50 Successful Harvard Application Essays

O
CTAV 
D
RAGOI
A light breeze caressing the cornfield makes it look like a gentle swaying sea of gold under the
ginger sun of late summer. A child’s chime-like laughter echoes. As I rush through the cornfield, I
hear the rustling of leaves and the murmur of life hidden among the stems that tower over me.
I remember the joy of the day when I solved one of my first difficult combinatorics problems at
my parents’ house in the countryside. I felt so exhilarated that I ran outside and into the cornfield. As I
was passing row after row of stems, I realized the cornfield was actually a giant matrix with
thousands of combinations of possible pathways, just like the combinatorics problem I had just
solved. I looked at the sky and I thought about the great mathematicians of the past that contributed so
much to this field and about how I have added yet another dimension to my matrix. Suddenly,
mathematics appeared to me as a 3D live map where staggering arrays of ideas connect each other by
steady flows of sheer wisdom.
Suddenly a loud laughter from the next room wakes me up from my reverie. I am back in my
room in the drab dormitory where I lived since I was fifteen. The dim sunset barely lightens up my
room, while the cold November wind rushes from the broken-and-mended-with-tape window on the
hallway, whistling beneath my door. My roommates haven’t returned yet, and I feel alone and isolated.
In moments such as these I always take out the ultimate weapon against gloominess: the picture of
my family. I look at myself, my parents, my little sister, and my grandfather at the countryside, under
a clear blue sky, hugging, sharing the joy of being together. It reminds me of the old times, when life
was simpler, but it also reminds me of why I came to Bucharest to live in a dormitory. It was because
mathematics fascinated me with its beautiful and intricate theories and configurations, and my parents
and my family supported me 150 percent. They put in long hours at work to pay for school costs and
they selflessly accepted my long absences. I decided then to honor their support, follow our common
dream, and become an accomplished mathematician.
Finally today I consider I matched at least an infinitesimal part of my parents’ work. After
countless Olympiad stages and fierce selection programs, I managed to win a gold medal at the
International Mathematical Olympiad, along with scoring what is called “an ace”: getting gold medals
in the National Olympiad, the Balkan Olympiad, and the International Olympiad.
Math, for me, is a vast map of knowledge where theories intersect each other like pathways in a
cornfield, and that explains the laws of nature and the universe itself. However, no matter what
mathematical sphere shall I soar in, I will always have my family with me and the joy of that day when
I was running freely in the cornfield.

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REVIEW
Octav wrote a very touching essay that does the impossible: speaks to the importance of math and
family in his life at once without ever drifting into a realm of deep sentimentality. The use of such
excellent and artistic prose to describe such a potentially monotonous subject allows the writing to
show Octav’s depth.
But he does digress into a step-by-step description of his mathematical achievements, which are
included elsewhere in his application. His love of math speaks to the passion he wants to express to a
reader. The gold medals he’s won indicate others’ perceptions of him—not something particularly
relevant to this personal statement. He seems to think that these facts are important parts of the
description of his relationship with math. In reality, he nearly loses the reader, giving the impression
that his interest in math stems from external praise.
But in the end, this essay makes Octav seem like an extremely talented applicant without coming
off as too self-promoting. His dual focus on his future career and his love of family demonstrate his
balanced personality, and he convinces the reader that his love of math is genuine.
—Amy Friedman

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