50 Successful Harvard Application Essays: What Worked for Them Can Help You Get into the College of Your Choice

by Harvard Crimson

This collection gives 50 great examples of effective and diverse ways to express individuality in that most dreaded of all tasks for high school seniors--writing the college application essay. Each was used by a Harvard student on his or her application and is followed with analysis by the staff of the Harvard Crimson , who help give perspective on what works well, what is a necessary evil, and what detracts from an otherwise compelling essay. With pointers on avoiding common essay pitfalls and stepping back to evaluate strengths applicants never realized they had, Fifty Successful Harvard Application Essays is an inspiration for every student trying to find the one thing that sets him or her apart from the crowd.

Genres: Nonfiction, College, Essays, Writing, Education, School

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

Reviews

[Paris Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reason I like the book is because it has not only the good essays, but also the comments from the admission office. There are a lot of essays in the book talks about the Asian immigrants, even I am not an Asian immigrant, I am an international student, and I believe this book can definitely help me with college essay writing. The colleges know the applicants from their essays,and all the essays have different writing styles to represent themselves. I remember when my mom picked up this book, she thought that all the application essay start with "My name is XXXX and I live in XXXX" format(certainly she didn't go through the American college application process). In fact, I did not find any essay in the book that start the same way. When we are presenting ourselves to the colleges, we want to be unique, special, not as same as every body else. Everyone in the world is a unique individual, by showing the colleges the unique and special personality and experience, everyone can get into a college that fits the best.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An applicant to Harvard should, of course, know better, than to read an essay book. However this wasn't the reason why I bought it an read it - my true wish was to catch a glimpse, albeit a distorted and then focused one, of the applicant pool. We are presented here, not quite with a guidance book, but with a small sociological study, upon which we can reflect about societal acceptance trends and behavior of those, applying for the most known among the Big Six.
Read it not for advice given, but more to know and understand a given set of people.

[Ashley Zhang · Rating 3 out of 5]

not going to college after this

[Herbert Toler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good sociological study into the students selected for Harvard Business School. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the diverse stories, because they provided valuable insights into the lives of these students and helped me gain a deeper understanding of their backgrounds.

A primary curiosity I have remains in the essays of those who did not make it into the book. I am eager to explore how Harvard Business School has cultivated its reputation as an institution that produces sector and industry leaders while all the students in the book focused on themes of saving the whales or providing opportunities for the disadvantaged. I am curious to discover the perspectives of those who did not fit into these narratives (because I am confident they don’t all do so [there was the military dude who talked about perseverance who I thought was in the more outlier angle not in terms of what he wrote about or career experience but mo so because I felt like his essay was not related at all to HBS or its function in helping him]).

In terms of personal statements, this book serves as an excellent starting point. Its highly replicable format and comprehensive categorization of effective persuasive techniques make it a valuable resource for aspiring students.

Regarding leadership, the book effectively presents various leadership styles. However, one aspect that I found noteworthy is the emphasis on personal ownership and internal locus of control. Many of the students in the book take responsibility for their actions and shape their own stories, often portraying themselves as agents of change.

Books a 3 or 4 stars because it does get repetitive, but maintained my interest because I was curious to learn about the background of another student who got this amazing opportunity.

Now batting: Down These Mean Streets
On deck: Where Do We Go From Here
In the hole: TBD

[Brandon Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. The author showed various essays from accepted Harvard applicants, and gave critiques on how the essay was written. Some of the essays were very interesting, humorous, and emotional. I thought every single essay was perfect, but each always had a flaw of some sort. I think that reading this book will help one improve their writing and keep readers hooked. Great book overall.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the advice on what should be included and what must be avoided in your personal statement. This advice is applied consistently to judge one essay after another. By the end of the book if you have not absorbed or heeded the advice but get accepted to your dream school anyway, I would love to read your essay. I love counter-examples!

[Simon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Borrowed this book for my little sister who is applying to college.

A surprisingly good read.

[M. Suhaimi Ramly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The general ideas are good, but as of 2021, some of the content are dated.

College admission howto's like this work for some time until everyone gets into the game and figures out how to game the rules and then suddenly the admission office is inundated with 50,000 applications all of whom are straight-A, honor student, club president, athlete-mathlete, extra-curricular creep, who are deeply passionate in some fashionable cause du jour, and who have a sob story about a disabled relative or a poor person they meet during their once-in-a-lifetime pity visit to a rural village doing "charity work".
Which invariably leads them to end their essays with "...and that experience made me a better person who is thankful for what I have, and it makes me understand the ultimate truth: that love makes the world go round."
Yawn.
Credit to the Crimson editors who tell the applicants do not be boring.

[Sylvia Vukosavljevic]

This is one of my favorite guidebooks to writing a successful admissions essay for Harvard or any other school really. What I enjoy about this book is that the authors offer up the profiles of each student creating a kind of guide for future students to understand what stand out factors, GPA, and overall profile helped students profiled in the book to get in.

[Tiffaroonie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I expected more from Harvard. If these are the best 50 essays, from our country’s top university, our country is doomed.

The most interesting part is this book are the kids GPAS, test scores and their extracurricular activities. I found the editors criticisms of the essays to be largely superfluous and irrelevant.

[KingSolomon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and helpful. A bit shocking how many errors crept through the editorial staff of the Crimson. Also shocking how many essays were sub-par, as well as the analyses that followed them. Nevertheless as a whole, well-done essays and well-done critiques.

[Charu Upadhyay · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is inspirinG, I wish this book was read by my younger self.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished reading the book from last night till this noon. Got me thinking about how I should be writing my PS. Gotta show introspection and philosophically unique ideas.

[Ana Cavalcanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

there’s clearly a pattern. note: there weren’t more than 5 international students

[shu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars
Decent read. Will probably not help me get into Harvard.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Considering that this was a required read during my senior year in high school why did I rank something like this so low?

PRIVILEGE

Apart from three or four of these essays, which were quite unique and interesting to read (I remember one about a shower, a monologue in a theater, and a young man who liked magic). These essays were written by students who are wealthy enough to travel extensively in high school. They were cliche, even if they were written well.

Students shouldn't read a book like this to get a sense of how to write a college application essay. What they should do is this:

1) Take a healthy risk while writing on the topic at hand.

2) BE YOU--do not be what the admissions office thinks they want to hear from you

3) Don't listen to someone when you use something popular as a metaphor. It will bite them in the butt when that same essay gets that student into a top school.

4) Revise, revise, and revise!

5) Have fun! This is a chance to set themselves apart and if you don't have fun writing it, then the people on the other side won't have fun reading it.

This is coming from a former student who got into all her schools, including top rated schools on her application essay.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This informational book,"50 Successful Harvard Application Essays" (180 pages) written by the staff of the Harvard Crimson, is an excellent tool that helps guide seniors struggling with writing the dreaded college essay. As colleges become more and more selective with each passing year, the personal essay/statement is becoming more and more important to differentiate students. Because the topics for these essays are often very vague, many students often have no idea where to begin. This book provides its readers a variety of examples to use for inspiration and ideas. Furthermore, each essay is followed by a brief analysis of weaknesses and strengths. As a senior, I found this book to be particularly helpful in providing insight on what works and what doesn't. It helped me learn how to pick a topic, structure my essay, keep my readers entertained, and avoid common mistakes that many students make. I would recommend this book to anyone applying to college who needs some ideas to get started on their essays.

[Catalina · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you need inspiration to write a creative and persuasive essay (or even a cover letter) this book is a great motivator. I particularly enjoyed the immediate gratification of the critique given after each entry. It is fascinating to learn what components of the writings were viewed as positives in many cases.

Having two children already safely accepted to college and two currently in the application process, I've found that they are receiving mixed messages from AP exams, Lit/Lang classes, and ACT/SAT tutors as to what makes a successful essay. None of them are "wrong", it's simply a case of each of the aforementioned demanding a different focus for their purposes. However, it's confusing for kids to know how to switch gears and give them all what they want to hear and in what way. This book offers them a guideline to steer them onto the right path for college essays, which is a relief in the hurricane of all the conflicting information surrounding them.

[Thao Do · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this book before applying to US colleges. Very useful and provoke thinking. I pretend to be an admission office while reading it. That means I read many essays continuously in a day and then tried to remember them the next day, then choose 10 best out of 50. The best thing I like about the book is not its essays but the comments from the Crimson staff which pointed out how good and how bad a PS could be. After reading this book, I want to write my personal statement again, and I will soon.

[M Naser · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was truly incredible it gives you a really beautiful insight of how it is in Harvard! you get to dive into the minds of the great students that actually succeeded in impressing the Harvard admission board.
what i liked mostly about the book is that which each essay i got the feeling that i am reading a short beautiful story, and the analysis at the end of every essay helps in understanding stuff that can easily go unnoticed.
I strongly recommend this book.

[Susan Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun read. Sometimes my reaction is, "I had no idea that's all it took to get into Harvard", other times it is , "Wow, now how in the world did he think of THAT?"

I think the comments are just as much fun to read as the essays themselves.

[Maria Dudley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful if you have a child who will be applying to college soon (even if they aren't interested in Harvard) or filling out other sorts of applications. I loved reading these personal essays! Interesting and good writing even if this doesn't apply to you....

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good reference. I am trying to perfect my application essays. I have one but I will be applying to more schools and I want a really strong essay! This is my 2nd ref. book and my choice one. Read this one if you need help for college applications.

[Megan]

AMAZING. Their writing is fantastic and the reviews are very informational for students trying to write their college essays.

[Renuka · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essays were well categorized and the comments/critiques of them are pretty valuable.

[SallyStenger]

Interesting, but not as much as the one with the law school essays. Short and easy to read.