50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays

by Gen Tanabe, Kelly Tanabe

The powerful tools in this invaluable resource equip students with the skills to write successful entrance essays for top-notch universities. The strengths and weaknesses of 50 application compositions from Ivy League schools, as well as Caltech, Duke, MIT, Stanford, and University of Chicago, are analyzed in detail, highlighting techniques to emulate and mistakes to avoid. College admission officers from some of these schools provide informative strategies and inside information on their writing assessment criteria. A comprehensive writing workshop provides tips toward selecting topics, developing stories, editing drafts, and applying finishing touches. Acknowledging that the written portion of the process is one of the most important factors for admission into highly selective schools, this helpful guidebook offers sage advice and inspiration to keep applicants on the right track.

Genres: College, Nonfiction, Writing, Academics

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Daina Chakma]

This book is a GEM!

Read every essay and analysis carefully and write your own story. Oneday, your story will get you into your dream university!

[alia. ✩]

I started reading this to help me get inspired to start writing my university personal statement essay. This book was sooo helpful and had outstanding essays with excellent tips to follow and mistakes to avoid. It made me feel less intimidated to approach the brainstorming/writing stage. I totally recommend reading this before starting your essay!!

[Keziah Bayson]

I learned from this book that I can't be an admission officer because I found this book boring.

[GW]

I have a goal to go back to school, but I must first work on my essay writing and grammar. This book is my first exposure to excellent writing from college bound students. I learn easily and why not start with a top notch league in the Ivy league colleges. The book had many tips in writing short essays and I will continue to look for more books on writing essays in the library. If I put down academic soundness as a fulcrum and adding my desire and book knowledge and leadership as a lever I will lift myself to new peaks as in a Master's degree in writing or drama.

[Natalia]

This is a useful resource for Ivy League wannabe. It has examples of many essays with analysis of each on what worked and what could be improved.

There is another book by the same authors called Accepted! 50 successful college admission essays. This one is more geared toward regular colleges, not just the most selective ones.

The books provide a lot of the same advice but the actual essays are different.

[PM]

I wish I read this book when I was writing my essay. I really appreciated the variety of essays they included and the section in which they interview an admissions official for essay-writing advice. I like how in addition to focusing on the strengths of each essay, they provide feedback and highlight areas of improvement. It became easier for me to see what worked and what didn’t in some of the essays.

However, I did think the essays could have been organized better. Oftentimes, the analysis of one essay will reference another essay later in the book which is inconvenient to the reader. I also didn’t think Chapters 21-23 were necessary and a bit saturated.

[Olivia Jones]

The college admissions process can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to the essay. I found the prompts to be so open-ended that I didn't even know where to begin. Though I don't plan to apply to any Ivies, reading this book and seeing real examples of successful essays with concrete feedback on what they did right and wrong inspired me to start working on my own essays. Overall I would say it was very helpful, though it's a bit repetitive and dull at times.

[Grace Danon]

This book is incredibly helpful. I read it the summer before senior year and suggest everyone else does the same. As I worked through the essays, the analysis is and the advice, I could see my essay developing in my head. Invaluable!

[Kelly]

Useful and insightful. Kids struggle to write a form they have never read (adults too), so having actual student essays to read is more helpful than any general advice. The essays are diverse and showcase that perfect writing isn’t the most important part of the essay.

[Habib Chawki Mokni]

N'importe quoi

[Christi]

Does what the title says. Great essays for college admission. Gave me good ideas on how to tie my son's college essay together and conclusion paragraph (NOT applying to Ivies!)

Good resource!

[Dul]

Such a useful resource.

[Alisa]

Super helpful!!!

[Maya Sturmer]

The essays were good but I still don't know why I read this book in the first place

[Ebo Luna]

First time reading about college admission essays.
DIfferent than I thought. Not that much about yourself but specific 2 or 3 stories were quite shocking to know. One day, I will try to write my own with the knowledge of this book.