My name was not there. Two words, seven letters, not there. Heart pounding, I slowly backed away from the Debate Team roster. Rejected, I thought hollowly, though I wasn’t completely surprised. During my tryout, I had been petrified at the podium, palms sweating and shaking. Maybe I’ll never debate. The thought crushed me; I pushed it aside. I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of joining the team, so I promised myself that I would...

UMich LSA Honors College Application Essay: "Are viruses alive?" “Ahh-CHOO!” A collective shudder runs through the classroom. Alert eyes dart toward the perpetrator: the boy with the suspiciously red-rimmed eyes and tired smile. The students begin inching away from him; another sneeze explodes from his face, and soon he is exiled, both socially and physically. “It’s just a cold,” he says meekly to his retreating classmates with a snuffly nose. His demeanor is sweet and lamblike as he reaches...

Summer sunshine illuminates the path as I stroll, smiling, down Hillhouse Avenue. Looking longingly up at Science Hill, I imagine my life as a Yalie. I would perform research on memory encoding in Professor Chun’s Visual Cognitive Neuroscience Lab by day and prep speeches to compete internationally with the Yale Debate Association by night. I would take study breaks to attend Master’s Teas with friends, and at the end of each stimulating day, I would happily return to...

Yale: What is a community to which you belong? Reflect on the footprint that you have left. (You may define community and footprint in any way you like.) 200 words Thrilled to be elected President of my school’s National Honor Society this March, I was determined to uphold our community’s goal of academic mentoring. In May, struggling students requested exam tutoring. Wanting to help, I ran between classes and sent out emails asking fellow NHS members, classmates, and friends...

Prompt: Write about something that you love to do. Competitive public speaking has taught me how to connect better with others, both onstage and off. Wanting to become a more dynamic speaker, I entered the National Management Association leadership speech contest. I spoke about the extent that popularity affects leadership this year, telling my audience about how I used to be a quiet member of the Debate Team, and how I wanted to change. While I used to laugh nervously...