Theseselections represent just a few examples of essays we found impressive and helpful during the past admissions cycle. We hope these essays inspire you as you prepare to compose your own personal statements. The most important thing to remember is to be original as you share your own story, thoughts, and ideas with us.
The following examples demonstrate some of the qualities of a well-written essay. The sample papers include comments from an instructor, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of each paragraph. The English M01A paper features well-developed paragraphs, logical argumentation, and reliable sources. The English M02 paper is shorter and adopts a more informal style.
Although not perfect models of writing, the sample essays may help students appreciate the different expectations of English M02 and English M01A.
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Okay, so you want to apply for an MBA. You look at your top school's class profile. You know what kind of GPA and GMAT/GRE score you need. As a driven person, you reach out to other people on LinkedIn to understand the school culture, interview process, and leadership experience you need to get in. And you are good to go.
Wait! What about the application essays? After asking dozens of admits, NONE of them agree to share their essays. "I am sorry; these essays are too personal. I can not share them with you." We all have heard this one too many times.
In the spring of 2021, I was accepted to Harvard Business School and The Wharton School for their (deferred) MBA programs. I am sharing my essays with you here. I was able to convince my team from HowToStudent, a non-profit that helps students prepare for MBA applications and interviews, to share their application essays. Thanks to their contribution, I was able to add an essay from Booth and Columbia Business School applications.
Disclaimer: None of these universities endorse me or HowToStudent. I speak for myself alone. Essays are just one component of the holistic review of your application. I am not claiming these are the perfect essays by any means; they are merely examples of what has worked before. I am not responsible for any gain/harm you endure from this material. Please don't copy these essays and post them somewhere else - just share this article.
Wharton is a bottomless barrel of access and resources. Even after three years at Penn, there has not been a single semester when Wharton did not profoundly impact my professional life. With this MBA, I will be able to better position myself to start and grow new ventures in the technology industry.
I do my best to make a meaningful difference in my community. When I see something broken, I see an opportunity to make things better and naturally take the initiative to be the change. Regardless of the job at hand, I always surround myself with people of diverse perspectives who can point out my blind spots and unchecked assumptions. With our shared vision, we drive impact together to make our communities better.
Back at Penn, I created the Virtual Event platform for Wharton, so students can have club events online during the pandemic. It served over 2,500 students from 59 countries in a semester. Currently, I am working on a platform called Magic Connects. It helps students make meaningful relationships by matching them with people who have similar interests, values, and professional goals. Unlike other platforms, it avoids shallow split-second swiping and popularity contests, and it has been a huge success among students. Even though I was not asked to do any of these, I love making my community a better place for everyone.
As a founder, I will often need to lead my organization through uncharted territory and ambiguous circumstances. At Facebook, I developed critical instincts for leading in ambiguous situations, and I look forward to further developing these skills at Booth through competitions like the Social New Venture Challenge at the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation. Additionally, Booth will expose me to diverse perspectives and help me develop the breadth of knowledge necessary to lead in any situation.
I hope you found these essays helpful! Please reach out to me, Vraj Shroff, if you have any questions. HowToStudent, my non-profit platform which helps students with their MBA applications and interviews, is always available to you, regardless of your economic background. Thanks to everyone who graciously contributed their essays to this post.
Unlike many mathematicians, I live in an irrational world; I feel that my life is defined by a certain amount of irrationalities that bloom too frequently, such as my brief foray in front of 400 people without my pants.
Once you click the links and realize there are usually multiple essays contained in each, these links become much more impressive. Read them over and see if you can identify some of the things I talked about that make up an amazing college essay.
With the top applicants from every high school applying to the best schools in the country, it's important to have an edge in your college application. Check out our updated list of 10 Harvard application essays below from students who made it in, and hear from expert college consultants about what made these work.
After 12 years of helping high achieving professionals get into their dream grad schools, The Art of Applying has opened our doors to high achievers, dreamers, and everyday students to work with us on their college applications. The sooner you reach out to us about working together, the better! The more time we have to achieve success together, the better set up we will be to achieve outstanding results.
But, she must have figured, to each her own. So while my compatriots indulged in the music of Taylor Swift, One Direction, and Lady
Gaga, my tacky Hot Topic headphones blasted Green Day, Ramones, and The Clash. My young adolescent ears drank in the raw, chaotic beauty, an echo of the pain of the past. The thrashing, pulsating vitality of the instruments painted a picture, connecting me to the disillusioned kids who launched an epic movement of liberation some 40 years ago.
The student concisely depicts a vivid image of her outsider status in her private school without villainizing the other students. She also uses humor and wordplay well when she makes a concession for enjoying Starbucks.
A turning point in the essay comes when the student starts questioning whether her staunchly nonconformist identity is serving her. This shows an even deeper level of self reflection and personal growth.
This essay is an excellent example to learn from if you want to write about how one of your passions spurred personal growth, struggles with fitting in, changing your mind about who you are, and/or getting clear on your values.
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As I got better at dissecting these blobs, I started finding crazy stuff, and my colleagues and I would often discuss important findings. There was, of course, the search for the biggest squid beak, and the fish eyes were always interesting. But most shocking was the plastic. Beyond the normal Styrofoam and fishing line were plastic bottle caps, lighters, even toothbrushes. Occasionally, Asian writing revealed distant origins. Once, I picked through a bolus permeated with orange goo, eventually to discover the round mouthpiece of a balloon. The origins of these artifacts were sad, but also fascinating. I learned of the Texas-sized trash heap in the middle of the Pacific, the effects of which I was witnessing firsthand. I gained a heightened awareness of the damage inflicted on the oceans by humans, and their far-reaching impacts. Perhaps most importantly, I realized that even the most tedious things can blow my mind.
Moving on, Taras succeeds in clearly demonstrating a sincere passion for his research by sharing interesting details of his work, such as understanding boluses. Whether writing about birds, Model UN, or any other possible topic, details are what help applicants show the admissions committees a level of intellectual vitality.
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Garishly lined with a pearlescent lavender, my eyes idly scanned the haphazard desk in front of me, settling on a small kohl. I packed the ebony powder into my waterline with a shaky hand, wincing at the fine specks making their way into my eyes.
The girl in the mirror seemed sharper, older, somehow. At only 12, I was relatively new to the powders and blushes that lined my birthday makeup kit, but I was determined to decipher the deep splashes of color that had for so long been an enigma to me.
Hours down the internet rabbit hole, I learned that the shimmery powder was made of mica, a mineral commonly used in cosmetics. While the substance was dazzling, its production process was steeped in humanitarian violations and environmental damage. Determined to reconcile my burgeoning love for makeup with my core values, I flung the kit into the corner of my drawer, vowing to find a more sustainable alternative. Yes, I was every bit as dramatic as you imagine it.
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