As you begin, make sure you don’t want list every single one of your strengths or accomplishments, as this will read like a resume and come off a little too dry.
Consider experiences that would distinguish you among a crowd of people. I possess the leadership skills and ability to conduct research and the interpersonal skills to collaborate with and learn from peers and professors of diverse cultures. Perhaps you are a strong advocate for body positivity and want to comment on the ways in which your body type has impacted you. With such daunting numbers, it’s no wonder that students are often intimidated by Harvard’s extremely open-ended supplemental essays. If you have a niche interest or activity that you haven’t written about, that could be a strategic choice to use when answering this prompt. There are, of course, many different parts of your identity to choose from - your cultural background, gender identity or sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, or even an activity that you participate in that is unusual. Some factors Harvard considers when evaluating your application are whether “other students want to room with you, share a meal, be in a seminar together, be teammates, or collaborate in a closely-knit extracurricular group.”. Although growing up in an immigrant family is a circumstance that may have affected several aspects of your life, this is not all that “unusual.”. might be a good place to explore how you’ve chosen to interact with different communities around you.
You can also get your essay peer-reviewed and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. As you consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you or someone you observed had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity and honesty. Or perhaps you designed an app on your own time that couldn’t be classified as an extracurricular or an academic responsibility; here would also be the place to list that.
You want to make sure that you use any potential time off in a meaningful way. If you want to get a job, would it be something related to your academic field or something completely different? Even though there’s no word limit for the essays, your response shouldn’t be longer than 500 words. If you feel like the essay you’ve written fits a prompt other than the one you initially tackled, that’s okay. )”, “43. However you could also simply list a series of books that you’ve read that do not necessarily have relationships to one another. It’s great if you’re involved in community service work, but these topics are often overdone and tend not to offer as unique of a perspective as other experiences, since many others may share the same experiences.
The same structure goes with any other discipline.
What would you do to contribute to the lives of your classmates in advancing this mission?
Show how your step-1 experiences could lead to your step-2 potential actions.
Admissions officers don’t want you to draw conclusions such as “honesty is the best policy” - they already know that!
Make sure to draw the connection between the two and fuse the present with the future to avoid making this error. Throughout my work in the teaching profession for 18 years, I have always aspired to make a difference in the education sector of my country. You could add humor and wit to both the positive and negative elements of your experiences to make the admissions officers feel as if they’re reading a story rather than an essay. Identify 2-3 specific SMU resources (classes, clubs, faculty, aspects of the school’s educational philosophy or campus life) that connect with your passions and academic interests.
Talk about why the activity appeals to you, what it has taught you or if it has inspired growth in some way. )”, “11. Each component of your application is meant to add an extra layer to your profile.
Since this essay is only 150 words, there’s no need to add any gimmicks or overthink your response, though you can consider adding one short anecdote. Please use the space below to list additional intellectual activities that you have not mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your application. You could frame it as if you’re having a conversation with yourself by documenting the reactions you had to specific moments.
shortcode: "wp",
If you lived in another country for a few years, you could discuss learning the local language and how being in a foreign environment impacted your life as a whole.
The essay should be about you - use your book list to show who you are. whether you’ve fully taken advantage of your extracurricular opportunities.
Another example could be discussing any health issues you may have encountered in your life, especially those that are not very common. This is another prompt where you can casually insert your knowledge of Harvard University. Travel, living, or working experiences in your own or other communities.
What issues are you passionate about where your knowledge surpasses that of your peers?
An independent topic, if done correctly, can be much more powerful than any of the above options. So if you’ve got your heart set on strolling through Harvard Yard in a crimson sweatshirt, use the, to show admissions officers that you’re not just in it for the bragging rights, Choose supplemental essay topics that allow you to discuss your interests and goals by showing admissions officers how you think and act.
Don’t summarize the plot - the Harvard supplemental essays 2020-2021 don’t ask for a book review. Why were you intrigued by each of these books and why did it allow you to fall in love with the subject?
Note that this essay explicitly asks about diversity. - You have no shortage of options when it comes to picking your topic for the. This student added an immense amount of personality into what initially appears to just be a list of books.
ask you to reflect on a different side of yourself - from your academic interests to what kind of roommate you’re likely to be.
While students often have large visions for tackling major problems such as global warming or curing cancer, these are often overdone since admissions committees see too many of these essays.
It can be very tempting to fit in as much information as possible in order to maximize your chances.
One that relates to a personal aspect of your life. To nobody’s surprise, it’s also one of the most selective. By connecting your main passion with another topic, you can provide greater depth on your intellectual vitality. For instance, if you worked on a team conducting a project, you could discuss the diverse ways in which each person approached a problem and how combining these differences fostered greater productivity.
But for college applicants, the school is probably best known for its out-of-the-box, creative supplemental essay prompts. Killings and robberies were normalized in the area I was raised … However, note that you don’t want to repeat anything you may have mentioned when listing your extracurriculars elsewhere on your application.
(It will probably be obvious—and unpersuasive—to admissions readers.). (150 words).
Rather, they want to see that you recognize the implications of certain actions and how integrity plays a role into the choices you make. Harvard appreciates students who have taken the initiative to strive for academic growth, so don’t miss out on the chance to talk about your intellectual pursuits.
Since there is no direct “Why Harvard” essay, you could also include what excites you when you think about the opportunity to attend the university. Think about how an incident would reflect on your character and whether you’d want such a person at your school if you were in the admissions officers’ shoes. While it’s hard to stand out among over 44,000 applicants, if you carefully read through the prompts, avoid common answers, and show admissions officers that you possess the values that Harvard looks for, you’ll set yourself up for a chance at admission. Perhaps you have extended family that cannot travel due to health or age and you had never had the opportunity to visit them. I am keen to transfer all the expertise and research I would acquire from your esteemed university to properly put them into practice in educational institutions in my homeland.
Admissions officers have seen plenty of students whose main extracurricular activity has been debate club.
Another suggestion would be to consider different definitions of diversity as opposed to the obvious definition of diversity. Perhaps, though, you realized that you must be a role model as the editor and uphold the moral standard that the role entails, ultimately causing you to terminate your friends membership on the team.
Aside from technical skills in teaching and the ability to lead and manage a school, I also developed my research and design skills in my professional work.
Some colleges ask for a supplemental essay, or several, as a way of getting to know an applicant better.
To answer this prompt, think about your biggest strengths. Kai can provide tips and support as you research and apply to colleges, and explore majors and careers. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics: (2) Travel, living, or working experiences in your own or other communities, (3) What you would want your future college roommate to know about you, (4) An intellectual experience (course, project, book, discussion, paper, poetry, or research topic in engineering, mathematics, science or other modes of inquiry) that has meant the most to you, (5) How you hope to use your college education, (6) A list of books you have read during the past twelve months. A depressing take, I know. don’t ask for a book review. Harvard does not want you to preach the value of honesty and integrity since this is already given. Although you feared risking your friendship, your conscious proved to be the stronger force in the situation. While true that you initiated the campaign, educating your peers allows them too to be leaders for future environmental change. Your answer can be used to demonstrate your dedication to your community, how you operate as a leader, and how you can take advantage of the resources and facilities of the prestigious Cambridge institution.
As in prompt 5, it’s preferable to choose a topic that’s underrated rather than a broad well-known issue. (9) Each year a substantial number of students admitted to Harvard defer their admission for one year or take time off during college.
Don’t summarize the plot - the. This is the classic Extracurricular Activity essay prompt. Here, the consequences are severe in the sense that you lost a friend and risked being criticized for a lack of loyalty, but appropriate in that the law was not involved. Beyond physical traits, however, you could discuss cognitive diversity. You can attempt this essay if you’re hoping to take a gap year, and show that you’ve put active thought into plans for the upcoming twelve months. Howard University Undergraduate College Application Essays These Howard University college application essays were written by students accepted at Howard University.
Sign up for your free CollegeVine account and get access to our essay guides and courses. To nobody’s surprise, it’s also one of the most selective. As a budding teacher, I learned the ropes of becoming an effective and committed education practitioner as I created lesson plans and tests and imparted knowledge to almost all grade school pupils. For instance, you would not want to discuss anything illegal that you’ve done or anything morally questionable. How competitive is Karsh STEM Scholars Program?
While some students from immigrant backgrounds might focus on stories about their heritage, this has become less unique over the years, since many students have similar stories. So if you’ve got your heart set on strolling through Harvard Yard in a crimson sweatshirt, use the Harvard supplemental essays 2020-2021 to show admissions officers that you’re not just in it for the bragging rights.