University of California, Los Angeles Admission Essays

I grew up with pictures of Philips Academy Andover plastered on my bedroom walls, closets, and shelves, each meticulously clipped from the 20 alumni magazines whose contents I knew by heart. When my acceptance letter arrived in my freshman year, I could not contain my…

My personal interests range from physics and math to the martial arts, but I would particularly like to address my interest in robotics and creative design. This interest alone has enhanced my creativity and problem solving skills, to the extent that others now seek me…

A soft humming fills the quiet kitchen as she picks up another potato. Calmly, casually, almost lovingly, she guides a smooth steel blade under the thin, textured surface, and a perfect strip of skin falls onto the cutting board. Each stroke of the knife is…

My mother would throw a fit if she knew I spent an evening during Mosaic roaming downtown, unsupervised, in the company of a homeless woman and a high-school sophomore, searching for a homeless couple. Granted, it was her fault I was doing it. She forced…

People often tell me how much I look like my grandmother. They say we share the same eyes, the same nose, and the same eager smile. What they don’t realize, however, is that the five-foot, white-haired, 61-year-old woman beside me is not my grandmother, but…

As I reflect on my life and the experiences that have shaped me, I realize that my passion for marketing has been a constant thread running through everything I have done. Growing up, I was always fascinated by how companies marketed their products, and I…

Education provides students with the tools to make a difference in their community, but what students do with those tools is ultimately up to them. A solid grounding in any subject area is not enough by itself; students must have the desire and initiative to…

Jose is a seven year old boy at the Monrovia Boys and Girls Club. He’s a recent immigrant from Mexico, and he always has a smile on his face no matter what. The thing is, that smile covers a lot of insecurity. His English is…

When I used to fall asleep as a toddler, my mother would put on old Punjabi songs. Apparently, I always woke up doing bhangra. That’s where it all started, my passion for all things dance. My first stage performance came when I was seven. I…

“Those who do not know their opponents’ arguments do not completely understand their own.” My mother had emailed me the quote, saying it reminded her of me. As I read the quote, I saw how it reflected my life. In all my schooling, all my…