Carnegie Mellon University Application Essays

Before I had even entered kindergarten, I would sit on the floor of my father’s study room every Saturday morning, both of us bent over a large artist’s sketch pad that was covered in numbers and equations instead of paint or charcoal. From a young…

My mother’s rehearsed speech about how “Tiffany became interested in business because I took her along to see my financial advisor” is not entirely true. Although I found my mother’s financial consultation sessions interesting and felt flattered when her advisor offered me an internship, my…

The world would have us believe that there is nothing inherently significant about Legos. The simple fact that millions of people grew up with Legos as a part of their childhood does not devalue or minimize my own experience. Rather, I think my young mind’s…

I will admit: computer science has not always fascinated me like it does today. As the son of a software engineer, I did not find take-your-child-to-work day particularly appealing. Seeing my father constantly work on the computer had given me a distorted view of what…

As a young aficionado of poetry and prose, I would love to develop my skills through a disciplined and distinguished writing program; Carnegie Mellon’s College of Humanities & Social Sciences offers just that. Believing one must be a great reader before becoming a great writer,…

I have chosen to apply to the Carnegie Mellon College of Science, the Mathematical Science department, because I have a passion for learning that I want to apply to mathematical principles as they pertain to modern internet security. It is my goal to receive an…

I have two homes, and they could not be more different. My life in futurism-crazed Dubai is punctuated by my summers, which are spent amid the feeble cleanliness systems and lack of robust infrastructure endemic to places like Kolkata. This experience highlighted how crippling the…

There I sat, an American-born Indian boarding a flight to Guatemala with Japanese anime loaded on my phone and a Wheelock’s Latin textbook in hand. At only 15, I was somewhat culturally aware, but I felt culturally confused. My skin said I was Indian, my…

Your world seems to fall here. Air so cold and fingers so numb, you would barely know when it happened. But you do. As your grip slips, it takes only seconds before you realize. Gravity unforgivingly pulls you from your scull and into the frigid…

In tenth grade, I had a wild idea: a reusable cosmetics container made from plastic recovered from the ocean. I would negotiate a deal with an ocean cleanup organization, build prototypes out of the acquired plastic, pitch my product and my vision to haircare and…