College Application Essays accepted by University of California - Los Angeles

University of California - Los Angeles

It's a summery Monday morning, but instead of sleeping in, I'm outside of a museum, doing a hearty jig in a banana costume. I throw my hands in the air; I sing along to the music; I kick my feet in what I think is a shuffle. Strangers pass by and...

University of California - Los Angeles

“There aren’t any more chairs. Just pull one up!”

It was a crowded lunch hour as usual at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital. I volunteered there during the summers and each day encountered the same problem – finding enough space to eat....

University of California - Los Angeles

When I'm using scissors, I cut with my right hand. But when I'm using a knife, I cut with my left, unless I'm eating with a fork and knife, in which case the fork goes in my left hand and the knife goes in my right. I am a righty thrower but a...

University of California - Los Angeles

I often travel through a land of backpacks, ironed silk suits, Hawaiian slippers, colorful shirts, low-waist jeans and outfits that do not even have a name. This is a land where shoes are worn and pants are stained with adhesive, where tie knots...

University of California - Los Angeles

I recently spent two mornings in a row sorting through old paperwork, filing and refiling old receipts, invoices, and timesheets. I labeled and alphabetized nearly 100 folders, plunking them into small file cabinets one by one. The day before, I...

University of California - Los Angeles

The incessant, monotone beeping of the heart monitor was Public Enemy #1.

It alone was not the problem. Rather, it meant that I had found myself in a hospital room again. First it was my grandma, then my dad, then my grandma again. Each time was...

University of California - Los Angeles

I’m one of the most clumsy people in the world.

This may seem like an exaggeration at first, but it’s spot on. From early childhood, I was called “Ms. Falls a lot” by my parents. I seemed cursed, as every single time I wore a dress to preschool, I...

University of California - Los Angeles

At 16, I was on a train to San Diego and deep in my biology notes when alarms began to sound and we were evacuated. Armed police urged us to run; as a fellow passenger told me, there was a gunman on the train who was threatening to shoot. Within...

University of California - Los Angeles

The streets of Kunming, China are crooked and filled with potholes, and the ‘school’ was more of an abandoned building than a learning facility for children of full-time workers. Yet the children that sat on the dusty floor of my classroom were...

University of California - Los Angeles

Home-schooled. For the longest time, I assumed that all children, like me, were homeschooled by their mothers. I attended Chinese school and art classes, but my mother delivered my first history lesson around our kitchen table––with an Odyssey...

University of California - Los Angeles

On a typical, busy summer day, I stand at one of the Save the Bay's Aquarium’s touch tanks, spitting out facts (did you know that horseshoe crabs have been around since before the dinosaurs?!) and making sure that all children uphold the...

University of California - Los Angeles

I express my creative side through theatre. The entire rehearsal process leading up to a production is exciting to be involved in, and I love to watch the show come together bit by bit. It’s fascinating to see how many different aspects have to...

University of California - Los Angeles

“Frances Perkins!” I yelled as our car sped past the U.S. Department of Labor Building. Constitution Avenue! The Smithsonian Museum of American History! I was in utter ecstasy as I walked past the flag that had inspired the national anthem and the...

University of California - Los Angeles

Presenting in the Kentucky senate chamber as a twelve-year old can be intimidating, but also relieving. You have been told for a dozen years that you are too young to influence your state’s government, yet you stand at a podium with a microphone...

University of California - Los Angeles

When I was in seventh grade, my biological mother—who was then living in Luxembourg—was involved in a serious car accident and had to be put into a medically induced coma. After somewhat recovering from the physical and mental trauma she...

University of California - Los Angeles

From down here, buildings seem taller. The top shelf of the cabinet is a mystery, and the shelf under is a balancing act. Being 4’10’’ has given me a different perspective, in multiple ways.

The insecurity within being inches shorter than the...

University of California - Los Angeles

My hand on the bar holds all my weight as my foot clumsily finds fifth position from fourth, while transitioning from relevé to plié. I struggle to remember tendu from bourree, then fall behind, as the rest of the class is executing the sequence...

University of California - Los Angeles

The objective of this school project was to create our ideal version of a school.We turned in a trash can."Our project was inspired by the Dada artists, who are known for their use of readymade (everyday objects) that were displayed as 'art.' This...

University of California - Los Angeles

"What's your favorite animal?"Typical six-year-olds may pick cats or dogs or even snakes, but me? I loved lobsters. I had read from an animal fact book that they are immortal. So typically, I thought that they were magical animals with the power...