3 college essay samples
COVID Update: To help students through this crisis, The Princeton Review has amended our refund and cancellation policies to ensure maximum course flexibility for those who enroll between April 21 st and May 31 st. For full details, please click here. The Princeton Review is currently experiencing some Dashboard down time. Come back again soon for an update. Sorry for the inconvenience.
The 2020 Common Application Essay Prompts
Get into the college of your dreams! We hope these essays inspire you as you write your own personal statement. Just remember to be original and creative as you share your story.
My father, an electrical engineer, taught me to explore the world with inquis Most children acquire the same eye color or a similar shaped nose from their parents, but I've inherited much more: a passion for learning and an insatiable curiosity which has served me well throughout my academic career.
My father, an electrical engineer, taught me to explore the world with in Looking back at freshman year, my life was like a cityscape, busy and vibrant. I proudly reached certain goals that defined the student I wanted to be: made it into the science institute: check, varsity soccer: check, a natio Dreams are shaped by ideals and families shape the beliefs we grasp so strongly.
Someday I want to save and change lives through a medical career. Because my family has taught me that change can be positive and radical in altering lives, I hope to hold that ability someday. I seek the power to impro While initially a position as a laborer seemed appealing to a junior in high sc I am an Internet entrepreneur.
Since age 12, I have coded and designed websites -- for my school, the local community, and as a personal hobby and pastime. In fact, I started my own Internet business in and was hired as a webmaster by Intel Corporation this past summer.
I also volunteer my free Mirrors exist to show our outer appearance but nothing beyond that. Only our actions, words, and ideas could possibly represent the personal qualities that matter. The true worth of a person is revealed in those glimpses of light in the midst of adversity and darkness.
Those traits that are highly a I wended my way through the first through fourth grades mostly without speaking. So I was surprised when I got a part in the class play, notwithstanding that everybody got a part.
I played t Each weekend, I teach karate to kids ages As I show the "Little Ninjas" how to position their hands to do a clean shoulder roll, or I help the "Young Tigers" break down a tricky section of the Two-Man Bo Staff form, any frustration or tiredness I might have felt before ente In Long Beach, every day was a struggle for survival. By the age of nine, I had witnessed the death of my mother and one of my best friends g I'm a fifth generation Californian who's picked up a few of the habits of the region, among them surfing and computer programming.
What does this mean? Having a foot in both worlds gives me a sense of balance and perspective. Beyond that, surfing has influenced my software coding and future The Matrix series, for the intriguing philosophical questions and the ground-breaking originality of the action film-making. Success Built to Last, by Jerry Porras, for its great pieces of life wisdom that encourage me to follow my passions in a way that serves the world and me. Last night I was thinking about ink.
When rain falls on a handwritten page, the ink spreads out a bit, loses its crispness. But every now and then, hidden colors emerge. Suddenly you discover that simple black ink is green and shades of blue and a fragile pink edge. If so Last Sunday I realized, again and more fully than ever, why I want to immerse myself in engineering. I awoke in the midmorning, still drifting yet well-rested. In those dreamlike moments before opening my eyes, fragments of thought, old and new, began to coalesce into ideas that I immediately felt a It is my belief that paddling out into the lineup through a bank of heavy mist and suddenly finding yourself unable to see the shore is among the most surreal and inspiring experiences a person can have.
As fellow wave riders — strangers and friends — wink out of your sphere of sight and In grade 9, I started messing around with Google Sketchup. It began casually and soon blossomed into an obsession — I would refuse repeated calls for dinner, intent on figuring out the placement of a room or object. I remember trying to virtually remodel our apartment when my brother looked ov After being seated at three large white round tables with folding white chairs, the real Clam Bake began.
We attacked the buffet tables, buttered our lobsters, and still had room for dessert. While devou At the corner of each eye lie little crinkle lines, tip-offs to her mood: they might be laughing, or exhausted, or some days furious and fed up with people. She never hides her anger, her glee, or her fierce, well-deserved While looking through my stacks of pictures, I realize how important the memories in my all-school photos are to me.
One particular picture, from ninth grade, is especially significant not because I like to look at what my classmates or teachers l Over the phone, my dad described what was happening as he lifted the cover off of the viewing portal. Suddenly, he began to laugh uncontrollably: the robotic mousetrap I had built out of LEGO Mindstorms had actually caught a rat! On the other end of the line, my 8-year-old self also collapsed in lau I never intended to hire anybody.
In fact, I never sought to obtain employment myself. I was too busy having fun with computers to be bothered with any of that. But as soon as you know how to hit "ctrl-alt-delete," it seems everyone wants tech support, and one thing leads to another. It is like the butterfly effect on an individual, yet grand scale.
It is the summer before Kindergarten. Face ashen, she stumbles toward me, the heavy footfalls syncing with my throbbing heart. I wait as she feebly attempts to p Trupe, World History teacher and former Torrey Pines volleyball coach, was taken aback when he heard I was an athlete.
I could knock you down with my breath! I don't have the fram I step up to the starting line-palms sweating, heart racing. Three short blasts of a whistle followed by one long blast and the trembling commences. After three nerve-wracking seconds, the gun goes off. I'm hoping to do an MS in Computer Science at Stanford so that I can become more technical and obtain the skills I need to build the software that I want to exist, rather than just imagine it. I've had several jobs in technology-related fields, as an investment banker and as an early non-technical e The unique opportunity for me to combine McCormick and Bienen into one dual-degree program is even more attractive, allowing me to receive certification Slowly but As much as I had hoped our introductions would be made in person, I am just as glad that we will know each other before we even meet.
But first, I have to keep myself in high spirits in order to help others, right? I see the beauty in our natural assembly of neurons, the splendor of circuits in digital chips, and of course the undying symphony of computer code running through a compiler. As a firm believer of the values of interdisciplinary education, I embrace Benjamin Franklin's drive to create an intellectu I tried to hold the canvas as close to me as possible without risking touching it.
It was dry, but with oil paints you never really know. Any artist worth her salt knows that. But if you had spent the bett I love listening to hard rock and heavy metal music. Still, her puffy eyes seemed too big for her tiny visage, which seemed curled into an eternal…scowl?
Gingerly, I poked one chubby cheek. After World War II, the people of Africa fought to end the effects of European imperialism to achieve political independence and reclaim African culture. After many years of being controlled by Eur The air was that of a stagnant summer, stifling hot and stubbornly unmoving.
The dirt road that snaked through the idyllic Taiwanese countryside had rattled the old, blue pickup truck for over an hour before it had shuddered to a stop. Stepping out onto the muddy riverbank, I anticipated the surpris As my thoughts drifted by with snapshots of scenes of the most memorable parts of my summer, I realized more fully than ever why I love engineering:.
Standing in the dim auditorium at the University of Texas in Austin, I nervously gulped as I nodded at my First Bytes computer science ca Age ten. My dad shows me a family tree, and genealogy piques my interest. I collect data about my own family, interviewing relatives whenever I can, and construct a tree spanning hundreds With neither cure nor vaccination for this disease, it can develop at any age. Its sympt Films: Gattaca, Chariots of Fire.
Using real sample college essays that worked will give you a great idea How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience? 3. See an example of a college application essay, with a point-by-point critique. Though their record was , the girls enjoyed their season. This is what I taught.
I have seen a great number of college essays over the past few years. The ideas and the creativity, in the end, must always come from you. These topics are simply meant to start you off in the right place, so that you may build upon them to create a truly successful college essay. So much more about you is revealed through your interactions with people than just you by yourself, and this is where the power of the family essay comes from.
In my opinion, one of the best ways to write an awesome essay for your college application or admissions personal essay is by learning from real college essay samples that worked.
College Admissions , College Essays. The personal statement might just be the hardest part of your college application.
College Admissions Essays
When you begin writing your Common App essay, having an example to look at can help you understand how to effectively write your college essay so that it stands apart from others. These Common App essay examples demonstrate a strong writing ability and answer the prompt in a way that shows admissions officers something unique about the student. Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story. The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure.
SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips
Writing a successful college admissions essay can be tough, so we've put together some example essays below to provide with some inspiration of your own. Please do not plagiarise sentences or whole parts of these essays - they are only intended as guidelines and you can jeopardise your application if you're discovered to have copied your essay from the web. Honestly, I have had a pretty easy life. I have never really gone without something I absolutely needed, and I have always attended good schools and lived in safe neighborhoods. My parents raised me in a loving home, told me I was smart, and tried to help me be successful. But almost everyone else I knew seemed to have those same things, and I never really gave the benefits of my life much thought. Instead, I mostly coasted — focusing on playing sports, hanging out with my friends, and having fun. It was not until my sophomore year of high school that I started to understand what my parents had been trying to teach me. My brother graduated from high school at the same time I finished my freshman year.
Note: Some personally identifying details have been changed. This is a college essay that worked for Harvard University.
Get into the college of your dreams! We hope these essays inspire you as you write your own personal statement.
3 College Essays That WORK (and don’t suck!): OWN the Common Application Essay
With the inclusion of the popular "Topic of Your Choice" option, you have the opportunity to write about anything you want to share with the folks in the admissions office. The current prompts are the result of much discussion and debate from the member institutions who use the Common Application. The essay length limit stands at words the minimum is words , and students will need to choose from the seven options below. The essay prompts are designed to encourage reflection and introspection. The best essays focus on self-analysis, rather than spending a disproportionate amount of time merely describing a place or event. Analysis, not description, will reveal the critical thinking skills that are the hallmark of a promising college student. If your essay doesn't include some self-analysis, you haven't fully succeeded in responding to the prompt. According to the folks at the Common Application , in the admissions cycle, Option 7 topic of your choice was the most popular and was used by The second most popular was Option 5 discuss an accomplishment with In third place was Option 2 on a setback or failure. The stories and information shared in an essay are what the Admissions Officer will use to advocate for the student in the admissions committee.
