Application Essay Excerpts

I used to not think I would survive high school. Not in the sense that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the work or maintain a solid GPA; those weren’t my concerns. I literally did not think I would be alive to see my class graduate...

Letting go of your dreams isn’t nearly as dramatic as the movies make it out to be.That’s the thought that crosses my mind when I catch a glimpse of my pretzel-like pose in the mirror. For the fifty-first time, I wonder why I’m participating in this K-pop (Korean pop) dance performance, especially considering my irreparable coordination issues. Really, why bother?..

Evan Lowenstein claims that entrepreneurs are “idiot[s] that [don’t] know when to quit – until [they] have a breakthrough. Then everyone calls [them geniuses].” I like to think that this quote applies not only to entrepreneurs, but leaders as well...

There is one defining quality, one distinctly human feature that transcends age, race, gender, and geographical location – the ability to judge oneself. “Am I good enough?” Too often, the answer is no. And that is a serious issue. ...

BEEP!My eyes snap open and I pounce, slamming my alarm with alarming alacrity. My roommate groans, “太早了.” “Son las ocho y media,” I reply. She mutters a few more words in Span-ese before falling right back asleep. I chuckle. This fun daily routine is only made possible by the fact that my roommate, a fellow Huntsman student, is a girl from Spain whose target language is Chinese, while I’m a Chinese-American studying Spanish...

Chasing the Ball of YarnWhen I first picked up the ball of soft strings of wool and cotton fibers, I was completely entranced. It was a simple object, but it was amazing how one could use two sticks and yarn to make new creations with practical applications, almost like magic...

Lessons of the Landscape To my Blackfeet people, Chief Mountain is power. Elders say that when Chief crumbles to the ground, the world will end. Today, I will ascend this bastion of identity.Climbing Chief Mountain is a rite of passage in my family...

A thousand people. That’s how many students and teachers were attending the State Scholastic Press Association District Seven Convention. That’s also how many people I had to make a speech in front of...

Other people track their growth through trends of clothes or the progression of their artwork from macaroni mosaics to landscapes and portraits. I track mine through Shakespeare plays with Lori...

Pots and pans rattle on the stove while Telemundo blares in the background – an average afternoon in my Abuelita’s kitchen. Some of my fondest childhood memories took place in that kitchen on Commercial Street in Southeast Chicago. I remember making tortillas by hand and cooking arroz con frijoles with my Abuelita’s help. I remember crossing the street to the corner store to buy her daily lottery ticket, and running back as she called out to me, “¡Vamanos!”..