University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate College Application Essays

Grasping my father’s hand, I descended the steps into the vast underworld. We were Phileas Fogg and Passepartout, documenting five hundred destinations, each neatly cataloged in a manilla notebook, one by one in our memories.

In the eight years I...

Arriving three hours early to the venue before the scheduled start of a performance can mean many things. Perhaps you are a member of the performance or you may be determined to secure a great place or seat. You could even be tailgating! However,...

My pencil sketches of human head sculptures filled countless pads of paper. Desperately, I tried to recreate in each face the intangible aspects of emotion that continuously eluded me. I drew faces over and over, telling myself that with more...

“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...

I still vividly recalled seeing Lam, a male-to-female transgender, being sexually assaulted after school. In full view of people, a group of boys surrounded her and pulled off her pants to “scan” her private parts. As she stood there powerless,...

“I’m so excited! Tomorrow is Eid!”

“Eid? What are you talking about?”

I was flabbergasted. Eid was my whole life, what I eagerly anticipated all year long, and yet my classmate didn’t even know what it was! My 7-year-old mind couldn’t comprehend...

It felt like performing dental work on an apprehensive clam without any gloves; the ridges of the Dragon’s bony mouth scraped combatively against my knuckles as it swallowed its treasure. “I cannot imagine the faces of the horrified crowd behind...

6, 7, and 7500: Behold the three numbers that will define my academics at the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences! I explore what I love to learn no only through the classes on path to a major, but also through the innumerable...

Bang! I am deafened by the sound of a gunshot, and suddenly I see hundreds of fourth-graders sprinting towards me. I am temporarily mesmerized by the massive blob of energy consisting of tiny legs moving in unison and tight fists swinging with...

A cow gave birth and I watched. Staring from the window of our stopped car, I experienced two beginnings that day: the small bovine life and my future. Both emerged when I was only 10 years old and cruising along the twisting roads of rural...

I grasped the empty, plastic one-gallon container within my right hand as I strolled towards the salty waters of the Gulf of Mexico, trying not to gain others' attention nor look awkward. It would seem unusual and strange to others when they see a...

“When are you coming home?” I anxiously asked my mother over the phone.

Home for Christmas break, I grew tired of playing with my two-year-old brother while my parents worked. Glen was adopted domestically from a Bengali and Puerto Rican family,...