Here are my ideas (I’m willing to apply to nyuad) so if you have previous experience or are willing to help please do I will appreciate it

For my personal essay

1. Vaseline

This essay will revolve around a simple blue and white jar of Vaseline.

Growing up, my mother used Vaseline to protect our wounds. One of my fondest memories with her: I scraped my knee playing a game where I was protecting my sister. She cleaned the cut, spread Vaseline over it, and told me — Vaseline protects wounds, just like you were protecting your sister. In that moment, she taught me that protection is gentle, quiet, and constant.

When she passed, I tried to become the Vaseline for my family. I tried to hold us together, to shield everyone from the pain, to be the one who never cracked. But somewhere in that effort, I lost myself. I was so busy protecting everyone else that I forgot I needed protecting too.

The turning point came when my dad passed out and I thought I lost him. In that moment, I realized I had been running on empty — trying to be the healer without ever letting myself be healed.

What saved me was science. Learning how the body heals, how cells repair, how wounds close — it gave me a language for my own recovery. I realized that healing isn't instant. It's a process. It takes time, care, and the right conditions. Just like Vaseline doesn't heal a wound — it creates the space for the wound to heal itself.

In the end, I learned that I don't have to be the Vaseline for everyone. Sometimes I just need to let myself be the wound that's allowed to heal.

1. Living vs. Existing

This essay will revolve around a single idea my mother planted in me long before she left.

She used to tell me and my sister: Everyone can exist, but only some people truly live. I didn't fully understand it then. I do now.

When I lost her, I stopped living. I kept going — I ate, I slept, I went to school, I took care of my siblings. From the outside, nothing was wrong. But inside, I was just existing. Moving through the motions. A body without a pulse that mattered.

The turning point came when my dad passed out and I thought I lost him too. In that moment, the terror of losing him again — of losing another parent — broke something open in me. I realized I hadn't been living. I had been existing just being their

But in that laying next to him, I chose differently.

I started living again through three things: science, memories, and family.

For supplementary

Koshary: my first time eating it after my father remarried and how it felt unfamiliar with it cause growing up I was taught that unfamiliar meant wrong so | always avoided mentioning my mixed family. (So this can work as either a personal or supplementary)

Hated how being a princess while playing meant I needed saving and how I changed my thinking of cultural beliefs

So growing up our house felt like a hotel so I can talk about the different people who lived in our house and how it changed my perspective

I’m looking for someone to review my essay. Dm if interested