After I lay down my word on the Scrabble board, I reach over to grab the bag of Twizzlers. Before eating one, I stop and look at it. I have never really examined a Twizzler before. It is not your run of the mill licorice rope. The strawberry ridges of a Twizzler interlock to make a more complete and yummier snack. I take a bite out of the Twizzler and get back to the game. I see my mom play...

The small, close-knit community I was a part of in high school is one I love. I enjoy knowing everyone’s name and being able to have lunch with my teachers. The Duke freshman experience on East Campus will allow me to participate in this same friendly atmosphere in college. With all of the freshmen in one place, I will be able to forge bonds among my classmates at Duke more easily. These bonds I make in my first year...

You have 150 words. Take a risk. As I stared into the darkness, I could not sleep, knowing what I had to do. I glanced to my left and right. All of my friends were asleep. Slithering out of my sleeping bag, I kept as quiet as possible. I crept out of my friend’s bedroom and into his living room. I feverishly began to search. It had to be somewhere. I rifled through drawers and examined cabinets, but it was...

Notre Dame will provide aspects of a small school, Catholic education that I value while offering new opportunities. Being able to approach my teachers to ask a question or to simply have a conversation is important to me. I love that I know my classmates like brothers. In my visits to ND, a similar close-knit community is evident, and the residence halls provide a familial environment. The presence of faith at ND is constant, from its chapels to the Grotto....

Fr. Roch Kerezty. Pronounced “Rock,” his name is no misnomer. He has taught senior theology since the 1970s and, since then, has challenged seniors by teaching them about world religions. More importantly, he requires students to think from the perspectives of those religions and to test their faiths. I have always attended Catholic schools. Until now, even my theology classes examined Catholicism from a strictly Christian perspective, so I never had to defend my faith from the view of another...

Glynn Family Honors Program As I began the college application process this past fall, I quickly realized that one of the most important things I am looking for in a college is a small, close-knit community. After eight years of experiencing an amazing, familial atmosphere at my high school, I have become a part of my school, and it has become a part of me. These lasting bonds I have formed with my classmates, teachers, and school are what define...

Standing in the middle of Target, I watched in shock as he stripped down to his underwear, taking off the shorts he had tried on because they were too small. This could be a long couple of months. During the summer before my junior year my mother announced that we were hosting a Slovakian exchange student, and he would be joining my class in high school. We called him Eddy. He seemed like any American teenager, but he only had...

Every time I went past my living room I saw it resting on the coffee table. That large maroon tome that my sister received as an award stared at me, goading me to open it and take a peek. One summer day I decided that if I really were as passionate about English as I thought I was, I should at least pick it up, maybe even read a play or two. There could be no harm in that. After...

I have two principal academic interests: literature and medicine. For my entire life, I have loved books. Characters, stories, and entire worlds are discovered, and explored simply by cracking open a book. The story telling, writing style, and literary devices of books captivate me, leading to late nights of turning pages in my room. A book gives me the freedom to go wherever I want, be whomever I want, and do whatever I want. Because of books, I have fought...

The small Christian community based on morals I have experienced at Cistercian is one that I love dearly. Being a Cistercian Hawk is not about being a bird of prey that constantly circles the sky above my school’s campus. It is about studying Calculus together, playing soccer together, and having fun together. It is about thinking together, praying together, and growing up together. After eight years at Cistercian, I have become a part of the school and the school...

Here are the where all of the essays are from and the prompts, if you cannot figure them out by the essays themselves 1. Why Duke essay 2. Essay for Notre Dame. The prompt was simply "you have 150 words, take a risk." 3. Why Notre Dame Essay 4. Essay for Notre Dame. The prompt was "Notre Dame's mission statement emphasizes an education should "create a sense of human solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to...

This one is tough to answer, because I have different reasons for favorite courses. I have a favorite course for what we studied in the class, and that was a class on Milton in which we read Paradise Lost. That epic...

Well, believe it or not, the biggest student group at Princeton is a Christian group that I am...

Driven, knowledgable,...

Give more flexibility...

I would try to apply to fewer schools. I had a big problem narrowing it down from 13,...

Harvard, Princeton, and Yale along with many interviews for scholarships. It all depends on the interviewer. I enjoyed all of my interviews except for my Yale interview, because the man who interview me rubbed...

The small liberal arts schools that I applied to started very high on my list of schools that I was interested in, but when I visited them as an accepted student, I just realized that they were...

I plan on taking a year after college to teach somewhere,...

I am a leader within a Christian group, the captain of the club baseball team, I tutor local middle schoolers through a community service program, I...

Choose recommenders that actually know you well. Not simply teachers that gave you good grades, but teachers that would be...