Sample Common App Essay

Enchanted by the beauty of the twinkling of the stars and luminescence of the moon, my six-year-old self thought to herself as she was awestruck by the shimmering dark blue veil that resides up above her head: "What if there was a way to reach the moon and touch those stars?" I ran to my mother and asked her about the fairy she told me about, who lives on the moon, and if she could come and take me to her home, the moon. I was disheartened as she told me that the moon fairy does not appear to humans, but my curiosity regarding what lies up there where the moon and stars shine so serenely never ceased to exist.

On another moonlit night, as my father and I were gazing up at the sky, I asked my father, "Could we make a ladder and climb up to one of the shiniest stars?" But I had to endure yet another disappointment when my father explained to me that what our eyes witness is nothing but a beautiful illusion; in reality, the sky has no limit, and the distance I want to travel across won't ever come to an end. Thenceforth, I promised myself I wouldn't sit still until I allayed my thirst to attain the limitless sky. Then onward, I knew I had to dedicate my entire life to unraveling every mystery regarding the known and unknown universe that resides above us. I grew up asking questions like this and learning about different celestial objects like comets, asteroids, constellations, galaxies, and so on all throughout my elementary school life until I got access to the internet, where I could blissfully immerse myself in discovering new horizons. I often lose track of time when I invest myself in learning new things about the cosmos.

Every time I gaze up at the eternal panorama played out in the dark velvet blue night sky, it takes my breath away, just as it did the very first time I discovered the starry night when I was a little kid. According to me, diving into the depths of astronomy and cosmology confronts us with new questions about the origin of our very own existence itself. As Carl Sagan once said, "The cosmos is within us. We are made of star stuff."

The distance my childhood self wanted to exceed may be unattainable, but thriving on surpassing the limited knowledge I have is within my reach. Studying every aspect of astronomy is an escape for me from the struggles of my everyday life. I perceive life in a different way as I beset my eyes and heart on the horizon of nightfall and gaze at the thousands of stars that are attestants of life itself. I will forever be infatuated with invading the unknown, and my inestimable attraction towards the stars and the nightscapes will never end.