Newest College Application Essays

After completing an hour of training with the overworked nurses of Johnston-Willis Hospital, I acquainted myself with Holly, a frail ninety year old woman who, along with fighting terminal cancer, was recovering from a stroke that also impaired...

Adolescent boys hurl Molotov cocktails at uniformed soldiers. Snipers target innocent travelers on deserted highways. Corpses sag from the windows of shattered buses. Macabre scenes such as these characterize how Israel is portrayed in the global...

The guitar has a voice like no other in one’s soul. Its voice is soft and intimate when its player feels likewise yet also fiery and vehement given the slightest bit of oomph. When I play, I feel as if the guitar is really the one with emotion and...

We moved to a different house again. For the eighteenth time.

It had been a Saturday when my father made his grand announcement that we were moving again. I had been eating at the dinner table with my six siblings, and I almost choked. Grinning,...

6, 7, and 7500: Behold the three numbers that will define my academics at the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences! I explore what I love to learn no only through the classes on path to a major, but also through the innumerable...

Wake up, shots fired.

Go out, be kidnapped.

Buy food… there’s none.

A rich country that evolved into a third world country in the blink of an eye. Venezuela, that’s where I lost my childhood innocence. Forced to grow up, forced to take actions....

Bang! I am deafened by the sound of a gunshot, and suddenly I see hundreds of fourth-graders sprinting towards me. I am temporarily mesmerized by the massive blob of energy consisting of tiny legs moving in unison and tight fists swinging with...

"My-my-my name is Te-Teddy."

My presentation about France to my fifth-grade class turned sour from the beginning. I knew what words I wanted to say, and my mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. As the students grew impatient and...

Tossed into the wild, alone I was to fend for myself against the ravenous beasts. A rustling, no the clanking of Jenga bricks upon the floor, startled me. His imposing 4-foot figure stood before me as a sudden shadow flickered before my eyes. A...

“You’ve been down there for hours! Dinner’s ready!”

My hands are two feet deep in an enclosure. I respond, “One second!” but that second lasts another half-hour. Dinner’s aroma wafts into the basement and gives my stomach’s hunger an advantage...

“I used to work for Johnny Adams,But he has abused the States!Taken away all their rights,Oh, he did abuse the States!He was a real nasty guy,That can only mean one thing…He wants to declare war on FranceA Quasi-War don’t make no sense!”

Picture...

“There is no point in arguing if you are not susceptible to reason. Embrace your cynicism. Hug it.” - Christopher Buckley, The Relic Master

I have never played a game of chess in which I anticipate every move my opponents make. Typically when I...

It felt like performing dental work on an apprehensive clam without any gloves; the ridges of the Dragon’s bony mouth scraped combatively against my knuckles as it swallowed its treasure. “I cannot imagine the faces of the horrified crowd behind...

The barbed wire fence was still wet from the morning dew. I peered across the broad fields and felt the pang of sadness, thinking about the countless souls buried before me. I stood within the haunting gas chambers and touched the scratch marks...

Fascinating! I had no idea, as I took my seat near the front of the hall, how much one lecture could change my thinking. Our media focuses on crime, conflict, and injustice - what demands attention. But Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker...

I winced in aversion when the document loaded. Displayed before me was a dauntingly long list of bizarre names, obscure titles, and dates hundreds of years in the past. As I scrolled through the PDF, my disorientation only grew.

Earlier that day,...

For most high schoolers, a best friend is someone who lends you the physics notes when you miss class. Someone who says you look like a marshmallow in your parka but silences anyone who does the same. Someone who sponsors midnight Stop & Shop...

It was time for me to go. I didn’t think it could get any more complicated than it was but it did I timidly shuffled into the daunting assembly room of a church to approach a rather unwelcoming judge panel. My heart raced as the heat from the...

This Saturday morning was unlike any other. All of us dressed in lab coats, wearing protective goggles, and holding test tubes in our gloved hands…. it was impossible not to feel like professional researchers (for me, at least). The tranquility of...

It’s a normal school day; I am sitting at my desk, hair in braids, doing my classwork when I hear giggling behind me. “She bald-headed,” a voice says, giggling. “I know, that's why she wears weave all the time,” the other replies. I sit at my...

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...