Georgetown University Undergraduate College Application Essays

I never knew when I was speaking Farsi, Chinese, or English. After all, I would flit back and forth from my Taiwanese mother to my Persian father, rapidly translating words between them. Then, I'd settle into bed for my regular Dr. Seuss bedtime...

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...

I have always been enamored of the ideal of public service, which is to say, I have always envisioned myself becoming a perfectly disinterested public servant whose only impetus is to serve his country. Although I am constantly reminded that...

Things are not looking good for the Griffins. They have just lost the slight lead they had over their opponent and they seem extremely fatigued. To make matters worse, there are only a few minutes left in the game. My legs feel weak and tell me...

Towards the end of my trip to Russia this past summer I volunteered for over one hundred hours at a summer camp for partially deaf and partially sighted, most of whom are also mentally imbalanced. Though I have volunteered with disabled children...

I can remember as a little kid that when someone would get hurt on the playground, everyone would get upset at the sight of blood. Unlike everyone else, I would be the first to offer to bring them to the nurse and sit with them as the nurse...

The exponential increase of the population at a global level is an alarming reality that merits the attention not only of those countries which are most struggling with the burden of a heightened population increase, but the worldwide community....

An electric current of energy surges through my veins. I want to jump or scream, but all I can do is move my index finger an single inch along the sliding button. The house lights dim as my finger slides the lever downwards. From the lighting...

I see it in the eyes of my friend Jill, the true Red Sox fan. Every game, she's there with her eyes transfixed to the glow of the television. She doesn't just want to believe it; she knows that this is the year her beloved team will win the World...

At exactly 6:21 A.M., my alarm clock starts its daily, unbearable buzzing, and the familiar aroma of coffee reaches my room. My unwillingness to get out of bed is suddenly overpowered by another round of alarm clock noises. I spring out of bed,...

Every Thursday, my classmates and I mount the small yellow school bus and travel to South Orange. While some students run onto the fields, dressed in soccer gear, I sit back and anxiously wait to arrive at the foster home. While others rush home...

I have discovered another world behind the sturdy, white structure of my Bösendorfer. I spend countless hours on my slightly worn piano bench, which wobbles every time I move my body in accordance with the music. I turn pages that contain the same...

It has often been said that it's a man's world. As much I hate to admit it, this does seem to be the case. The majority of high paying professional jobs in America are filled predominantly by men. Men run the businesses; they run the government...

Harlan County, Kentucky, deemed the poorest in the United States, hosts the Capuchin Youth and Family Ministries' (CYFM) Appalachian Mission Program every July. For the past two years I have been a participant. The first year I worked as a manual...

During a trip to the US, my father brought back a boxed set of The West Wing DVDs. While I planned to watch them during my school holiday as amusement, the show instead became an obsession and an education in itself.

My greatest passion has always...

The two party system of American politics is obsolete. Politicians need to recognize the futility of polarization and instead realize that it is moderation and increased openmindedness that better serves the interests of the public. Instead of...

Considering that I was hesitant about joining and wanted to quit several times during my freshmen year, the YMCA Youth in Government program has had a huge impact on my life, and is the most influential extracurricular activity I have ever...

It was our last scrimmage game before the start of the 2009 Valparaiso girls’ varsity basketball season. The clock counted down not only the time left in the game but also how many seconds I had left playing on my basketball team before I told the...

Three months into my exchange year in Germany, my friend called me, a little dejected. She wanted to go downtown, and it was clear why. There was still something incredibly rousing, mysterious, and exciting about the European city that had...

“Dinner is ready!” Every Sunday a member of our family takes a turn choosing what we’re having for dinner, and today was my turn. My mother had prepared all of my favorite food, from foie gras to sea urchin sushi to satay. As we began eating, my...

“Aap meri choti shezadi ho, Hannah,” my Pakistani grandfather told me before I moved to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia. I was later able to translate his loving Urdu words into English: “You are my little princess, Hannah.” I am a...

Looking down at the college preparation pamphlet laying on my dresser never seemed so dramatic, but with every word I read, and every page I turned, I could practically feel my future rushing towards me. As I approach the end of my high school I...

The fan is chugging away overhead, desperately fighting off the heat that Jinhua’s summers are infamous for.

But I am oblivious: I’m finishing my drawing of Mickey Mouse. With pencil in hand, markers sprawled about, and a new book of cartoon...

Zhu Qin, a peasant girl who had been isolated from civilization her entire life, knew nothing of the world that existed beyond the mountains. Not a single person in her family had had any prior education whatsoever; nobody was able to even write...