Sample College Essay
Jonah Zarrow
Professor Randall Stiffler
English 1
18 September 2013
Learning to Love
An almost daily occurrence in my household—back when the nest was still filled—was one of my parents reviewing flashcards aloud with one of my three siblings (all of whom are significantly older than I). They ranged from Spanish vocab to chemical formulae to math equations, but no matter what the circumstances my parents were always ready to help. This is because my parents truly believe that educating their children is the best investment they can make.
One night I was watching The Simpsons on the green and purple couch in our “TV room” (my siblings and I never successfully learned the difference between living room and family room, so we named them by their most prominent objects). I heard my dad quizzing my sisters. I turned off the TV, got up, and walked around the corner to the entrance of the “piano room.” I must have been seven or eight based on how short I was. I heard my dad say, “Irk.”
My mind raced to define “irk,” which it did successfully, and then to recall the most recent time I had heard it. It was while playing Scrabble a week prior. I saw Jason (my then 16 year-old brother) sitting next to my mom, laying out the tiles R and K perpendicular to the “I” in “inner.” I asked my dad what it meant and he said, “to annoy someone.” My family loves to play word and strategy games with each other. The more people and the longer it lasts, the better. Scrabble, for reasons unknown to me, was always my father’s game of choice when he wanted to spend time with the family.
“To annoy someone,” my sister Carly said. “Good,” said dad, “sanctuary.”
Before my eyes flashed Quasimodo yelling “sanctuary!!!” while holding Esmeralda above his head on a ledge in front of a stained glass window of the Notre Dame Cathedral in the animated movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. My family loves watching television. But we only have one TV, so we set out a list of rules for sharing the TV, and the nearest parent would settle all disputes. It was a good system: we rarely fought over control of the TV, we spent more time together (so we could have legitimate claim to control of the remote during the next show), and we watched a lot of the same shows.
“A sacred place, a safe haven, or a temple.” “Yup,” said dad. “Morals.” “Duh” I whispered as I immediately dismissed the simple vocabulary word. “DUH!” exclaimed both of my sisters, surprised as I was at the easiness of the word. “Okay,” said dad, “name me a few of our morals.”
My siblings and I attended a private Jewish day school from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. We were taught all of the Jewish morals, traditions, holidays and beliefs, and were expected to believe these things wholeheartedly and without doubt—something of which I have never been capable. My 1st grade teacher, Mrs. De Jung, appeared in my mind and said “Life is the most important thing. If you can save a life, do it, because you are saving someone’s universe.” My grandpa then popped up in my head and said “family first, Jonah.” Then I saw my kitchen and my mom standing in front of me saying, “always try to be a good person, Jonah. Even if people are being mean to you or you’re angry, you should always try to be good and nice.”
My sisters shouted their answers over each other. “Family first!” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!” Respect thy neighbor!” “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” “And… what do I always tell you is the most important thing,” dad asked. “Love!” my sisters yelled. “Exactly. Intellectual.”
Blank. I had never heard that word before. I knew that intellect had something to do with smartness, but I was unaware of the exact relationship. It is surprising, though, that I had never heard the word “intellectual” before then (I probably had, but I wasn’t focused enough to really hear it). My family values education and intelligence above almost everything else. My parents don’t buy expensive things and live on a tight budget because they spend their upper middle-class income largely on their kids’ expensive private schools. Now that I think about it, the importance of intelligence permeated every aspect of my childhood. My parents bought the learning game, “Math Blasters” with our first computer so we would spend time on it learning math instead of goofing off. My dad read to all of his kids every night for as long as they’d let him. My parents celebrated when we got good grades and consoled us when we did poorly. Whenever I was bored my dad would make me puzzles, mazes and math problems. We spent most of our time together playing games that taught us strategy, vocabulary, spelling, and problem solving.
“Smart!” I shouted as I realized the definition. “Jonah? Come in, Jobie.” Super spy Jonah Zarrow had been discovered. I walked in with my head down and moved quickly to the couch my sisters were on. “You can sit with us if you want to,” my dad said. For my subconscious mind this was fantastic: I would spend time with my family while learning what my older siblings were learning so I could better relate to them. I smiled and sat sandwiched between my sisters and shouted answers with pride.
Note: I know I said I wouldn’t send it, but here's my first college essay. The prompt was to describe a seemingly uninteresting event and make the reader understand why it was significant.
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