50 Yale Admission Success Stories: And the Essays That Made Them Happen

by Yale Daily News Staff

From the students at the Yale Daily News , a book that highlights the essays that got students into Yale University, helping high school seniors get into the school of their choice

The competition to get into a top-tier school becomes more and more fierce every year. Parents and students are searching for the best advice, and the final question they ask after joining clubs in high school and keeping the grades up How do I write a winning essay?

50 Yale Admission Success Stories and the Essays that Made Them Happen shows college applicants how to do exactly that, showcasing the Common App essays that got students into Yale, in addition to Yale-specific application essays and other supplemental aspects of the Yale application, like short statements and short answers.

But this book does more than just show students what kind of essays got college students through the door; it profiles each student who contributed to the collection and puts those essays into context. We meet Edgar Avina, a political science major from Houston who worked odd jobs to support his family, who immigrated from Mexico. Madeleine Bender, a New York City native, is a "jack of all trades" who writes for the Daily News , plays clarinet for a concert band, and majors in both Classics and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.

These profiles set this book apart from other college essay books, reminding students that in order to write a strong essay, you must be yourself and understand how the university you're applying to will help you make your greatest dreams into a reality.

Genres: Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published March 17, 2020

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

50 Yale Admission Success Stories & The Essays That Made Them Happen by the Staff of the Yale Daily News (St. Martin's Griffin 2020) (378.1616) (3532).

Kismet placed this little volume on the “New Books” shelf at my local library on a day while I was browsing for reading material. It was an extremely timely find, for somone dear to me had just accepted an offer from Yale and will begin pursuit of a master's in the Fall 2021 class.

I picked this up to learn about the campus culture in New Haven. The book is structured such that, in addition to reprinting successful application essays, the authors have included two-to-three page bios of each writer summarizing her or his main area(s) of interest and a list of her or his extracurricular activites at Yale – and what an amazing list of extracurricular activities it is!

Unless all fifty essay writers conspired to make Yale seem inclusive and challenging, then the campus is the kind of place I'd like to spend a few years. The Yale undergraduates whose essays were published in this volume uniformly seem to believe that they are studying in Shangri-la.

After reading 50 Yale Admission Success Stories & The Essays That Made Them Happen, it appears that Yale is an excellent choice.

My rating: 7/10, finished 4/3/21 (3532).

[Julie A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice read about accomplished young students. Wish they would have noted legacies since that makes a huge difference for elite institutions of higher education. Didn’t realize this was marketed toward prospective students and I wouldn’t recommend it since it’s sole focus is boasting about one place. (Read during covid19)

[Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the essays, as it was inspiring to see how the potential students and current students can be so passionate about their side interests, while maintaining their love for learning. The essays were really well written, and I found most to be really fascinating!

The essays inspired me to reflect and think in turn about these 2 questions (in my quest for a more fulfilling life), which some of the essays were based on:

1) Write about something that you love to do
2) Reflect on your engagement with a community to which you belong to

Would highly recommend to give this book a try!

[Kubicz · Rating 4 out of 5]

all of these essays maintained virtually the same tone. that's not to say that these essays were lacking quality; in fact, they were better than the majority of college essays that i've read. but that's to be expected from yalies.

only a few set themselves apart from the rest without falling into the generic "market yourself" tone colleges look for in these essays. i'll definitely draw inspiration from these essays.

[A]

A wonderful book to look at all the people that got accepted into YALE! Some of the stories are unexpected, some are happy, some are inspiring, and some are encouraging. I just wish they could actually tell us what kind of essays Yale expects and how to write them. But this book did sort of tell me what to write in my college admissions essay. :)