I had forgotten about the plastic bowl of greasy, buttery popcorn in my hands. I’m left staring at an empty expanse of screen, mouth open at the grayscaled room. The DVD case for The Usual Suspects taunts me, sitting on the worn coffee table. The film was far from Usual and nothing I would have suspected. Ten minutes later, I’m gritting my teeth as I scrape popcorn kernels from between them. My mind wanders back to the film....

Amherst: I’ve always been told my legs are monsters. Having played soccer from an early age, I have disproportionately large sticks as legs. But these monsters are like those of any story: they have a weakness. Behind my skinny jean-bursting quadriceps, there are my hamstrings, strained four separate times. Hamstring strain. Those two words sound like a declawed house cat compared to a broken leg, or a “snapped femur”, or a “fracture”. But instead of comfy couches and pain...

Stanford's Roommate Question: Dear Future Roommate, I hope you’re not a FC Barcelona fan. Because it would just be no fun if we’re rooting for the same team. Sure, we’ll eat barbecue chips and nachos together and laugh at overused jokes. But when we watch Tarantino films during late nights I’ll be right there to tell you I think Kill Bill is better than Pulp Fiction; when we turn on the speakers I’ll try to...

For Pomona College's Critical Inquiry Question: Intelligence, Power, and Mobility: An Examination of Meritocracy Since the Qin dynasty in ancient China, meritocracies have risen in power to become the forefront philosophy of government in many countries today, from The United States of America to Singapore. However, like any system, meritocracy is by no means perfect. How does one measure merit? Should academic intelligence be the dominant factor in determining merit? Can a standard system determine the worth of one type...

Imagine yourself in a tutorial at Williams. Of anyone in the world, whom would you choose to be the other student in the class, and why? (Please limit your response to 300 words.) Eric Blair (pseudonym: George Orwell) was an esteemed writer, essayist, and journalist. I am none of those things. Which, of course, makes Blair the perfect choice as the other student in the class. Why? Because we’d be like two pieces of a puzzle: different, but matching. Blair...

Tell us the story of a street, path, road—real or imagined or metaphorical. The Mystery of Washington Drive Henry woke to the sound of tapping on his stained car window. I should really clean this car, he thought. A bushy brown mustache frowned back at him through the window in disagreement. “Sir, you’re going to have to move your car. You need to have a permit to park here.” Henry wasn’t really listening. All he could see...

Why Chicago Essay: “Unboil an egg.” “Induce a potato to break the sound barrier.” “...built a working nuclear breeder reactor.” These were my first impressions of the University of Chicago. I found these in an article called The Hunter Games in The New Yorker. I was really rather expecting a preview in jest of the upcoming movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins’s book (this was a few years ago), but instead I was greeted by a long form article about...

Included are the five best essays I wrote for my applications, for Amherst, Pomona, Stanford, Williams, and UChicago. I've also included my Why Chicago essay as a sixth essay.

If I were to go back and do it again, I would apply...

Recommenders should be scouted out early, junior year even. I was fortunate enough to have...

I used a private admissions counselor, but I found the experience to be too limiting...

Be productive during the summers. Whether its playing...

I think that the diversity of my application set me apart. I was accepted to Amherst...

I ultimately chose a liberal arts school because of the focus on...

I "shotgunned" it and applied to essentially every top...

I sent in...