Undergraduate / "We spent so much money on you and this is how you repay us?" Since your last application- Stanford [3]

Hello,

I am applying to Stanford as a transfer. I applied and was denied admission for my freshman year. On this essay I just wanted to talk about my trauma and how poetry helped me cope up with it (I have already written so much about my personal traits in my other essays, I just want this to be simple)

Prompt: Reflect on your experiences and personal development since your last application(250 words)

"We spent so much money on you and this is how you repay us?" my dad screamed staring straight in my eyes. With tears rolling down my dry cheeks, I looked at my mom begging her to say something. But the curves on her face could tell me, she had lost her belief in me. I pulled out every string in my heart to work for what I wanted, but luck does not always favor the brave.

I killed my dream to get into a great institution, a dream that was instilled in my brain since I was fourteen. My father didn't speak to me for four months. I couldn't take it all, I went into a trauma. Dark winged birds and starless thoughts became my friends until I finally passed an interview and got into X University.

The transition was difficult with traumatic nuances still interfering my brain. I started pinning down words to paper as if every single inch of ink was a collection of my blood drops framing a new life. Writing was an escape from the troubled rocks. In the end of my first semester, I created a Poetry Club where I spent a substantial amount of my time, jolting down random phrases with my team. We would then just fit in these constructions with each other to grow an infinite chain of unusual clauses. We took great pride at the authenticity and finesse of our material. It made me feel like a pure artist.

Undergraduate / "Gay man of color"; It is imperative for me to be a sinner - Stanford essay [7]

Hello,

I am applying to Stanford as an international transfer. The deadline is in a week so I'm freaking out. Please help me on this essay.

Prompt- 'What matters to you and why?'

It is imperative for me to be a sinner- curly haired, bloodshot eyed, dusky fleshed, crank headed sinner with a silhouette resembling the demon. I was born against the order of nature, as Chapter XVI, Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code quotes, describing the LGBTQ community. As soon as I realized my homosexuality, it took me no time to venture on the quest to masculinity as effeminate men are not glamorized in the Indian society. It's sort of like; links to the ancient culture is resisting the progression towards a more accepting community and is questioning the legitimacy of 'right to freedom.'

To think that two men possessing intimate feelings for each other is unnatural, questions the authenticity of the definition of love. What is love if not two souls at the juncture of promise, solace and sacrifice?

My experiences- from the inability to get approval for creation of LGBTQ society in school as well as college to the bullying I had to endure when my friends found out sexually explicit pictures of two men on my phone- have been an important foundation for self-invention. Being gay is important to me because homosexuality is a beautiful skeleton that keeps different pieces of my body stacked together.It is a domain of self discovery which cuts down even the slightest possibility of being a judgmental person, for I've been criticized all my life. It makes me want to fight back all the hatred that is erupting out from the society. It makes me human.

The Indian Government is arguably creating a 'cure' for what they think can be treated. I have always desired to be straight but now I wonder, 'If given a chance, would I really go straight?"