University of California - San Diego Undergraduate College Application Essays

It's 2:00 AM on Christmas Day: My fourth grade self tumbled out of the warmth of my comforter, stumbling to the closet where I had hoarded gifts for the last seven months. Buried beneath faded bedsheets, I pulled them out: a jar of cookie butter,...

Having started out small, I began by helping students through the Afterschool Academic Program, an organization of teachers and students devoted to assisting those that are struggling in classes at school. I managed to help many students by...

While many other candidates applying to the University of California perform volunteer work, I feel my volunteerism in economically deprived neighborhoods as a devout Catholic provides me with insight on life that is only available through...

One of the most difficult challenges I faced was overcoming the loss of my friendship with Ana—a friend who had crawled into my life in the seventh grade and disappeared in my freshman year. Her disappearance had certainly not been the most...

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...

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...

In eleventh grade, I remember sitting in Physics baffled that there were formulas to make sense of the world. Before this course, I had simply accepted that gravity made things fall to the ground and pushing objects would make them move. However,...

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...

I can’t draw, I don’t paint, and I certainly can’t dance, but I can still create art. Video editing is a an art of supreme sensitivity and I have been developing my skills since I was 13 years old. Movies and videos have the power to make you...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Drenched in sweat, I was more than ready to hop on the last subway to my hotel. Suddenly, a hand grabbed my shoulder. With my tiny fists clenched, I braced for a fight as I slowly turned around. And there, I saw a mob of Asian grandmothers."Ni...

"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...

"Can you believe her? She's 240 pounds - no wonder she had a heart attack." The doctor scoffed as we walked out of the patient's room. The woman had just received an electrical shock to the heart. I had the opportunity to participate in a summer...

My mother would throw a fit if she knew I spent an evening during Mosaic roaming downtown, unsupervised, in the company of a homeless woman and a high-school sophomore, searching for a homeless couple. Granted, it was her fault I was doing it. She...

I joined Theater freshmen year out of curiosity for its technical aspects. As a person of science and logic, I was, at first, skeptical about the artistic club and shy to interact with the boisterous Theater community. But the club was full of...

“The title Looper implies time is a continuous loop, right? The future interacts with the past like it always does, because it’s meant to. So how does Bruce Willis break away from it, all of a sudden? And when he does break away, how doesn’t he...

In our increasingly madcap age, the great American pastime has shifted from baseball to pranking. I concur by aspiring to place staplers in jello, just like Jim Halpert from The Office. My creativity isn’t expressed through art but through the...

It was 2:00 AM local time in a continent where I had never been. There were 18 of us rumbling down a poorly paved road, in an old bus that could not have been meant for more than 15. The seats were uncomfortable, and a horribly made music video of...

I live in Saratoga, California: the sunny land of tutors, prep centers, and SAT classes. Everywhere you drive there are signs offering the best discounts, the best teachers, the best results. I always wondered, however, why my community didn’t...