Why Harvard Essay


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Harvard is synonymous with exceptional learning and lucrative career opportunities. It is no wonder that many world leaders from the past and the future, both corporate to politicians, once called Harvard their alma mater, among other Ivy League colleges.

That’s why high school graduates with lofty ambitions and grit want to get into Harvard. But it is not that easy to earn the student body diversity that Harvard offers, as it never was. Harvard keeps up its name and reputation by only allowing the brightest high school graduates to attend college.

Harvard Logo

Anyone can see why the selection criteria should be tough for Harvard. Most of the admission formalities revolve around students writing about what they want to do and how they want to do it. There is a famous essay prompt “Why Harvard”. It is famous, or even notorious because aspirants have to look through the Harvard College honor code and write why they want to go to Harvard in the first place in 650 words or fewer!

The “Why Harvard” Essay Prompt

How you hope to use your college education (650 words)

For students with not enough knowledge about minimalism and how forceful things can be when they are short and compact, this is too easy. Many would think they were worrying over nothing because it takes hardly ten minutes to type and edit six hundred words on a computer.

All of this is because they are not seeing the real picture. The admissions officers at Harvard will rely mostly on those 650 or fewer words from the brightest minds all around the globe. It is more about their academic background and their future endeavors and more about how to show passion and care for Harvard in college essays.

This prompt is here for a simple yet crucial rationale – to give students a place where they can display their writing and reasoning skills in connection with their personal life. Those who fail to do that do not see an acceptance letter from one of the most prestigious schools in the world – Harvard University!

That’s why applicants consult with their teachers and find online help from professionals before even starting the research topic for these Harvard supplemental essays.

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How To Be Sure About Your “Why Harvard” Essay

Simply put, there is no empirical answer to this question. But what experts have deferred and deduced from the previous cases and applications are certainly the best practices.

First of all – writing skills! Students with exceptional writing and logical skills with a deep understanding of an individual’s journey can be sure about their essays. Most of the time, they become successful in showing the admissions officers that they are indeed capable of handling course work at Harvard and responsible for the Harvard College honor code.

This is the main reason for essay prompt is in the admission process in the first place. They want to see future Nobel laureates, corporate leaders, and statesmen reveal their plans humanely and candidly.

The essay prompt is anything but simple. On the surface, it is just over six hundred words. In reality, it’s the weight they carry. When put correctly, they can take their writer with them to their future college roommate – at Harvard!

What Does Not Go Well With Your “Why Harvard” Essay

Students go to certain lengths and take great pains through the college admissions process at Harvard College for their intellectual growth. Who can blame them? It is one of the most recognizable and renowned institutes. But the road to Harvard is tricky. Many traps lay open for them in the supplemental essay.

Before going through what goes well and making the essay more acceptable, it is best to discuss the things essays do not have – not even remotely.

Harvard admissions committee cares about a student’s struggle and desire for excellence. Certainly, they don’t want to know about their college from an outsider.

So, the following are some “temptations” that many aspirants fall prey to. The best way to go about them is to remove them from your Harvard University supplemental essays and start afresh:

  • Instead of getting to the brass tacks, students write about their ambiguous plans in detail and how Harvard College will be instrumental in helping them achieve those goals
  • The absence of true interest in the tradition and legacy of Harvard University. If the admissions officers wanted to know what the internet community thinks about Harvard, they could have done it themselves!
  • Harvard education has its competition. Harvard classmates give everyone a run for their money. When students apply to multiple of them, they pick sides and weigh their chances based on that prejudice. This can cost them admission to Harvard
  • Harvard wants the students to think and dig deeper before answering the essay prompt. Those who are in too much of a hurry that they cannot stop and think before writing do not see an admittance card in their way

These were some of the big no-no scenarios that students should steer clear of in their Harvard essay example. Otherwise, they will have to abandon their dream of getting into one of the best colleges in the world.

What Goes Too Well With Your “Why Harvard” Essay

While composing the supplemental essay, students should be specifically passionate and focused on Harvard College. They should refrain from wasting precious writing space by putting down amateur writing.

The most important thing is not to write and submit anything rashly. Aspirants should always take a step back and reassess things with a new perspective. This is what Harvard expects from them.

In this light, the following pointers will help students in bringing life to their Harvard University supplemental essay prompt.

  • Detailing plans about certain disciplines and areas of studies taught at Harvard make a good start. Aspirants can show how they want to study with Harvard classmates at specific departments and schools during their college education, such as Harvard Medical School or Harvard Law School
  • Professors and instructors at Harvard are known for their influence in their areas of research as well as in the world at large. Students often have a specific teacher in mind they want to study from
  • Numerous job and research opportunities are easily available to Harvard students. This should be highlighted in the Harvard application essays
  • A chance to enjoy rich and diverse campus life, possibly with a future college roommate through student body diversity
  • Harvard alumni have always been a source of inspiration and direction for future professional and academic progress

Keep in mind that these ideas are often discussed and explored in 650 or fewer words by accepted applicants in their college essays. So, it will pay off for students to put some time and effort into composing their essay prompts for college education. The best combination is mixing one of these aspects of Harvard College with personal goals and ambitions.

Pro Tips For Your “Why Harvard” Essay

After shedding ample light on what works and what does not in the essay, students will now have a clear idea of how to go about composing their Harvard College essay.

Still, there is always a need for something special in a special essay like this. That’s why there are some pro tips that students should employ in their essays before turning them in. Following them will take them one step closer to their dream college.

Here is the rundown of things for Harvard University supplemental essays:

  • Keeping it True
  • Showing Passion & Love
  • Doing Research
  • Editing & Review

Keeping it True

Harvard wants a true and original story about a high school graduate who wants to materialize his or her dreams into reality. All of those dreams must be written in under 650 words. Aspirants should be articulate about their college education.

Showing Passion & Love

Harvard University wants passion and love from aspirants. The school wants the applicants to know the opportunities they will be getting when they get college admissions. This untamed passion and love should be visible in their essay prompts.

Doing Research

Raw emotions are good but students should do some research on the topic. This will help them in finding the real connection between their emotions and that of the campuses and schools under Harvard.

Editing & Review

Since these are just over six hundred words, students can easily go through multiple drafts before settling on the best one. Also, they can bring a fresh pair of eyes into the process by showing their essay to parents, teachers, friends, etc.

An Example of “Why Harvard” Essay & How It Is A Winner

To give students a more vivid picture of how to write an essay, here is a stellar example:

A free thinker and a writer. A sportsman and a traditionalist. I knew I wanted to pursue liberal arts in one of the best colleges in the world – Harvard!

My journey started as a poet. Back home after school, I used to go out in the wilderness to think and write. It was easy. I did not know anything about proofing and editing. What passed through my pencil, I thought to be a masterpiece. Of course, I was wrong.

But I kept on writing without showing my work to anyone, except maybe the wilderness. The woods in Mongolia started to make sense after shadows would start to get darker and all sorts of animals would wake up. That was when I started to read my verses out loud to nature. She talked back! 

Everything started to move and grow and I was learning from it. I was becoming more confident in sharing my work. Then, I showed it to my teacher and he stared at my face for a long time after reading the first poem. It became extremely uncomfortable until he came out of his trance and asked me who wrote that.

“I did”, I said.

“But you are a little boy”.

Then he asked me to show him everything I had written thus far. I did. And each new piece moved him a bit more. At first, he was shocked. Later, he was in awe. He met my parents and told them about my poetry. That was where the trouble started.

They wanted me to become an engineer and secure a high-paying job. Poets were everywhere in Mongolia. They had no home and clothes; they were often wrapped in rags.

Naturally, I was barred from going into the woods. They stopped me from wasting my time stringing words and phrases and paying heed to science. I can’t argue with them and I didn’t. But I kept on writing whenever I had the time from studying science and math. This is where the magic happened.

The more I studied science the more I realized it is the same. Nature, science, math, everything. It was all part of a whole.

Now as a student at Harvard, I want to write poetry with newfound diligence because I know where my verses could lead me and the readers. From the inner structure of an ear or an eye the vastness of the universe becomes one. We are all a speck in it but we have the power and abilities to change its face forever.

Drifting solitary verses will find a new home!

My interest in science and poetry will grow while studying under Harvard’s amazing faculty. I study and understand one and feel the other. I will let it all flow on the rusty, dog-eared papers.

The best part – I will have a wilderness of my own at Harvard!

I will write my finest work in the hallways. It will help me in covering thousands of miles – from Mongolia to America!

From the land of hunters and riders, I want to hunt down brilliant ideas to make the planet a better place for everyone. Harvard has always helped hunters in shaping their crossbows and helped thinkers put their knives to the whetstone. I want its halls and classrooms to be my wilderness where I can sit down among the great hunters, my brethren, and see and change the whole world, all over again!

Why It Is A Winner

Following are some of the reasons why it was a great piece of story writing, not to mention a solid essay prompt. Surely, this will help aspirants how to write a “Why Harvard” essay.

  • It reveals the history of the writer
  • It shows symbolism of wilderness and Harvard, a place of fear and darkness and a place of knowledge and light
  • It shows how Harvard will help him achieve his goals
  • There is clarity of passion and aim
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