Application Essay Excerpts

People had often told me that I walk too fast. This is not something I noticed on my own; but after hearing it a number of times, I began to wonder what caused me to move so briskly. I had come to the conclusion that speed walking is a habit I had developed, perhaps because of my very tight schedule...

“And it’s another bright morning in Evanston, Illinois from 89.3 WNUR,” chirps my radio at 7 o’clock in the morning. I hit the snooze button and slowly sit up. My legs are still sore from the Ballroom, Latin, and Swing Team (BLAST) dance party, but I had learned an impressive swing out move and befriended several promising dance partners...

January 1998, Beijing, Hebei Province… By the millions, the black flakes floated down as I intently watched their wandering flights. Summoned by a distant wailing whistle, the strange apparitions appeared from the gray clouds above with an eerie punctuality each night...

The course of my monotonous life took a sharp turn when I met a six-year-old boy named Ibrahim. Ibrahim is my student, and I am his martial arts instructor. Amongst all the students I teach, he is unique. And the aspect which separates Ibrahim from the rest is a simple genetic disorder: autism. Teaching him a simple punch has been the single most challenging task I have ever encountered in my life...

Vassar enables me to look at medicine for the underserved from multiple perspectives. I hope to raise my hand in the new science buildings and to take classes like “Behavior Mediating Infections” and “Community Development.”..

Given the chance, I would jump at the opportunity to learn from Dr. Cheng who is using eastern influences on western medicine to yield stronger cures. I also hope to learn about the evolutionary direction of disease from Dr. Stearns...

I struggle to gulp down the bitter, sewage-smelling herbal tea. Boiled together in a black, ominous liquid, it is difficult to understand how Eastern medicine works. Western medicine, with its smooth, odorless pills, candy-colored syrups, and boxes covered in explanations, is far more accessible than Eastern medicine has ever been...

According to my father, unless pipes are healthily maintained, the infrastructure of a home will clog. Despite all of his skills under the sink, our home has been hopelessly stagnant for years. Poverty has been the biggest obstruction my family has faced...

As we bounced along the rutted dirt road in a 1968 Land Rover, I stared out the window, watching rows of cardboard houses and grass huts go by. Women with huge loads balanced on their heads made their way to a communal well, while bare-footed children in tattered clothes played in the dirt. Far off the beaten track of most tourists, Karatu, Tanzania was a rural, poverty-stricken village...

My interest in Psychology was sparked in middle school. In seventh grade, my friends were dealing with challenges ranging from relationship issues to eating disorders. My favorite lunch pastime was sitting at a table listening to my best friend’s problems and helping them figure out what they should do. Although I chose to opt out of their drama, I thrived on being a support to them. In high school, the issues we were all dealing with seemed to be even more challenging...