50 Successful Harvard Application Essays

C
ONNOR 
D
ENNEY
As a child, I was entranced with tales of questing and adventure. I enjoyed reading about journeys
fraught with peril undertaken for a noble goal. Unfortunately, I would have to be content with merely
reading legends of knights and maidens, treasure hunters, or ring-bearing hobbits. I knew that I could
never have an adventure as inspiring as those I found in books.
It was soon after this acknowledgment that my father introduced my family to geocaching. Called
the “Great American GPS Stash Hunt” for a reason, this game quickly stole my heart. Geocaching,
which involves using a GPS to find containers hidden in public by other “geocachers” who post the
objects’ coordinates online, was the quest for which I had been searching. It was my way to become a
Sir Galahad. Not caring for the tiny McDonald’s toys found in most geocaches, I lived for the hunt; it
was not the Holy Grail that enticed me, but the challenge of finding it.
This activity has served as a sightseeing tool on vacations, giving us tours of cities around the
world as we troop through on our adventures. I imagine myself to be Juan Ponce de León looking for
the Fountain of Youth. On coastal hunts I am Captain Kidd. In cities I am James Bond or Jason
Bourne. Geocaching has allowed me to transcend the monotony of real life; it has granted me the
adventures I have yearned for.
As I entered high school, my free time seemed to vanish overnight. I devoted more time to studies
and athletic practices, leaving little opportunity to enjoy the hobby that I enjoyed so much. I savored
the rare occasions when I could geocache with my family without scholastic stress. However,
geocaching remained an integral part of my life, be it in a metaphorical sense. The physical quest for
a film canister or Altoid tin was replaced with a quest for knowledge. I immersed myself in studies
not only for my high school classes, but in fields above and beyond the level of my education. I found
myself searching for El Dorado in mathematical essays and websites; I slew the dragon of ignorance
by reading 
Time
and hosting political debates on Facebook. Though I would rarely embark on
geocaching hunts, I became a geocacher for knowledge.
This pursuit has altered my viewpoint on school. Whereas I had previously considered it a place to
learn from books and to achieve high grades, I began to search for information outside of class
curriculum. School became a training ground, my Camelot, a castle where I could learn the basic
skills of attaining knowledge and wisdom before embarking on my journey in the real world.
Whether I will be able to find time to geocache later in life or not, I will always be affected by the
game that satisfied my lust for adventure and influenced my desire to learn.
REVIEW

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Connor writes about a hobby that is truly unusual—geocaching. He enthusiastically explains the
hobby thoroughly enough for the reader to understand, which makes his unusual pastime an excellent
choice for a paper topic. Geocaching becomes a clever metaphor for Connor ’s transformation, which
gives the reader a better sense of his academic motivation.
The reader becomes more familiar with Connor ’s personality and motivations as a result of his
interconnected stories. Leading off with a familiar example—like fairy tales and adventure novels—
helps prepare the reader for the introduction of geocaching, the piece’s central metaphor. After
explaining what geocaching is, Connor then moves away from the activity itself and focuses on how
the key features of his hobby can apply to other areas of his life. His transition from the physical
activity to his metaphorical treatment of it is clear enough as to not confuse readers, but its lack of
nuance is a disservice to the essay. Though broadening the focus of his paper to include more than
just his interest in a part-time hobby is a good decision, the relationship he draws is a little overdone
though his enthusiasm for both carry him quite far in an essay that brings out his personality and
character. They both come through in the essay in a way that is highly beneficial for his application,
but he falls flat when trying to generalize his geocaching hobby to his academic pursuits.
—Charlotte D. Smith

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