College Application Essays accepted by Emory University

Emory University

When my English teacher died last spring, I wrote in his tribute a song called "Confusion." It is not the most technically impressive thing I have written, but it's my favorite because it conveys emotions I still can't put into words. Taking...

Emory University

What came first, science or technology?" asked a tall and husky figure, who was dressed in an unbuttoned and rather threadbare lab coat. My initial response was science because I reasoned that technology was the application of science. An...

Emory University

In high school, college is often made to seem like an end-all, be-all experience - the pinnacle of one's life. I know that is not true. In college we prepare for life beyond it, in my case for a lifetime of global citizenship.

I was born in China...

Emory University

I always looked forward to June 17, the birthday of my only living grandparent. Every year I spent the day composing corny jokes that made her to snort with laughter and murmur loving approval. But in 2002, in a matter of seconds, my associations...

Emory University

I used to run rampant in bicycle gangs of five or six, tearing up the streets lined with quaint suburban duplexes. I can still feel the chilly air tainted with the smell of pine trees flowing through my untamable hair. Our fleets of first-graders...

Emory University

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...

Emory University

I play the B.

A small square office, no more than ten feet wide, holds two upright mahogany pianos sitting back-to-back. The metronome marks the beat, ta-ta-ta-ta, first 100 beats per minute, then 105, 110, working toward 120. The door is closed,...

Emory University

September 15, 2002

4:35 P.M.

“Star 94 FM Real-time Traffic…those heading northwest on Peachtree Industrial should expect major delays due to a gas leak….”

I abruptly change the radio station. What luck! I have moved exactly one mile in ten minutes....

Emory University

“Quick, help us out! Have you done the first bonus question yet?”

There are five minutes left in the GAME Candy Bar Contest. I turn the problem sheet over; the question is on…probability. I groan. Probability has always been my white rabbit; I take...

Emory University

Emory is one of the few schools that offers the two fields I wish to study as a joint major in Economics/History due to its incorporation of multiple disciplines, especially that of mathematics. I also plan to undertake the pre-med requisites, as...

Emory University

“The world is flat.” When I was little, I never believed this line. I would always show off in class, proudly proclaiming: “The earth is a sphere!” But now, I see the line again, on the title of a book by Thomas Friedman—and, this time, I have no...

Emory University

Sweat, soiled by dust and tears, seeped down my body as I thrust myself forward. With every breath, my lungs collapsed on themselves. While oxygen poured in through my gaping mouth, I still craved more air. Foot after foot, I trampled down the...

Emory University

“We’re moving,” my father announced to me, a happy eleven-year-old boy being picked up from his first summer at sleepaway camp.

Excited that we might finally be moving out of our too-familiar house in Miami and into a house closer to all of my...

Emory University

When my mom gave birth to me, I weighed in at nine and a half pounds and measured twenty-two inches. One could say I was pretty big for a newborn, but whenever I tell this story, it is soon followed by a: “And that’s pretty much when I stopped...

Emory University

Each of our plates was piled high with crab legs, easily the best part of the buffet, our taste buds descended from the seafood rich island that had raised us. We passed around the poor quality plastic crackers, at first, patience feeding off of...

Emory University

It's 4:55 on a Thursday morning when you hear a shrill ring pulse through the room. You rub your eyes groggily, praying that the noise will go away soon, when a dim light blinks on. Roommate #1 climbs out of her bed and finally, blessedly, turns...

Emory University

Why does the Northeast have a reputation for an uptight, academic attitude, and why is the Midwest considered one of the most relaxed places in the US? What are the origins of so-called "Southern Hospitality," and is this concept even close to the...

Emory University

My fingers pirouetted up and down the fingerboard, spiraling faster than the notes running through my head. Every white callous and bloody blister had led up to this moment, as I could feel all those hours of repetition, struggle, and stumbling...

Emory University

It was my second trip to Emory. Sitting in a lecture room in White Hall, I only experienced a single doubt: hesitation about voicing a few of my opinions and, perhaps, interrupting Professor Robins’ Metaphysics class.

Speaking, eating, and being...

Emory University

The dazzling stage lights blocked out the members of the audience, momentarily blinding me. With sweaty palms, I bowed deeply towards the crowd, symbolically expressing my gratitude. I walked slowly off the wooden stage, my long, white gown...

Emory University

How can we build a more environmentally sustainable society?

Such a broad, open ended question may seem unreasonable for a sixteen year old girl to pursue, but at a place like Emory University, courageous inquiry is literally in the water. When I...

Emory University

I wake up an hour before the stampede towards the shower begins in my summer camp residence hall. Quietly, I close my dorm door so as to not startle my week-long roommate awake--I had to be alone. My clothes and towel hang on the stall as I brace...

Emory University

The notion that Emory stands alone, discrete and disconnected from Atlanta, is a remarkably simple misconception. A swift breath of the crisp, unadulterated Georgian air clouds any association of the institution with a Metropolitan hub. But a...

Emory University

I have been led to believe that for most, the airport is compulsory misery, a means to an end, on par with a visit to the DMV. But for me, alone in the airport, amidst the chaos of mankind, I am entranced. Perhaps it’s my desire for independence,...