Common App Essay Admitted to Ivy League Schools and UChicago

 By Sarah ONeill Coatesville Supreme Editing

I used to sit in a bamboo chair on hot summer nights, rocking gently back and forth while my mom told me ancient Chinese stories in a hushed tone. "Jing Di Zhi Wa" is a proverb that has since captivated my mind. I was told it meant "A frog in a well does not know the ocean", but I never understood its meaning and looked out to the quiet stars against the dark night sky. As a young girl, I did not realize that my world was a well. With each successive stage, my world grew wider. I encountered new lands, new cultures, new ideas waiting to be connected.

But even now, half a world away, I cannot say that I know the ocean.

For instance, I remember how proud I felt being accepted to a renowned middle school in Shanghai; that day, my world doubled in size. I also remember not performing as well as expected at first but remember the joy of being elected “most caring” by my classmates. I remember my apprehension about living with “strangers”, but I also recall losing track of time happily chatting with new friends, sneaking past lights-out to brush my teeth.

I remember how overwhelming it was when I arrived on a US campus ten times bigger than my old school; again, the world I knew expanded. I also remember how surprised I felt when my friends prepared for me a secret birthday celebration. I remember the embarrassment when I couldn’t finish a warm-up run on my first day of cross country; but imagine my elation when cold air swooshed by my side as I exerted all my might and pushed myself past the 5K finish line weeks later. I remember my homesick tears seeping into my pillow, but also remember when I blissfully sped down a snow-covered hill on a food tray. I remember the pain of burying myself in AP books and being the last one to leave the library every weekend, but I also remember the ecstasy when I earned fives on AP exams. I remember my frustration when I spent hours deciphering notes in front of my piano, but also remember the enjoyment when my fingers finally flowed across the black and white keys.

It's also hard to forget how alone I felt staying up nights and countless weekends in the lab, seeking a strain of bacteria for my project. The world grows too large while waiting for replies from sending out emails to different professors again and again, so imagine my joy when I received one. This was me, singing from the bottom of a well again when a response from an Amherst professor peeped into my mailbox.

Along my journey there have been failures and successes, successes and failures…

Then it hit me. My life is a ragbag of events that furl and unfurl with the change of the tides. Only when I look back do I realize the order unfolding across my experiences. My life couldn’t have widened without corresponding setbacks. Ultimately, they make up my journey from well to world.

For a long time, I thought “Jing Di Zhi Wa” was about two different frogs—one in the well without perspective, and one in the ocean with it. In fact, they are the same frog, but at different times. Through painful but rewarding experiences, the frog finds its way to the ocean. Failures are part of my successes and integral to my self-growth. I have used my successes as well as my setbacks to see the bigger picture, to understand the large world a little more each time. Quoting Steven Hawking, I’ll continue to look up at the stars and not down at my feet. From the well to the ocean, and from the ocean to the sky…"Sic itur ad astra", one journeys to the stars.