Essays That Worked: 50 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Colleges - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449905179 ISBN 13: 9780449905173

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1990

Synopsis

"Outstanding."
THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
Standing out from the crowd on college applications is vital. That is why the personal essay is so important. From the thousands submitted each year, the essays in this book were named the best by admissions officers at the naton's top colleges. Some of the pieces are sad, some are serious, some are off-beat, but every essay gives a special insight into the student's personality--an insight that grades and test scores don't reveal.

About this title

Review:

This terrific collection of college-application essays would be enough to scare anyone off. But it is just as likely to inspire greatness. These are essays that admissions officers of top schools read and loved. Forget your lofty plans to abolish world hunger or your deep and meaningful tour of Europe. These successful college applicants wrote about thumb sucking, inchworms, a recipe for cranberry bread, and arguing with Dad about what to write. "Some of the best essays are about seemingly trivial things," say the editors of Essays That Worked. "By finding the profound in the mundane, a writer can tell the admissions officer more about his personality than all the teacher references ever could." This book urges you to write something that couldn't possibly have been written by anyone else--something that will cause an admissions officer to say, as one does about a piece included here, "This essay blew me away, and it still does." And finally, don't fret about how fine these essays are. "We chose fifty essays from over one hundred thousand applications." say the editors. "You've got a much better chance of getting into Harvard than getting your essay into this book." --Jane Steinberg

From the Publisher:

Let's face it. Grades are not what get us into college. True, grades may place us in a certain group of eligible candidates, but what makes the final and most important impression is the essay. It is imperative to have an essay that is compelling and interesting enough to stand out among the thousands of other applications. I gave Essays that Worked to my cousin last fall when he was applying to colleges, with strict instructions not to just reproduce one of the essays in the book. He used it as a guide and a building point for his own ideas. And I must admit he wrote a great essay. He will be going to Cornell in the fall.
-- JMC

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0449905179
• ISBN 13: 9780449905173
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Curry Boykin, Kasbar Brian