Newest College Application Essays

The moon materialized over an hour ago, and I have just consumed enough junk food to nourish several third world countries. My stomach protrudes out three times the norm, and I feel the food rising in my throat. An intense shadow of guilt and...

I have grown up in a household with parents who come from very different backgrounds. My father’s grandparents were first generation German immigrants, and holidays and family gatherings were of the utmost importance when my Dad was growing up....

When my younger brother, James, was five years old, Jack Nierman bit him while they were playing in our favorite playground. I was sitting atop the monkey bars when I saw it happen. I swung down and pushed Jack away, then dragged my screaming...

Fairness is a quality that I try hard to embody, and I admire those who demonstrate the impartiality necessary to be just. But people often mistake impartiality as the defining characteristic of someone who is fair. Empathy is more essential...

It was at the age of five when I noticed that not everyone was like me. I suddenly became aware of different customs, beliefs and of course foods. What really caught my attention, however, was language, and I started to explore worlds of new...

Staring up at the deflected rays of sunlight as I slowly descended toward the bottom, I began to realize the severity of my situation. As I fought to keep water from flooding my lungs, fear started inundating my mind. Only moments ago I had been...

Though my high school does not have a Creed, I feel that if it did the Colorado Creed would fit perfectly. Henry M. Gunn High School breeds a caliber of student that is both intellectually hungry and incredibly compassionate. This is, of course,...

In The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry champions the perspective of a child. But for the adult reader, the story presents a dilemma: how to reconcile the novel’s characterization of the “grown-up” with one’s adult self; how to achieve the...

Drops of sweat trickled down my tanned face as I stared at the C-shaped moon outside the auditorium. Sitting on the fence, we rested and cooled down before continuing with the work inside. I glanced at my G-shock: 01:00 military time. We had...

Tattooed in my memory are the shrill rings of my alarm clock set to exactly 6:00 AM every day, submerging half my 110 pound body into the sub-zero water, fish half my size splashing muddy water onto my pale face. Most kids enjoy the freedom that...

I don't remember how I stumbled upon it, but after I did, I became inspired and motivated. It was too surreal that a thirteen-year-old girl could have written and published a book at such a young age. The book was called In the Forests of the...

I clicked a button and created a canvas. A lonely, almost blank screen, it was one of thousands of standardized and tabulated web pages, with only my online moniker at the top to distinguish it as my own. That was my debut, an admittedly...

Forget for a moment all that you’ve heard about the student athlete. Forget about the dedication and determination one needs to compete on a top-level team. Forget about the teamwork, the almost insidious way an athlete learns the value of...

Yellow - one of the primary colors. It is one hue; it is a million hues. Pale yellow, the color of silt in China’s River of Life; saffron yellow, the color of Chinese sovereignty for two millennia; tanned yellow, the tint of my skin.

The first day...

Anthony Brandt once said “Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.” While others have certainly influenced my life, nothing has shaped the person I am more than my family.

My grandfather follows current events like a cult...

It seemed as if it was just yesterday when I anxiously fidgeted around in the airplane seat, awaiting unexpected surprises in my new home. This, however, was ten years ago when I emigrated from China to the United States. My parents had warned me...

As a young aficionado of poetry and prose, I would love more than anything to develop my skills through a disciplined and distinguished writing program, and Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences definitely offers just that. Believing that one must be...

Besides a general fancy for the written word, Professor Josephine Park of the English Department and I share interest in specialties like 20th century American literature. As a fellow Asian-American writer, Doctor Park’s emphasis on Asian-American...

Soaring over rocky peaks, the colossal metal bird carried me in its belly, and after hours of flight, I finally reached my destination: Baltimore, Maryland. Despite the sea of people around me, I was alone on this voyage. During this sweltering...

I like to play with guns and knives.

It’s not what you think: I’m in color guard. Although events like the Virginia Tech incident have worsened the reputation of weaponry, color guard attempts to transform the traditional connotations of...

As a young aficionado of poetry and prose, I would love more than anything to develop my skills through a disciplined and distinguished writing program, and Brown offers just that. Believing that one must be a great reader before becoming a great...

Leaping over crooked crevices in the sidewalk, my childhood self hopped a few yards ahead of my grandfather. As I paused to scrutinize a colorful candy wrapper, the smell of melting sugar drifted from a small blue cart where an old woman flipped...

My experience has taught me that there are numerous ways to learn. I have always been inclined to learn independently, following my grandfather’s own pursuit of knowledge. It is because of this influence that I have succeeded academically and have...

Neither Ray nor I knew what miracles were possible. At one hundred and eighty-five pounds, five foot ten inches tall, and a victim of fetal alcohol syndrome, Ray was a Special Olympic athlete with a dream to become a champion, but his mental...