Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
Summary:
You've been told a million times how selective and random the college process is, how the personal essay is your one chance to speak directly to admissions officers and sway them in your favor. You have to be entertaining, persuasive, and passionate, while effectively conveying your personality, character, and ideals. And you only have five hundred words to accomplish this. 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays showcases the kinds of conventional and creative approaches that helped their authors get into the nation's most prestigious college. From coping with family tragedy to seeing Vietnamese soup as a metaphor for one's identity, the variety of topics covered in these essays will help you think about how to write about yourself creatively and effectively. Each essay is followed by a brief discussion written by a Harvard Crimson staff writer who analyzes its main strengths and weaknesses. Through this analysis and our Fifteen Steps to Success, you'll learn: -How to pick a topic-How to structure your essay-How to keep the reader entertained-How to avoid common pitfalls
Customer Reviews:
Average Customer Rating:
More helpful for the Harvard applicant
Customer Rating:
I bought this last year for my college-bound daughter. She wasn't applying to Harvard but we figure, couldn't hurt. The essays are actually entertaining to read and I can see why most of the students were accepted to Harvard. That said, if you are not applying to Harvard, your school will likely use very diferent criteria when reading the application essay. My daughter's school actually required 2 essays on different specified topics, neither of which Harvard asks.
Awesome glimpse into the mind of bright students
Customer Rating:
This book will make you jealous to think that 18 and 19 year olds write this well.
It would be very wise to read this and adopt the level of quality these young men and women used in their essays. Some of the events are extrinsically common, but these bright students displayed the value of each through excellent writing, grammar, and detail.
I'm leaving the military for college, and the essay once seemed like a massive hurdle for me. It is a good read even for people who aren't applying to college.
Amazing
Customer Rating:
This is a fantastic book. As a first-generation student, I had no clue what to expect from a college essay; I had no idea what made an essay good and what made it bad. Although this book doesn't directly teach you what a good essay is, the amazing essays in here allow you to 'absorb' the good writing and use it to your advantage.
Vernon (poster before me) is correct here; you still need the grades, the scores, the extracurriculars.. or else the book does not help much. However, if you KNOW you have a strong profile but do not know what to expect from a college essay (like me), then this book is right for you!
I can't thank this book enough. I learned good writing only paying $14 instead of something astronomical for those editing services.
Ironically, with the help of this book, I got accepted into Harvard's rival school :)
[Handsome Dan] out.
Good Advice...
Customer Rating:
Good advice. But who's kidding whom ... it's going to take more than a great essay to get into Harvard. You need the GPA and strong test scores. If your grades and credentials aren't up to par, it doesn't matter how much lipstick you put on that pig.
Vernon M Cambridge, MA
Extremely Interesting
Customer Rating:
These essays were very good, some of them were very moving. I found that this book explained the college essay process and was an easy read.
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