100 Successful College Application Essays

Product Review

The largest collection of successful college application essays available in one volume.

These are the essays that helped their authors gain admission to Harvard, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Wellesley, Colby, and other outstanding schools—followed by invaluable comments by experts in admissions, placement, and college counseling at some of the best learning institutions around the country. This helpful guide includes:

100 complete essays with professional commentary

Examples of essays on common topics (family background, athletics, work experience), as well as the more offbeat

Essays on the immigrant experience by foreign-born students

A section of drawing and cartoon essays Insider advice from a Princeton dean of admissions

A “What Not to Do” chapter from a top college counselor

And more

Compiled by members from The Harvard Independent, the weekly newsmagazine of Harvard University, this is an invaluable resource for students who want to write the best possible essay—and improve their chances of admission to the best possible school.

Amazon.com Review

The essay is the one part of the college application that allows an admissions committee to get a glimpse not only of what you are (grades, scores, club member), but of who you are. "Applicants are constantly advised to 'put their best foot forward,'" says Fred Hargadon, the dean of admissions at Princeton University and a contributor to this book. "But I must confess that I always liked the ones who put both feet forward." That doesn't mean that your essay needs to shock. It means you must put everything you've got into it. It means that "if you think the college might receive even one other essay like yours," according to Brooks School college counselor William K. Poirot, "rewrite it."

The bulk of this book, as its title promises, comprises 100 examples of successful college-application essays. There are those who believe that reading essays will make you a better essay writer and those who don't. But reading these essays--and the experts' comments on them--will help you figure out what you want to write and how best to write it. From the essays included here, one surmises that the narrower your focus, the more effective the essay, as long as your narrowness doesn't cross over into insignificance. What matters most is not what you write about (these essays take on late-night TV game shows, self-induced baldness, the picture on a bag of Goldfish crackers, a family drive on the New Jersey Turnpike, and even a seven-inch plastic Godzilla), but what you do with your subject matter. --Jane Steinberg

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review

(13 customer reviews)

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful

Varied College Essays, March 27, 2001

W. Fritz (Millstadt, IL USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: 100 Successful College Application Essays (Mentor) (Paperback)

I purchased 3 College Essay books (100 Successful College Application Essays, 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, and Essays That Worked), and have the following comments... I believe that the Harvard book has the best suggestions on how to write an essay, along with the best commentary/critique. However, the essays are a bit too polished. I think for 90% of prospective college students, their essays would be more like those in and patterned like those in Essays That Worked. For varied ideas on essays, the 100 Successful book gives some good ideas, but I believe many of the essays to be subpar. I did each book to have some interesting general reading, especially if one likes "short stories"... or if one is interested in 17 & 18 year olds, and what goes thru their minds.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful

Reality, June 3, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: 100 Successful College Application Essays (Mentor) (Paperback)

This book has lots of college essays that could be used for reference when writing an college essay. However, it's too concentrated on Ivy League schools and not other competitive schools. The comments that are suppose to be reviewed by college counselors and admissions officers are poor. Most of them just explains that they are creative. It does not comment much on how the author should redo or learn from their mistakes and do this thing. Not as informative as they claim to be.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful

uninventive and most unhelpful, February 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: 100 Successful College Application Essays (Second Edition) (Paperback)

There are a few gems here, but for the most part, these essays are the same well-written but dry, uninventive slop every other high school senior dribbles out: how the abroad student haf a Life Changing Experience! how an athlete Crossed the Finish Line! how when pet Fluffly croaked it was a Formative Experience! If you really want insight into how to write a well-crafted, unique essay, with sounds suggestions, seek out the great book by Harry Bauld.