What You Would Want Your Future College Roommate to Know About You Harvard
Harvard University, maybe the nigh prestigious and well-known establishment in the world, is the nation's oldest higher learning establishment with a founding engagement of 1636. Boasting an impressive alumni network from Sheryl Sandberg to Al Gore, it'south no surprise that Harvard recruits some of the top talents in the world.
With just a little over i,900 students gaining admission out of an applicant pool of about 40,248, Harvard College'southward acceptance rate for the form of 2025 came in at a record low of iii.43%. In add-on to academic transcripts, extracurricular activities, and letters of recommendation, Harvard requires one essays, and 2 optional essays.
With such daunting numbers, it's no wonder that students are often intimidated by Harvard's extremely open-ended supplemental essays. However, CollegeVine is here to help and offering our guide on how to tackle Harvard's supplemental essays. Want to know your chances at Harvard? Calculate your chances for free correct now.
Want to acquire what Harvard Academy will really cost you based on your income? And how long your awarding to the school should take? Here's what every student considering Harvard University needs to know.
How to Write the Harvard University Supplemental Essays
Prompt i (optional): Your intellectual life may extend beyond the academic requirements of your detail school. Please employ the space beneath to list additional intellectual activities that y'all take non mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your application. These could include, but are not limited to, supervised or cocky-directed projects not done as school work, training experiences, online courses non run by your school, or summertime academic or research programs not described elsewhere. (150 words)
Prompt 2 (required): Delight briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (fifty-150 words)
Prompt 3 (optional): You may wish to include an boosted essay if you feel that the college awarding forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about yourself or your accomplishments. You lot may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics:
(one) Unusual circumstances in your life
(2) Travel, living, or working experiences in your ain or other communities
(three) What you would want your future higher roommate to know about you
(iv) An intellectual experience (course, project, book, discussion, paper, poesy, or research topic in engineering, mathematics, science or other modes of research) that has meant the near to you
(5) How you hope to use your college education
(6) A listing of books you have read during the by twelve months
(seven) The Harvard College Honor code declares that we "hold honesty every bit the foundation of our community." As y'all consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, please reflect on a time when you or someone y'all observed had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity and honesty.
(8) The mission of Harvard College is to educate our students to exist citizens and citizen-leaders for society. What would you lot exercise to contribute to the lives of your classmates in advancing this mission?
(ix) Each yr a substantial number of students admitted to Harvard defer their admission for one twelvemonth or accept fourth dimension off during college. If you decided in the future to choose either option, what would y'all like to do?
(10) Harvard has long recognized the importance of student body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you lot to write about distinctive aspects of your groundwork, personal development or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.
If none of these options appeal to you, you have to option to write on a topic of your pick.
All Applicants—Prompt 1
Your intellectual life may extend beyond the bookish requirements of your particular school. Please use the infinite below to listing additional intellectual activities that you have not mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your awarding. These could include, simply are not limited to, supervised or cocky-directed projects non done as school work, training experiences, online courses not run by your school, or summer academic or enquiry programs non described elsewhere. (Optional – 150 words)
While you don't have to complete this essay, we at CollegeVine recommend completing any essay that could potentially requite Harvard a deeper insight into your personality.Here, Harvard is simply request for a listing of the activities you participate in outside of school. However, note that you lot don't desire to repeat annihilation you may have mentioned when listing your extracurriculars elsewhere on your application.
For example, if yous took an online class on Python, this would be an appropriate place to listing that. Or maybe you designed an app on your ain fourth dimension that couldn't be classified as an extracurricular or an academic responsibility; here would also be the identify to listing that.
If this question does not apply to your experiences, even so, feel free to skip it. At that place's no need to dwell on not completing this question, as it won't make or break your awarding.
All Applicants—Prompt 2
Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (Required, fifty-150 words)
This is the classic Extracurricular Activeness essay prompt. Since this essay is only 150 words, there'south no need to add whatever gimmicks or overthink your response, though you lot can consider adding one brusk anecdote. The purpose of this question is substantially to give you the opportunity to farther describe 1 of your activities, as Harvard can't see these details from your extracurricular list.
When picking the topic, it'due south definitely all-time to pick the activity/piece of work experience that is the most pregnant to you lot, since this is probable to have played a larger role in your life. You also should selection an activity that was central to your personal growth. For instance, if you cull to discuss Model United Nations, you can briefly depict your role on the team and how it taught you to think on your feet (you were one time asked to switch positions just hours before the simulation). If you were involved in enquiry, you lot could draw the subject area yous studied, what you learned, and why it inspired you to study science.
Take care to view your essays as a portfolio, however. If y'all already discussed i action in your Common App essay, don't talk well-nigh it again for this essay. Choice something else that shows a different side of you, or emphasizes a personal quality you really desire to drive home.
Despite the limited word count, effort to be as detailed every bit possible and avoid adding unnecessary "fluff" to your response. Every sentence should reveal something new nearly the feel and give Harvard a clearer sense of the means in which you involved yourself outside of academics.
All Applicants—Prompt three
Optional: You lot may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the higher application forms exercise not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information well-nigh yourself or your accomplishments. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the post-obit topics:
(1) Unusual circumstances in your life
(2) Travel, living, or working experiences in your own or other communities
(3) What you would want your future college roommate to know nigh you
(4) An intellectual feel (course, project, volume, word, 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 accept read during the past twelve months
(7) The Harvard College Accolade code declares that we "concur honesty equally the foundation of our community." Equally y'all consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, please reverberate on a fourth dimension when you or someone you lot observed had to brand a choice almost whether to act with integrity and honesty.
(8) The mission of Harvard College is to educate our students to be citizens and denizen-leaders for lodge. What would you do to contribute to the lives of your classmates in advancing this mission?
(9) Each twelvemonth a substantial number of students admitted to Harvard defer their admission for i year or take time off during college. If you decided in the future to cull either option, what would you like to do?
(10) Harvard has long recognized the importance of student torso diversity of all kinds. We welcome you lot to write about distinctive aspects of your background, personal development or the intellectual interests you lot might bring to your Harvard classmates.
If none of these options appeal to you, y'all have to pick to write on a topic of your choice.
Before we leap in, note that this essay is optional. Still, we highly recommend that y'all complete the essay, as it can merely aid your application by revealing another side to yourself. So far, the main source that Harvard tin can use to perceive your personality is your Common Application essay; this supplemental essay, withal, gives you another opportunity to exercise so.
Although yous are free to choose any topic you delight, Harvard lists the above topics as jumping points for your writing. No matter what topic you lot choose, keep in mind the high-level principles that Harvard abides by: leadership, community, and intellectualism . Students who demonstrate selflessness through clemency work or leadership in their communities are generally preferred to those with merely a perfect academic record. Furthermore, Harvard also values unique and interesting academic interests, such as partaking in anthropology research, equally this demonstrates going beyond your bookish requirements.
The ideal length for your essay is about 500 words, whatever longer and your essay will exist hard to read; if it's besides brusk, it will feel a little incomplete. With all of the above beingness said, permit's clarify each of the following topics in more depth.
(ane) Unusual circumstances in your life
The most common fault when writing this essay is choosing a topic that is unique in your firsthand circumstances only not unique amid the tens of thousands of Harvard applicants. You lot may want to avoid common topics, such equally writing nearly a learning claiming such as ADHD; while there are ways to effectively write about such a topic, here is not the appropriate circumstance for that.
A ameliorate way to approach this prompt would be to analyze an interest that is truly niche such as a specific anime fandom or restoring a brand of cars from the 1960s. If you write about restoring cars, for example, you could discuss how this interest has impacted your life and personality. Perhaps it has connected you with a small, but like minded group of individuals and has allowed you to find your inner circle.
Another example could be discussing whatever health issues you may have encountered in your life, especially those that are not very mutual. For instance, if you take a vision disorder that, if left untreated, progressively causes yous to go blind, you could discuss your thoughts around this experience. Perhaps yous sought treatment and were able to completely regain sight and want to discuss the power of being able to see for the first fourth dimension in years. This, unlike a more common challenge such as ADHD (although also justifiably challenging), is definitely more rare and unusual and would permit you to stand out among applicants.
Consider experiences that would distinguish y'all among a crowd of people. Although growing up in an immigrant family is a circumstance that may have affected several aspects of your life, this is non all that "unusual." If you're going to talk over racial or ethnic groundwork, try to become ane layer deeper into a highly specific issue that affected yous. Examples might be colorism in the South Asian community or immigration's bear upon on the Hispanic community. In addition, while it is perfectly acceptable to discuss struggles, yous desire to end your essay with some optimism or positivity to avert having your essay feel like a rant.
If yous choose to take this road, try to begin a topic that a bulk of people likely would not have experienced or encountered. However, if y'all're struggling with this, there's no need to worry because there is an endless number of other routes you could take with this essay. Not everyone has an unusual circumstance, so perhaps the next few topics will exist a better fit.
(ii) Travel, living, or working experiences in your own or other communities
Beware of falling into the platitude of writing most being a loftier schoolhouse kid conducting service in other countries. It's cracking if y'all're involved in community service work, simply these topics are often overdone and tend non to offer as unique of a perspective every bit other experiences, since many others may share the same experiences.
Nevertheless, the changed of this story works well, such as being a waiter serving people of higher socioeconomic classes. While this prompt is not the place for writing about assisting those less fortunate, equally this is likely the topic that many applicants jump to, it could be a swell place to discuss working with those with more privilege, as this would provide a unique perspective.
If you're writing almost travel by itself, make sure it involves a broader purpose than you merely becoming more than worldly or culturally aware. For instance, traveling to Peru and tasting Peruvian chicken and contemplating its flavors tin can connect dorsum to your passion for history and cooking. You lot could hash out the history of Peruvian order and how the cooking methods are driven by Incan and Spanish elements. Decoding this origin of flavors can further connect dorsum to your love of problem solving.
If yous lived in some other country for a few years, you could discuss learning the local language and how being in a foreign environs impacted your life as a whole. If there is a stark dissimilarity between this state and the previous land you lived in, you could compare and dissimilarity the two environments and discuss why this was significant.
Like to the previous example, perhaps this experience heightened your passion for history and created a newfound dearest for linguistics, as you began to notice both the subtle and desperate differences between languages. Perhaps the overlap between history and linguistics is at present a discipline you wish to pursue in the time to come.
(3) What you would want your time to come college roommate to know about you
This essay allows yous to be a bit more casual, as y'all don't necessarily have to sound overly bookish. As y'all begin, brand sure you don't want list every single ane of your strengths or accomplishments, every bit this will read like a resume and come up off a little likewise dry.
Yous desire to strike a rest between indicating your strengths and humanizing yourself. Listing all positives volition seem insincere, while focusing on negatives volition cause Harvard to do the same. Sprinkling in a few of your fears and insecurities (without revealing anything that might cause y'all trouble on campus) is a cracking way to show honesty and make you more than personable. Perhaps you could say something along the lines of "if you hear me screaming at the superlative of my lungs alone at my desk, don't worry I probably merely saw a spider." A bit of humor can help your personality polish.
Another approach is crafting an inner monologue that discusses your initial struggle to make new friends or find your inner circle, reflects on your emotional maturation across high school, or contemplates the moment when you confronted your biggest fear. For example, if you struggled with transitioning into your new high schoolhouse, you could trace dorsum your idea process and reverberate on the emotions y'all experienced during your first week of schoolhouse. Possibly y'all were agape of approaching new people, or you were worried that y'all wouldn't fit into this new surroundings. Y'all could frame it as if y'all're having a conversation with yourself by documenting the reactions you had to specific moments. This would evidence a different side to you by revealing the means in which you remember and how these thoughts interpret into action.
With that existence said, notwithstanding, keep in mind who's reading your essay. Although this is a "letter to your future roommate," your roommate actually won't be reading this. The only people who will be reading your essay are those on the admissions committee, then while you lot should exist a little more casual, yous yet want to be appropriate.
An splendid style to ensure that you're remaining truthful to yourself is to accept a close friend or family member read your essay to see if the essay screams yous . Students ofttimes autumn into the trap of trying also hard to exist someone they're not, when in reality your near honest cocky is your true self. Harvard simply wants greater insight into who y'all are every bit a person so don't be afraid to prove some personality!
We read through an example answering this essay prompt in the video below:
(iv) An intellectual experience (course, projection, book, word, paper, poetry, or enquiry topic in engineering, mathematics, science or other modes of enquiry) that has meant the most to you
This is the perfect prompt to show your intellectual vitality and illustrate the ways in which you exercise your passions. For instance, if a simple robotics project was what ignited your love for technology, here would be a groovy place to discuss that.
If you recently read an intriguing neuroscience paper, you could retrace your thought process when analyzing the paper and depict your curiosity in the topic. Perhaps this was the most meaningful to you lot because it allowed you to explore a new facet of science that you lot previously had not considered. Perhaps y'all used this newspaper as motivation to pursue neuroscience inquiry in an outside lab, influencing your current passion of studying the complex workings of the encephalon.
You lot could besides hash out a passion that is exterior of your primary subject in society to show Harvard the diverse range of interests you may have. Mayhap while you're primarily passionate about medicine, you became interested in philosophy and ethics afterwards having a debate in one of your high schoolhouse courses. Yous could highlight how these 2 disciplines, while seemingly dissimilar, overlap and create a need for a deeper emphasis in medical ethics. By connecting your chief passion with another topic, you lot can provide greater depth on your intellectual vitality.
(v) How you hope to use your college instruction
This is a corking prompt to talk over your intellectual passion and apply this to your vision of the world. A mistake that students commonly make is discussing their future dreams without connecting it back to their present experiences and passions. Brand sure to describe the connection between the two and fuse the nowadays with the future to avoid making this error.
While students oft have large visions for tackling major issues such as global warming or curing cancer, these are often overdone since admissions committees see too many of these essays. Rather than focusing your essay on such a broad topic, try to narrow it down into something more specific that is as impactful but may often exist overlooked.
An instance of this could be a pupil pursuing urban studies wanting to convert more rural and suburban intersections into roundabouts. While this may seem insignificant, such a modify could salve tens of thousands of lives over a time span of twenty years.
If you're passionate about the surroundings, rather than discussing something broad similar recycling or renewable energy, you could discuss the dangers that plastic straws pose to the environment. Perchance you hope to create an initiative at Harvard to ban the use of plastic straws over the next few years in an attempt to forestall the accumulation of plastics in nature. Through this, you hope to have a role in improving Harvard'southward campus sustainability for decades to come.
(6) A list of books you lot have read during the past twelve months
Students often arroyo this prompt besides similarly to a resume, making their essays audio dry and a little boastful. Rather than attempting to show off every aspect of your life, dive deep into your academic or extracurricular passions, or add an element of personality to your list.
One way to successfully execute this essay is to gild the titles in such a fashion that shows your progression through a topic. For case, yous could begin with Freakonomics, and so an AP Economics textbook, followed by the Wealth of Nations, the General Theory of Employment, Interest in Money, and ending with a book on market monetarism.
With the previous example, the key is to prove why you found each title compelling and how it further contributed to your passion for economics. Make sure to discuss the changes that occurred between each transition and how this impacted your perspective of the topic. Why were yous intrigued by each of these books and why did it allow you to fall in dearest with the subject?
The aforementioned structure goes with any other subject. If you're passionate most women's literature, you could compare and contrast your observations from reading books written by diverse female authors written in unlike time periods. If you were involved in Scientific discipline Olympiad, you could chronicle your journeying through unlike discoveries based on the scientific novels you read.
However y'all could also simply list a serial of books that you've read that do not necessarily have relationships to one another. Here are a few snippets from a student who chronicled her dearest for reading with her extensive volume list:
"1. The Sun Besides Rises by Ernest Hemingway (I wish my writing was as precise and powerful as his. This novel sparked my involvement in the expatriates of the Lost Generation and influenced several of my other book choices on this list.)"
"seven. Big Girl Small by Rachel DeWoskin (I honey to estimate books past their covers; this one looked similar the book-equivalent of a "chick pic" and turned out to exist dark, lousy fiction.)"
"11. Death of a Salesman past Arthur Miller (I observe that things oasis't changed much since the fifties: we confront the aforementioned expectations, perpetuate the same stereotypes, and strive for the same goals that these characters do. A depressing accept, I know.)"
"43. Walden by Henry David Thoreau (I have vowed to revisit this in a few years; I trudged through it, but I'one thousand determined to enjoy it next fourth dimension.)"
This pupil added an immense corporeality of personality into what initially appears to merely exist a list of books. Withal, the pupil expresses humour in book #vii, shows an ability to analyze in #11, and connects a book to her passions in #1. In doing so, the educatee transforms what's fundamentally a list of titles into something that is quite revealing and enjoyable to read. This is an extremely strong instance and is a groovy template to follow if y'all choose to execute this prompt.
(7) The Harvard College Honor code declares that we "hold honesty as the foundation of our community." Equally you consider entering this community that is committed to honesty, delight reverberate on a time when y'all or someone you observed had to make a selection about whether to act with integrity and honesty.
The goal for this prompt is to write nigh something that is both insightful, yet won't make you appear like a problem to Harvard. For instance, you would not want to discuss anything illegal that you've washed or anything morally questionable. You should therefore look for a topic that has severe consequences just is also advisable to discuss in a higher awarding.
An example of this could be if you were the editor in chief of your school paper and had to handle a plagiarism issue. However, the lines became blurred when you discovered the individual under suspicion was one of your friends, making it more than difficult for you to brand a concrete determination. Possibly, though, you realized that y'all must exist a function model as the editor and uphold the moral standard that the part entails, ultimately causing you to terminate your friends membership on the squad. Although you lot feared risking your friendship, your conscious proved to exist the stronger force in the situation.
Other examples could be challenging your friends in other ways, such as ending friendships over sexist, racist, or homophobic comments or actions. Here, the consequences are severe in the sense that y'all lost a friend and risked being criticized for a lack of loyalty, but appropriate in that the law was not involved.
Harvard does non want y'all to preach the value of honesty and integrity since this is already given. Rather, they want to see that you recognize the implications of certain actions and how integrity plays a part into the choices you lot make.
Due to this, it is acceptable to tell a story of a fourth dimension where you acted dishonestly but suffered consequences from your action, causing you to mature from your mistakes. The strongest essays are those involving situations where the lines between moral and immoral are blurred, making it all the more challenging to achieve an appropriate conclusion.
(8) The mission of Harvard Higher is to educate our students to exist citizens and citizen-leaders for society. What would you do to contribute to the lives of your classmates in advancing this mission?
This essay is like to the prompt request how you lot promise to use your college education, but eliminates the need to discuss pure academic interests. The same guidelines follow for this prompt, only with more focus on the leadership attribute.
For instance, the aforementioned case nigh eliminating plastic straw usage can also be applicable to this prompt. However, rather than discussing your goals to promote sustainability, you could instead analyze the topic from the perspective of educating your peers on being part models in the confront of modern challenges. Perhaps you lot want to encourage boyfriend students to be leaders by signing your initiative to end plastic straws on campus. While true that you lot initiated the campaign, educating your peers allows them besides to exist leaders for future environmental change.
As in prompt 5, it's preferable to cull a topic that's underrated rather than a wide well-known consequence. Perhaps you are passionate virtually a niche, but equally important, social issue and want to create an arrangement dedicated to its advancement. This would be a great identify to hash out your goals surrounding this and how your leadership skills would apply.
(9) Each year a substantial number of students admitted to Harvard defer their access for one twelvemonth or take time off during college. If you lot decided in the future to choose either choice, what would you like to do?
If this applies to you, this would be an excellent opportunity for you to show a non-academic passion and how y'all program to pursue information technology in your gap year. Brand sure you discuss this topic in a constructive mode that conveys a sense of passion and highlights your skill.
For example, if you have a passion for gaming, maybe you want to take a year off to pursue eSports or intern at a video game company in society farther advance your passion in ways that an academic environs may not permit you to do so.
Another option for those business-minded applicants could be taking time off to pursue your own startup or gaining work feel at a company. Perhaps you lot feel that this experience would supplement your pedagogy and allow you to apply your skill set to real world applications.
Yous want to make sure that you utilise whatever potential time off in a meaningful fashion. For instance, if you desire to have a year off to travel the world, make certain you lot make this fourth dimension off meaning to justify you leaving schoolhouse. Maybe y'all have extended family that cannot travel due to health or age and you had never had the opportunity to visit them. This would make your time off more meaningful since the usage has personal weight.
(x) Harvard has long recognized the importance of pupil body diversity of all kinds. We welcome you to write near distinctive aspects of your background, personal evolution or the intellectual interests you might bring to your Harvard classmates.
This is a challenging essay to write considering information technology is hard to be unique among tens of thousands of applicants. 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.
An exception to this is if you grew up in poverty or a low socioeconomic background, as these will convey the same honesty every bit immigrant stories with the added benefit of existence a footling more uncommon. Your perspective on this issue would be greatly valued as it is one that likely will not exist shared by a meaning proportion of applications.
Another suggestion would be to consider dissimilar definitions of diversity as opposed to the obvious definition of diversity. This could be something similar a physical attribute such as weight. Perchance you lot are a strong advocate for body positivity and want to comment on the ways in which your body type has impacted you. Or perhaps you have been mistreated based on your physical feel and want to discuss the means in which yous overcame this.
Beyond concrete traits, all the same, y'all could hash out cognitive variety. For instance, if you worked on a team conducting a project, you lot could talk over the various ways in which each person approached a trouble and how combining these differences fostered greater productivity. You tin then hash out your own perspectives and your personal approaches to problem solving and how you think this will positively contribute to Harvard's educatee body.
If none of these options appeal to yous, you have to choice to write on a topic of your choice.
An independent topic, if done correctly, can exist much more powerful than any of the higher up options. Withal, beware of trying also hard to be creative, as this can feel disingenuous and volition be blatantly obvious to admission readers.
If you lot have a unique perspective on a truly innovative or interesting topic, such as why the 90's is and forever will be the all-time decade, this is the place to hash out that. You want to write near something unconventional that would grasp the reader's attention, withal it should be something that you lot are truly interested or involved in.
Another case could be chronicling your life in a comedic story past discussing major events with a lighthearted and fairytale-similar tone. You lot could add together sense of humor and wit to both the positive and negative elements of your experiences to make the admissions officers experience as if they're reading a story rather than an essay.
However, the possibilities are endless here. Simply attempt this essay if you are confident in your innovative writing abilities and accept gained approving from many reliable sources. An unconventional essay executed poorly could harm your application more than than it helps information technology. Do good judgement, just don't be agape to be a little artistic.
Nosotros hope this guide was helpful and has immune you to tackle Harvard's awarding with the utmost confidence. Happy writing!
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Source: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-harvard-university-supplemental-essays-2021-2022/
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