Indiana University Undergraduate College Application Essays

As is the case with many twelve-year-old sixth graders, I used to be a little self-centered. I was in the middle of puberty, with hormones raging and jumbling my mind in all kinds of ways, and the fact that I was slightly socially awkward and seen...

June 4th 2006

5:50am

The volunteers in the red shirts direct us to enter our corrals. It's race time. Twenty-three thousand of us cram into our assigned areas and stand shoulder-to-shoulder, no room to move. I know what lies in wait—fifty-four...

(Note: This was for an undergraduate transfer application.)

My musical journey began innocently enough, in my infancy, with a toy keyboard placed in my crib as a diversion. Though I would not begin formal instruction on an instrument for several...

"On Thursday," announced my religion teacher, "we will be going to the zoo to find our animal totems." For those that don’t know, an animal totem represents the Native American belief that each person has a connection to a specific animal. I was...

“Jooooorrrrddddannnnn,” my mom screamed with utter fear and panic in her voice. Surprisingly, amongst all of the chaos, her voice was all that I heard. I’m not sure if I was disoriented, bewildered or just in complete shock but at that particular...

For many of my friends, summer break means swimming at the local pool and hanging out at our downtown movie theater. Yet for me, summer means traveling 6,000 miles to a completely different country, where I speak a completely different language...

To many, it may seem farfetched to associate the feeling of being perfectly content with a sport as salty as fishing, but not to me. The way the cork grip of a fishing rod gingerly held between my fingers instills the feeling of being so...

Taking my spot in the third seat, I face the coxswain as she commands our boat. As we push off the dock, adrenaline runs through my veins. As my stomach leaps into my throat, hands sweating, I tenuously maintain my grip on the oar. As the “new...

It was an ideal day for a wedding. The sun was shining and was seventy degrees on top of one of downtown Cleveland’s taller rooftops. The airshow was to my right, and the entire span of the Cleveland skyline to my left. The wind died down as we...

A vivacious and carefree four-year-old, I dropped my paintbrush, splattering globs of blue paint all over my t-shirt and classmates nearby. Immediately, my thin lips transformed into an enormous grin. My grandpa, or as we say in Russian, my ...

97%. That is the survival rate for thyroid cancer. It’s the first thing I looked up after my diagnosis. I felt like something inside me shattered. I told myself I could live with that because, statistically speaking, I would be okay.

However, my...

Sweat droplets streamed down my cheeks. It was an odd, balmy April day and my friend Grant and I had just finished an amiable game of street hockey when boredom began to claw at our minds. As the sun started to sink below the horizon, I focused my...

My love for wearing costumes developed as a child. Even today, I’d have to say, I still enjoy wearing them. As the president of the DECA chapter at my school, I get to dress up in pant suits and pearls, while role-playing as a CEO. While my...

I’ll always remember that drive; there was a crisp summer breeze sailing in through my window and the taste of early-morning dew still hung in the air. My heart was beating so fast, I could hardly hear my favorite song, “Sweet Caroline”, blasting...

Anyone can find beauty in ordinary things: the ivory snow falling outside a foggy window on a January morning, the rainbow that appears after a thunderstorm, or the almost formulaic pink and orange hues of a sunset over the horizon. But these...

There are times when I gaze out of the windows of the South Shore Train and see nothing more than the softened edges of verdant forests and the blurred outlines of monotonous buildings. I watch as the clouds move, change shape, and reform yet...

I stood on the platform above Corey Lake at Camp Eberhart, goosebumps slowly forming as my teeth chattered from the cold wind’s touch on my bare skin. My eyes fixated on the dark blue hues and the ripples forming in the water below me. My hands...

My choir director points at me, whispering, “You’re next.” Those daunting words make me falter back to my chair. As I wait for my turn, my hands start trembling with fear. I immediately slap my wrist hard enough for the choir director to turn...

A six-year-old girl stands at the edge, unsure about the leap she must take. She is nervous; very aware of the challenge at hand and the expectations she must meet. In the next moment, she finds herself suspended in the air, entering the watery...

Photos freeze the world in place for just a moment. In the rapidly moving world, it’s refreshing to look at a photo, stop the earth’s spin, and live in the past for a few minutes. Photos are sentiments—souvenirs of a time and place that has...

“You are going to a boarding school in Singapore,” said my parents one day.

The decision to send me off to boarding school came as a surprise for my family’s acquaintances. It came as a shock to me --- especially since I did not even know what the...