University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Undergraduate College Application Essays

“Where are you from?” asked the guest speaker, picking me from the crowd. Just as I was about to answer, a passing thought squeezed my mouth tight and slapped me hard in the head. A conscious side of me perceived this simple question as “extremely...

It’s 6am. My alarm clock squawks at me to wake up. With legs aching from practice, arms tired from shooting drills, and head throbbing with pain from only sleeping four hours, I squint at the illuminated red numbers, contemplating whether or not...

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...

I stood at the crest of my cousin’s street staring at the 45-degree inclined road I was about to skateboard down. Now, I had never skateboarded before, nor did I know how to, but something inside me told me I should do it. I belong to the...

The rapidly evolving online economy touches virtually every aspect of our lives. We now turn to Yelp to choose a restaurant, Airbnb for a weekend getaway, Uber for a ride, and Amazon to purchase products. All across the nation, and more...

I stood there, nose squished against the thick glass wall unmoved by my eager hands. After a “quick” hour and a half drive to the Baltimore Zoo, a secret trip my dad and I made more often than I would like to admit, I had finally reached the...

It’s hard to choose from my many passions, but I would pick ice hockey. Not only does hockey provide me with great exercise and fun, but the leadership and responsibility that comes with playing on or captaining a hockey team are important skills...

One of the communities I belong to is the Vistamar Theatre Program. We're a very tight group, because at a small school, the number of theatre kids is limited. The theatre community here is just like a family. While there is competition for parts...

A pair of tiny Mary-Janes and ruffled socks stirred anxiously in anticipation. Ms. Bush’s kindergarten classroom leered ominously over our small heads, making my friend Corinne’s knuckles whiten and eyes instinctively shoot downwards. My navy blue...

“You may choose your partner now,” my teacher said after explaining the guidelines on the energy-machine project. As I scanned the room, I noticed numerous empty seats and many sleeping students. Why was no one paying attention? Student...

Life mimics the complicated pattern of a kaleidoscope, a beautiful disarray of mismatched colors and shapes dancing in harmony. Each angle, each color, each piece is the careful product of our decisions and actions. Yet however permanent they may...

“Mom!” I grumbled, “these don’t fit either!” I could feel my throat closing and my eyes welling up. “Mackenzie’s fit her so well, and...and Juliana’s actually look good on her.” I stared at the streaked mirror disgusted with the pants that...

My childhood was marked by David Attenborough nature documentaries, issues of National Geographic Kids, and environmentalist parents. Naturally, I was the child who could tell you about echolocation or shark migratory patterns. My favorite...

The vibrant skyline stood dead. It was 4:30 A.M. and life ceased to exist on the streets of Shanghai. The sunrise peaked through the jungle of buildings across the river and shined onto our faces. I stared at the skyline, thinking how much the...

I was in second grade the first time someone told me my words meant something. Eight years old with a state winning story! That was the little spark that started my love, and ever since then, I have wanted to reach into minds and whisper...

The mayor named it Uptown. It’s really just downtown. Take Exit One, go sixty down Second Avenue until you hit Broadway. We are downtown kids, brought together by those brick buildings a street over, home of our beloved Springer Theatre Academy....

I inched closer with silent footsteps, holding my breath… and Click! As the moment froze in my camera, the sparrows whizzed past and flew into the trees.

My tryst with photography began many years ago upon discovering the old 35mm Leica in Dad’s...

My mom doesn’t deserve all the credit for ensuring I completed my first race. Three million checklists, a royal guard and a savage bloodhound were among the influencers. They hadn’t featured in my vision of a perfect marathon though—the wind...

I like to think of myself as tantamount to avial - a South Indian stew with a motley variety of vegetables and spices. A tablespoon of the American culture that has diffused seamlessly into our household, peppered with Tamilian roots that leave a...

“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...

The sky was the baby blue of my new tricycle with streaks of mandarin orange peels highlighting the end of another innocent day. He stood beside my 5 year old self, with clothes smelling of Chinese take-out and the sweat of yesterday’s hot sun....

My computer crashed for the 6th time in a week. I had accidentally created an infinite loop in Python, and my glitchy four-year-old laptop could not handle the overload of data. I sighed and looked over at my coworker, Sophia--a college student,...

The Chevron was always my favorite. A basic V-shaped design, it is one of the first patterns that a novice would learn. Most beginners are quick to move on from the Chevron upon its mastery and proceed to designs that are more complex. But even...

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.” - George Orwell

Coming from Vietnam, I have seen how the Communist Party has “reinterpreted” history to fit with their narrative of the...