"Please write an essay on a topic of your choice or one of the options listed below. This personal essay helps us to become acquainted with you as a person and student, apart from courses, grades, test scores, and other objective data. It will also demonstrate your ability to organize your thoughts and express yourself. 250 - 500 words."

Now, I'm sorry for my indignation, but 250-500 words? 250-500 words to help you "get to know me better"? If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to begin by asking you a question:

Have you ever tried
to go outside on a day with just the most beautiful, heart-wrenching sunset,
You know, one where the sky is splattered with deep reds, oranges, blues, and blacks like God's personal Pollock piece,
And sum it up in a photograph taken with your 1.3 megapixel cameraphone?
Well I have, and let me tell ya -- the results aren’t really that great.
The image is there, but something doesn’t quite translate.
And now I'm not implying at all that I'm a sunset but if even that picture's worth a thousand words, I'd like to see you try and define any high-school-senior's life in 250 – 500

At this moment in time, our lives are bursting at the seams with no heed to any word limits
I mean, we're preparing to leave everything we know behind and move on to a completely different universe.
Everything becomes "the last" -- this is the last time I'll walk through these halls and high five my friend on the way to class, the last time I’ll be guided by an intercom to pledge allegiance to the flag, the last, the last, the last

I don't know how time has passed so fast,
But I do know that 250-500 words cannot be enough to define me. I know that some official will read that essay and say hey, he seems like a nice kid, but something will have been lost along the way.
I don't want to give you a snapshot or mail you a cheap postcard letter; I want to show you the sunset because see,
Life's a lot more than 250-500 words; life is incredible.
So I just hope that now you’ve gotten to know me a bit better.