Newest College Application Essays

A few years ago, on the Charles Bridge across Vltava River, I gained my first impression of NYU. I saw a group of students carrying cameras, lighting and microphones, with the logo NYU printed on the front of their violet t-shirts. I approached...

In a strong, confident voice, I began: “I would like everyone to close their eyes and imagine the stress and frustration you have experienced with fake news.” This was the opening of my team’s presentation to a group of venture capitalists judging...

Summer burns on my back as I watch her head break the surface of the water and sink in. Her hands immediately thrash around for support but can only close upon the cool liquid. Her hair floats on the surface like brown seaweed. Laughing, I stretch...

When my great-grandmother was on her deathbed, I heard her speak for the first time. Through her shaking words and glittering gaze, she transported me to her teenage years. Describing living during the era of Rafael Trujillo, a time of harmful,...

Hiding and peeking from behind my father’s chair, I saw his clients come and go. Most of them did the same routine: queue in a line, read documents, sign, and swipe cards. At the same time, my father would skim through the lines, sign, stamp, seal...

As a kid, I was always fascinated with my mother’s childhood. Living in California, the distant farm-life of Cambodia that she would tell me stories of seemed unimaginable. She would prop me up on her lap and paint pictures in dream-like...

My backyard is my studio, and the lush, green grass is my stool.

C.

With one powerful strum, my surroundings come to life: a gust of wind emerges; birds sing in harmony; dandelions dance in unison to my tune, frolicking through the sky. As I sway...

The circumstances surrounding my family are defined by an absence of choice. At age 11 my abuelita dropped out of school to begin working as a full-time maid, a job she didn’t choose to have but had to have in order to support her family. At age...

Saturdays were the days I followed my mom to work. Her boss would pick us up from our home in Brooklyn to the store that was miles away in Long Island. The hour-long ride felt like a trip across the country; forests and wheat fields greeted us as...

My interest in computer science was kindled after a basketball game in my freshman year. After the game, my father, who had been taking stats on the sideline in his notebook, contended that I had scored 21 points, yet I was absolutely certain I...

Title IX became important to me at a sleepover in the 9th grade, when a friend’s mother informed me that its 40th birthday was approaching. As a severely unathletic teenager, I was initially disinterested in a 37-word ploy to get me involved in...

When he fell off a cliff, Harold drew a hot air balloon to catch himself. When he fell in love with an apple tree, he created a dragon to guard its jewels[WU1] . When he created too many pies for himself, he drew hungry animals to prevent waste....

I never imagined that a game of handball could become a proxy battle for who was right about the China-Taiwan conflict, but here I was, my first time in Nepal, and the game was nothing short of savage. Getting into a conflict with my students...

On the farm, Grandpa squatted down in front of the fence, saying little and observing the cage-free chicken for a few minutes. He then picked the one he thought to be of the right portion of fat for a certain dish.

I cut the pork in half, first...

As a little child living in China, I stumbled across an abandoned shoe factory near the outskirts of Guangzhou. I remember uncovering dusty boxes filled with defective sneakers and high heels. I can still smell the unworn rubber sole of the...

It was already 6 PM, and I walked across the classroom, wary of the many fingers tapping away at their keyboards, their mouse clicks, their resizing and editing articles, photos, and captions. It was the day before the newspaper production...

"The thnake thlithers in the garden."

My grammar teacher's smile flickered. My eight year old self beamed proudly. Somehow, by words spoken and unspoken, this moment marked a death. A call was made to my parents in hushed, urgent tones. Sombre...

“¡No podemos, mi amor!” Recently, while visiting my abuela, she told me she couldn’t afford to buy me my favorite caramelo. Growing up, I spent most of my summers with her in Argentina. On our walks back from the farmers market, we would always...

I remember in kindergarten, during my troubled sleeps, my mother would come in and sing the Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday”. I didn’t know what the lyrics meant then, but I do know that in her voice I found a universe of meaning. By first grade I was...

The score was 14-14, and 15 was the target. I knew the exact action I was going to make, no problem there. I was loose and having fun, only half aware of the pressure in the later rounds of a national tournament. I was ready to go. “...Fence!” the...

On the weekends I spend hours hunched over my computer, studio headphones in my ears, bobbing my head to the throbbing kick drum. Listening to the drum pattern, I pull out my MIDI keyboard and begin to play chords in rhythm with the drums. Over...

There’s something exquisite in the curve of a tiger’s tail. An elegant extension of the spine, carefully sculpted by years of evolution to be a flawless balancing tool. Such beauty is not uncommon in the animal kingdom. A dragonfly’s wing, a deer’...

The radio crackles to life, a voice blaring into my ears: "Run faster….stop slowing down...." I wait for the man to finish his sentence, letting out a sigh when his voice dims, crackling under the effect of no service.The humidity leaves me...