50 Successful Harvard Application Essays by the Staff of Harvard Crimson (4/5)

First off, this book shouldn't be the one that would make you cry at 2 am, or keep you reading on the beach for six hours straight, but in an oddly understandable way, it is. 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays isn’t just a marketing gimmick telling you to be a cookie-cutter image of the golden generation- it’s so much more. This book contains the most heartfelt, vulnerable, inspiring, and creative stories written by young adults, pieced together into a guide for our own futures. While many of these students had unbelievable grades and extracurricular achievements, their stories had many of the same tenets that we share - nights spent studying, Friday night games, hoco dance drama, and marching band cliches. All of these authors were teenagers like us, yet they managed to cast their mundane lives into a vivid storyline. This book is essentially a collage of college essays that flew students right through the famed Harvard gates, past the Ivy and all. While there is no plot to summarize, this book is split into chapters of types of essays, from works focusing on passion and resilience to the ones honed in on identity and achievement. I enjoyed reading snippets of young authors’ lives, and it was particularly to analyze their writing techniques. These teenagers were able to take a seemingly normal moment and craft it into a literary masterpiece, that is, one compelling enough to become their one-way ticket into the world’s most prestigious university. So, honestly, there is no easy way to critique this book as it is a montage of many different stories. I can say that I wish there was more cultural representation throughout this book, as the vast majority of essays were written by students identifying as Asian or White. I can praise this book, however, for selecting a myriad of different student-writers from both public and private schools, big and small. I would recommend this book for anyone searching for a little inspiration- whether it be in sports, lifestyle choices, or, hey, maybe even college admissions. 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays did not only provide valuable insight into my own impending college application but served as a reminder that I can write about a million different typical occurrences - the magic lies in the hands of the storyteller, not in the event itself.