Personal Statement “I got it, I got it!” I heard as number 13 swooped in to perfectly pass an incoming ball. I was in the stands watching the volleyball game amazed by it all: the bright lights, efficient teamwork, and each player’s display of skill and precision. Volleyball is not a typical man’s sport. Power, height, speed, and athleticism are all important, for sure, but they all pale in comparison to proper form and technique. As I saw the...

I do not remember life before church. I was raised in Sunday School, where I finger painted Jesus’ face on mugs and received “Jesus Loves You” stickers when I did well on Bible quizzes. As I became older, Christian events became an integral part of my life. I played drums for the church praise team, served on the youth group’s elective board, and organized weekly Bible studies. I thought I was serving God simply by attending church. Seizing the...

“Home is where the heart is,” reads a sign prominently displayed on my front door in brilliant italics. I live on the second floor of a two-story house which is most remarkable for its linearity. It is as if the building planner forgot to account for the third dimension in his blueprints. On a walk through the house, one enters into the living room, then past a pair of sliding doors into the kitchen, past a hallway with the master...

According to Google Maps, Bowdoin College is exactly 330 miles from my current residence. The drive is approximately five and a half hours long, but it feels worlds away. My connection to Brunswick, Maine is very interesting—because I have none. I have lived my entire life within the busy confines of New York City, and I do not leave very often. I have been conditioned to a life of polluted air, crowded subways, and tall buildings. I believe that New...

Every head in the room lowered simultaneously, except for mine. I scanned the room while the preacher’s booming authority diminished and his voice drifted away from my sonic perception. From around the room I heard an occasional, “Amen!” or “Yes Lord” as the preacher prayed over the congregation. Tears fell from the faces of the women and children sitting in the front row and floated across the tops of the leather bound Bibles on their laps. Even some of...

My father lives a trucker’s life. He leaves the house in the mid-afternoon, works through the night, and comes home at the crack of dawn. I remember, as a child, running home after school so that I could spend just a couple minutes with my father. He was always dead tired, but eager to begin a hard day’s work. Our family lives very modestly, but my father takes pride in what he does. Every day he treks to...

I am currently spending my senior year as a teaching intern for a 9th grade biology class. During the second week of the school year, I held a review session about the origins of life. I thought to myself, “These are just 9th graders. I can just walk into the review session, and dazzle them with my charisma without reviewing the material.” When I walked into the room, there were already 20 students waiting for me. I sat down in the...

University of Michigan Since I am a senior and am currently in the process of applying to colleges, everybody and their mother seems to be asking me what I want to be when I grow up. Once, when a family friend came over for dinner, I said that I wanted to be a doctor. It was the easy choice--I have always been proficient in the biological sciences. I am also a teaching intern for a 9th grade biology class and...

On May 8, 2011, Wesley Yang published a controversial article, Paper Tigers, in the “New York Magazine”. Yang describes a generation of Asian students who grew up under the watch of “tiger mothers,” parents who trained them to excel in academic settings. He quips that these same children are often not properly suited for real world environments because of a gap that exists between the classroom and workplace. He says that top institutions, such as Columbia, must limit the number of Asian...

I think I freaked out way too much regarding my college application process. I applied to a total of 24 schools and spent way too much time worrying about what school I would end up in. At the end of it all, I realized I wasn't worried at all about what school I was actually going to. I...