50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, Fourth Edition

1. Personal statements should showcase your unique identity and passions

For the essay to be truly successful, who you are needs to come through—your hopes and dreams, your insights and accomplishments.

Highlight your individuality. The personal statement is your opportunity to give admissions officers insight into who you are beyond grades and test scores. Focus on aspects of your identity, experiences, or interests that make you unique. Avoid generic topics or trying to guess what admissions officers want to hear.

Be genuine and reflective. Write about things you're truly passionate about, not what you think will impress others. Dig deep to understand your motivations and what has shaped you. Show self-awareness by reflecting on how your experiences have influenced your goals and outlook. Admissions officers can tell when an essay is authentic versus manufactured.

2. Overcoming obstacles can demonstrate resilience and character

When done well, these essays can be the best of the best. They give admissions officers a chance to get to know you as a person—really the ultimate goal of the personal statement—and give you a chance to demonstrate how impressive you are.

Choose meaningful challenges. Write about obstacles that truly tested you and led to personal growth. Minor inconveniences won't resonate as much as significant hardships you've faced. Explain how you responded to the challenge and what you learned from it.

Show, don't tell. Use vivid details and anecdotes to illustrate the obstacle and your response. Avoid generalizations. Let the story demonstrate your resilience, problem-solving skills, and character rather than explicitly stating these qualities. Focus on your growth and what you gained from the experience.

3. Writing about cultural experiences requires nuance and self-reflection

Being a foreigner can also make for an interesting and original essay. In this section, some applicants will explore what it means to be different, some will explain how good-hearted others can be, and one delivers a refreshingly light account of her time in France.

Avoid stereotypes and generalizations. When writing about cultural experiences, steer clear of clichés or oversimplifications. Provide nuanced insights into cultural differences and your personal growth. Reflect on how your perspective has expanded.

Focus on personal impact. Rather than just describing cultural differences, explore how the experience affected you. What did you learn about yourself? How did it shape your worldview? Connect the experience to your goals and values. Show how it contributes to what you'll bring to a college community.

4. Passion-driven essays reveal genuine interests and motivations

Writing about something important to you can go a long way in a personal statement. The essays in this section describe something the author is passionate about, and they are generally successful.

Demonstrate depth of interest. Go beyond surface-level descriptions of your passion. Show your dedication through specific examples of how you've pursued this interest. Discuss what draws you to this subject and how it connects to your goals.

Link passion to personal growth. Explain how your passion has shaped you as a person. What skills or qualities have you developed? How has it influenced your perspective? Make connections between your passion and your potential contributions to a college community.

Examples of passions to write about:

• Academic subjects
• Creative pursuits
• Social causes
• Unique hobbies

5. Inspiration-focused essays should connect to personal growth

The best of these essays don't just make the student sound impressive for what he or she has accomplished under trying circumstances. The best essays do all of this, while also weaving in the parts of that student's personality that are not defined by either the obstacles or the successes.

Go beyond hero worship. When writing about someone who inspires you, focus on how they've influenced your own growth and aspirations. Avoid simply listing their accomplishments. Instead, draw specific connections to your own life and goals.

Show ongoing impact. Explain how this inspiration continues to shape your choices and outlook. Provide concrete examples of how you've applied lessons learned from your inspiration. Demonstrate how this influence will guide your future actions and goals.

6. Experience-based essays benefit from vivid storytelling

Remember, if you're writing an essay about experiences, use lots of detail and include some color. These stories should be told well enough that someone would want to read it even if they weren't being paid to do so.

Use sensory details. Bring your experience to life with vivid descriptions that engage the reader's senses. What did you see, hear, smell, taste, or feel? Create a clear picture in the reader's mind.

Structure for impact. Organize your story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Build tension or curiosity to keep the reader engaged. Consider using dialogue or inner monologue to add depth to the narrative.

Elements of effective storytelling:

• Strong opening hook
• Descriptive language
• Dialogue
• Emotional arc
• Reflective conclusion

7. Effective essays avoid clichés and forced conclusions

If you have to put forward your meaning explicitly for the essay to make sense, then that is a good sign that there are places that need to be improved in your essay.

Trust your story. Avoid explicitly stating the "lesson" or "moral" of your essay. A well-crafted narrative should allow the reader to draw their own conclusions about your character and growth. Trust that your story speaks for itself.

Show, don't tell. Instead of directly stating qualities like "leadership" or "perseverance," demonstrate these traits through specific examples and anecdotes. Let your actions and choices reveal your character.

8. Strong essays use specific details and anecdotes

Writing about a hobby that is truly unusual—geocaching. He enthusiastically explains the hobby thoroughly enough for the reader to understand, which makes his unusual pastime an excellent choice for a paper topic.

Provide concrete examples. Use specific anecdotes, details, and examples to illustrate your points. This makes your essay more engaging and memorable. Avoid vague generalizations or broad statements.

Choose meaningful details. Select details that reveal something important about your character, values, or growth. Every element of your essay should serve a purpose in painting a picture of who you are.

9. Essays should maintain focus and avoid trying to cover too much

There's the seed of a terrific story in Al's encounter with the Guatemalan mothers and it could have benefited from expansion. This was a formative experience for him, and if he were to demonstrate why he would have an even more successful essay.

Narrow your focus. Choose one main idea or experience to explore in depth rather than trying to cover multiple topics superficially. This allows for more meaningful reflection and analysis.

Develop your main point. Once you've chosen your focus, explore it thoroughly. Provide context, analyze its significance, and connect it to your broader goals or character. Show how this one element reveals important aspects of who you are.

10. Admissions officers look for authenticity and self-awareness

Yueming comes across as a compassionate individual with a talent for storytelling.

Be honest and vulnerable. Don't try to present a perfect image. Admissions officers appreciate candidates who can honestly assess their strengths and weaknesses. Show how you've grown from challenges or mistakes.

Demonstrate self-reflection. Throughout your essay, show that you've thought deeply about your experiences and their impact on you. Explain how you've changed or what you've learned. Connect past experiences to your current values and future goals.

Signs of authenticity and self-awareness:

• Acknowledging weaknesses or failures
• Showing growth over time
• Connecting experiences to values
• Demonstrating insight into motivations
• Realistic self-assessment

Last updated: November 19, 2024