55 Successful Harvard Law School Application Essays, 2nd Edition: With Analysis by the Staff of The Harvard Crimson

by Harvard Crimson

Fifty-five all-new essays that got their authors into Harvard, showing what worked, what didn’t, and how you can do it, too.

Harvard Law School is one of the premier law schools in the world. It as well as other top schools draws thousands of applicants from the best colleges and companies. With only a limited number of slots for so many talented applicants, the admissions officers have become more and more selective every year, the competition has become fierce, and even the best and brightest could use an edge.

This completely new edition of 55 Successful Harvard Law School Application Essays is the best resource for anyone looking for that edge. Through the most up-to-date sample essays from the Harvard Law School students who made the cut and insightful analysis from the staff at The Harvard Crimson, it shows you how best to:

* Argue your case effectively
* Arrange your accomplishments for maximum impact
* Avoid common pitfalls

55 Successful Harvard Law School Application Essays guides you toward writing essays that do more than simply list your background and accomplishments. These are essays that reveal your passion for the law as well as the discipline you bring to this demanding profession and will help you impress any admissions department. The all-new essays and straightforward and time-saving advice will give you all the insider tips you'll need to write the essays that will get you into the best law schools in the world.

Genres: Law, Nonfiction, Reference, College

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2011

Reviews

[Antipoet · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is allegedly 250 pages, but I have no reason to believe that is true. It is Xeno's Paradox, Waiting for Godot, a demonstration of the General Theory of Relativity, a hands-on explanation of asymptotes, a drudge, an agony, and a balm for anyone who has ever been rejected from Harvard Law. I aged 50 years in the three months it took me to read...most of it. At least I think it was most of it? It has to have been...

More than 50 of these people are insufferable, unselfaware bores whom you would want neither as friends nor advocates. With lawyers like these, who needs suicide?

[Gisselle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book since I'm applying to law school and currently writing my personal statement. This book includes a series of essays submitted to Harvard Law which have been successful. I actually really enjoyed reading it and I think it provides great tips for writing a successful personal statement as it gives you insight into the major themes a personal statement can have and how the mind of admissions officers works in regards to the personal statement.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the essays reek of saviorism or are kind of surface level for what you’d expect, but still the essays and analysis are very helpful in inspiring a law school app

[Alexandra B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt that this book was very insightful and a helpful resource in preparing a law school admissions essay. There were two main pitfalls, thought, to the book: the lack of proofreading and the repetition of themes.
There were multiple times where I caught grammar or spelling mistakes, so much so that I started to doubt whether this book was a proper resource to assist me in my law school application process. Although the analyses written by the staff of the Harvard Crimson were clearly well thought out, a great amount of them contained obvious errors that were shocking to encounter given the caliber of Harvard and the institution’s students and staff.
In regard to the repetition of themes, the selected essays chosen for this book contained a lot of people from the same background and with almost identical experiences. Various essays were written by Stanford or Harvard alum, Nigerian immigrants or Nigerian first-gens, Jewish or Jewish Israeli people, and those with prior experience in the medical/scientific field “making the switch” to law. My problem of course is not with the representation of these people, as all types of representation are crucial especially in the legal field, but the repetitive back-to-back storytelling from the same voices and backgrounds made it easy to disengage from these narratives that, stand alone, were inspiring and powerful. I just expected there to be a more diverse collection of stories to provide the reader with a more well-rounded selection of inspiration for their own personal statement.

[Izzy Bohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Counting this as a book for my reading challenge since it technically is one.
Had some good insights and i am definitely glad I read it. Way too many essays about Israel and about rich kids discovering poverty and deciding to practice law because of it. But such is Harvard law i suppose.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was delivered in good condition and the book is very clean.

[Rosie Ezgur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the essays are applicable to law school applications today. I do not like the advice given in the book as it is not by admissions but instead by students which is not helpful.