We have selected several successful application essays from Harvard, and have organized them into four categories from which to glean insight into techniques to write a good application essay. The four types of essays we found most common were: essays that show an applicant overcoming adversity, essays which present the uniqueness of an applicant, essays which tell a particular story, and essays that emulate an influential person/people through the applicant’s eyes.
Storyteller Essay Topics
Today’s essay comes from the storyteller category. This type of essay presents the student by describing something that has actually taken place and the student’s actions and reactions. These stories often depict commonplace, everyday events, but are told in such a way that the applicants character is demonstrated, often insinuating strength, creativity, perseverance, resilience, or a number of other positive personality traits.
Many times these types of essays come as a hybrid of the overcoming adversity essay and the essay about an influential person. Often the writer discusses a childhood pastime, a game, a book, a show or some other media influence or hobby which impacted them, not solely based on the media item itself, but its attachment to a person or a memory.
Stephanie McCartney’s essay entitled ‘A Beach Game’ is about a game of scrabble and her father. I believe this is a good template for a brainstorm on this type of essay, but it can also be considered too generic if not peppered with truly original anecdotes or spectacular language and writing skills.
“A Beach Game”
By Stephanie McCartney
My sister holds the small, maroon pouch out to me and shakes it back and forth. “Pick a blank, Steph; we nee a blank,” she whispers. I snatch three letters. No blank. It is my father’s turn, and we are all anticipating another perfectly placed gem. My sister and I watch as he configures and reconfigures his tiles, while my younger brother climbs on his back. Then my dad makes his move. Cocking his head to the side, smiling wilily, he places all seven of his letters onto the board one by one, pausing dramatically between each click. “And I believe that gives me,” he counts, touching the surface of each letter, “ahh…seventy-three points.” He doesn’t wait for us to ask him how he does it. “It’s all about placement,” he brags amusedly, “and brains.” Winking at my little brother, he adds, “Now, pick me some more winners, Joe.”
In our playful rivalries, my dad has always been invincible: unbeatable when we would play board games, uncatchable when we would sprint around our basement playing cat-and-mouse, and unconquerable in arguments. Even when I held my own in a discussion, my dad would claim victory. “Aha,” he would proclaim with that wry smile, “I’ve taught you well.” And just like that, even though he had lost, he had won.
To this day, I seek out my father’s challenges. My dad has always been there as a loving rival. Beating him is different from beating my mom, my sister, or my friends. When I compete against my dad and win, I want to dance, to sing, and yes, to gloat. Because my dad is such a worthy adversary, I always want to play, race, and argue again and again. Without my knowing it, my father has used every competition as a teaching moment.
Among his many lessons, my dad has taught me to never give up. When I transitioned from the junior varsity to the varsity soccer team my junior year, I competed with girls who could kick harder, dribble quicker and sprint faster than I could. Even worse, during games, I was left watching as my teammates took the field. I realized I had to do something to improve. I began juggling in my driveway, dribbling in my backyard, and volleying in the kitchen with my sister. By the time the following soccer season arrived, I was ready, and was gratified that some of my teammates noticed the difference. I could have quit, but the competitive spirit my dad nurtured in my told me that quitting was not an option.
Working with the same letters, my sister and I struggle to discover a winning word. Suddenly, I realize I can merge our A, S, and E with a W and T already on the board to make WASTE—double word score. My dad will appreciate the elegance of the move, even though the word is worth thirty-two fewer points than his last turn. “Jackie! I’ve got one!” Giggling, my sister and I slap hands and watch as our father records our points onto the tally sheet. “See, Dad?” I say after a moment, “It’s all about placement and brains.” He grins with pride.
Essay Analysis
This essay is particularly straight-forward and comes to a full circle nicely. Stephanie’s quote “It’s all about placement and brains” adds a nice touch of authenticity and enforces the theme of her essay.
Stephanie uses her father and his character as a way to describe her own. She describes how she has become persistent and competitive with an anecdote from a scrabble game. While this is a good way of demonstrating ascribed personality traits, she spends a lot of time in the beginning of the essay describing her father, which takes away words which could have been used to boost herself up.
Her section about soccer was quite minimal and it could have served Stephanie better if she had spent more time discussing her actual accomplishments with more about soccer and/or another achievement she has made.
Over all, this essay would be a decent template, however it is a bit simple and a touch unimaginative. Although this essay has a clear message, its structure and overall tone are perhaps a bit too generic, lacking a clear personality to fully distinguish it from a pile of other application essays.
