sat stagnantly in confusion with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "One Hundred Years of Solitude" open in my hands. Bewildered, I closed the book. On the cover, transcribed in glittering gold, was a sticker with the words: "Nobel Prize Winner!".

How did...

“This has to be the worst summer ever,” I thought to myself. The only television in our apartment broke.

Unsettled by pure boredom, I started to flip through books on the shelf. I read voraciously that summer, and became inevitably fascinated with...

Public speaking isn’t my forte and yet one day I found myself speaking in front of around 55 software engineers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t terrified of public speaking, but I was never good at it. My legs would shake, my voice would quiver...

During P.E., my friend whispered to me that “Aunt Flo was visiting” and she didn’t have a pad. I took a pad from my backpack and handed it over to her, only for her to squeal “Don’t take it out so obviously!” Followed by, “I don’t have a pocket,...

I was ten when I saw a documentary on Haiti for the first time. There was one scene where a few refugees brawled, vigorously attacking each other. The reporter then revealed what they were fighting for: a moldy pile of bread.

For a piece of bread,...