Wandering Suburbanite: College Admission Essay Sample

I used to run rampant in bicycle gangs of five or six, tearing up the streets lined with quaint suburban duplexes. I can still feel the chilly air tainted with the smell of pine trees flowing through my untamable hair. Our fleets of first-graders terrorized small animals and little siblings among well-manicured lawns. I had my purple “Malibu” two-wheeler (my pride and joy) and rode without any hindrance as fast as I could over dirt jumps in the vacant lot beside my house. In the winter there were snow-covered rooftops and streets as far as the eye could see, and the rumble of enormous snow plows would wake me in the frosty mornings. In the mild summers, backyards were littered with shallow kiddy-pools with blown-up slides if you were lucky, kids ran through sprinklers squealing with delight, and rounds of ice pops were delivered by the ice cream man. Three-foot wire fences were the only thing separating neighbors, and block parties were commonplace. Aside from white picket fences and mothers in dresses with aprons calling in their children at nightfall, it was the “Leave It to Beaver” perfect world. There in upstate New York is where my roots remain, not in the sweltering heat of the Houston suburbs, despite the fact that I have lived here most of my life. Some part of me still yearns for the innocence of snow men in the park and cheap metal swing sets being rocked to their squeaking limits.

This same desire also wants to make me explore the world to see what other wonders it contains. Maybe it is because I am a National Geographic Channel junkie that I yearn to backpack in Europe, canoe along flooded rainforests, or meet ancient surviving cultures. Throughout my high school career I have attached myself to people who have already had worldly experiences, one from Argentina, another from Belgium, and another that had visited Belize. They say, “It’s so much different,” and “I wish I could go back there.” I want to reach new places, learn new things, open my mind and absorb all that I experience.

There are so many things I haven’t done, so many places I want to go, and so many things I want to see, and I believe that having my unyielding frame of mind and attending this college will be a stepping stone to the rest of the world. I will gather and learn to use the tools I need to go wherever my whims may carry me, and perhaps it will allow me to find a place where I can root again.