How to Write A Harvard-Worthy College Application Essay

Three tips to write that Harvard worthy essay.

Last year, a student who’d applied to Harvard on his own called me in a panic.

“I’ve been waitlisted!” he told me. “What should I do?”

I’d known this student for a few years, so I knew that his grades and SAT scores weren’t the problem. Instead, the first thing I asked him was what he’d written his essay about.

Turns out he’d talked about his dual interest in business and science. But clearly his essay hadn’t been personal enough to make him stand out among all of the other remarkable applicants.

Over the next week, I helped him write a much more personal essay, one that really showcased his vibrant personality and, fingers crossed, he sent it in to the admissions office in the form of a letter.

A couple of weeks later, I received an email from him titled “!” I didn’t even have to open it to know what it was going to say. He’d been accepted off the waitlist!

Every one of my students wants to know how to write the kind of essay that can get them into Harvard. Well, in honor of college application season, I’ve put together my Top 3 College Application Essay Secrets for you.

Ready? Let’s dive in.

Tell a deeply personal story about profound change

Last week, a new student signed on to work with me on his college applications. He’d drafted an essay about how his family’s frequent moves as a child had shaped him, helping him become more confident and outgoing. But then we started talking, and he told me about his deep love for Tibetan culture and how he had traveled to Tibet this past summer to live in a temple and study with the monks. I interrupted him, “You have to tell that story!”

He was surprised to hear that the admissions officers would want to hear about anything other than his academic growth. Actually, there’s nothing more important you can do in your essay than tell a deeply personal story. Your essay is your opportunity to show the colleges something they can’t glean from looking at your SAT scores or GPA or activity sheet. This is the only way you’re going to differentiate yourself from every other student — by telling a story that highlights something deeply personal about you.

Can you see how a simple story of a girl changing her hair style made for such a great story? That kind of big internal shift, regardless of what caused it on the outside, is the story you’re looking for, too.

Make it vivid

If you want your reader to connect with your essay, your opening needs to leap off the page. Try to get as many senses involved as you can: sight, sound, smell, taste, feel.

Here’s an example of a truly magnetic opening that I helped one of my students write a couple of years ago. (She’s now attending NYU, her top choice school.)

“My cousin Jiji and I leap across the cushions of my parents’ couch while a Japanese girls’ group blasts from the speakers. A pair of leggings is draped around my neck, and one of my mother’s red heels hangs from my left foot while my right foot is stuffed into her striped sneaker. Jiji runs in circles around the living room, tripping over the yellow silk blouse he’s wrapped around his waist, and pumps his fist to the music as he yells to our invisible fans, “Sing with me!” I hold out my cucumber microphone to the audience and urge them to join the chorus. “I can’t hear you!” I scream.”

Can you feel the energy of this opening? You can see, feel and hear these kids’ love for music and performance. Of course, you won’t have time to weave in this level of detail throughout the whole essay, but once you’ve set the stage like this, a few colorful details woven throughout your essay will keep your story alive and full of spark.

Offer a bit of mystery at the end

One of the hardest things my students struggle with the ending to their essays. Either they feel like they have to tie everything up in a neat bow or they end up with overly generalized and clichéd language.

Remember that you don’t need to have everything figured out. It’s okay if you don’t fully understand how to make sense of your experiences. What’s important is to make it clear that you’re willing to stay with this confusion until the answers become clear.

Recently, I helped a student write an essay about an uncomfortable experience she encountered on a trip to Laos. I encouraged her to let that discomfort remain in the ending. Here’s what we wrote together:

“Now, a year later, memories of the girls with the owl continue to force me to challenge ideas that I had always assumed were non-negotiable. And the girl in the threshold? For a moment that day, her gaze became mine, allowing me to consider the world from a perspective previously unknown. Those moments have enabled me to gain a little bit of comfort in facing difficult questions where the answers remain just out of reach.”

When you allow a bit of mystery into the end, you let the reader know that you’re okay with not knowing everything. That shows maturity, and it lets the colleges know that you’re in a perfect place to dive into the complicated issues you’re going to face in your college classes.