To help you out with application essays, we have selected five essays accepted by five different universities in the US. Hopefully, you will be able to take reference from them and write an outstanding essay yourself.[break]
Emily Fiffer (Washington University)
Topic: On any topic.
Excerpt: “Psst! I have a confession to make. I have a shoe fetish. Everyone around me seems to underestimate the statement a simple pair of shoes can make. To me, though, the shoes I wear are not merely covering for the two feet on which I tread, but a reflection of who I am.”
Jeremy Chapman (Duke University)
Topic: On any topic.
Excerpt: “Several of me occupy themselves around my bedroom. Logical me sits attentively in my desk chair. Lighthearted me hangs upside-down, off the back of my recliner. Existentialist me leans against my door, eyebrows raised. Stressed me, Independent me, and Artistic me are also present.”
Mari Miyoshi (Brown University)
Personal Statement
Excerpt: “I have sworn on my biology textbook instead of the Bible since my sophomore year because I have an obsession with truth. After reading The Sound and the Fury a month ago I thought that I had the truth of mankind in terms of the universe figured out: that the Earth, being small and temporary, and humans, being smaller and more…”
Cornell University
Topic: Tell us about an opinion that you had to defend. How has this affected your belief system?
Excerpt: “I am perceived as a mild-mannered, intelligent individual until I mention that I am involved in riflery. It is as if I instantaneously grew a pair of horns and a sharp set of claws. Believe me this gets worse; I am a member of the NRA. I try to tell these folks that I belong to the NRA to fire my rifle. "Oh my God! You fire real guns? with real bullets?!?" they remark with a perplexed look on their face. Besides having horns and claws, I now possess a tail and leathery wings.”
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Topic: Indicate a person, character in fiction, an historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, etc.) who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
Excerpt: “I am not Vonnegut. He is not me. I did not fight in World War Two. He did not break his arm in the third grade. We are separate people, yet under the light of the literary world we are bonded together - he as an author, and I as a reader. Our relationship began in 1996 when I first read his novel Welcome to the Monkey House. Over the past 5 years our affair has burgeoned with unbridled passion. We were two strangers at a party, discussing the weather while piling bite size nachos, cookies, and carrots onto our designer napkins. I enjoyed his stories for their simplicity and their sweetness.”
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