50 Successful Harvard Application Essays

C
ARRIE 
T
IAN
The best compliment I ever received was from my little brother: “My science teacher ’s unbelievably
good at telling stories,” he announced. “Nearly as good as you.” I thought about that, how I savor a
good story the way some people savor last-minute touchdowns.
I learned in biology that I’m composed of 7 × 10
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atoms, but that number didn’t mean anything to
me until I read Bill Bryson’s 
A Short History of Nearly Everything
. One sentence stayed with me for
weeks: “Every atom you possess has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of
millions of organisms on its way to becoming you.” It estimates that each human has about 2 billion
atoms of Shakespeare hanging around inside—quite a comfort, as I try to write this essay. I thought
about every one of my atoms, wondering where they had been and what miracles they had witnessed.
My physical body is a string of atoms, but what of my inner self, my soul, my essence? I’ve come
to the realization that my life has been a string as well, a string of stories. Every one of us is made of
star stuff, forged through fires, and emerging as nicked as the surface of the moon. It frustrated me
no end that I couldn’t sit down with all the people I met, interrogating them about their lives,
identifying every last story that made them who they are.
I remember how magical it was the first time I read a fiction book: 
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone
. I was duly impressed with Quidditch and the Invisibility Cloak, of course, but I was absolutely
spellbound by how much I could learn about Harry. The kippers he had for breakfast, the supplies he
bought for Potions—the details everyone skimmed over were remarkable to me. Fiction was a
revelation. Here, at last, was a window into another person’s string of stories!
Over the years, I’ve thought long and hard about that immortal question: What superpower would
you choose? I considered the usual suspects—invisibility, superhuman strength, flying—but threw
them out immediately. My superhero alter ego would be Story Girl. She wouldn’t run marathons, but
she could walk for miles and miles in other people’s shoes. She’d know that all it takes for empathy
and understanding is the right story.
Imagine my astonishment when I discovered Radiolab on NPR. Here was my imaginary
superpower, embodied in real life! I had been struggling with AP Biology, seeing it as a class full of
complicated processes and alien vocabulary. That changed radically when I listened, enthralled, as
Radiolab traced the effects of dopamine on love and gambling. This was science, sure, but it was
science as I’d never heard it before. It contained conflict and emotion and a narrative; it made me
anxious to learn more. It wasn’t that I was obtuse for biology; I just hadn’t found the stories in it
before.
I’m convinced that you can learn anything in the form of a story. The layperson often writes off

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concepts—entropy, the Maginot Line, anapestic meter—as too foreign to comprehend. But with the
right framing, the world suddenly becomes an open book, enticing and ripe for exploration. I want to
become a writer to find those stories, much like Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich from Radiolab,
making intimidating subjects become familiar and inviting for everyone. I want to become Story Girl.
REVIEW
Carrie begins her essay with a classic paradigm that is often successful in college admissions essays.
She suggests that she is different, quickly noting that her unique penchant for stories is inherently
absent in others. It’s a solid essay for sure, incorporating her interest in science with a very specific
anecdote about her high school biology class that brings an especially personal touch to her writing.
She breaks the fourth wall as well, using the phrase “as I try to write this essay”—a risky, but effective
statement, in this case. Colloquialisms are strung throughout the piece; contractions are
commonplace, establishing a casual feel that adds to the conversational nature of the piece. These
gambles work for Carrie, as they make her a likable and relatable narrator, which is not always the
case when a student speaks directly to the reader.
However, the transition between thoughts is one of the weaknesses of her essay, and it shows when
she quickly switches between descriptions of atoms, Harry Potter, and superpowers. Granted, these
ideas are connected by the overarching theme of “stories,” but nevertheless, moving between each is
jarring. She gives the reader just a moment to consider flying around on a broomstick before
bringing up the concept of a variety of other superpowers that she has dreamed of over the years. It is
then that she describes her desired superpower as the ability to tell stories, and ties this together with
her interest in science and academics. Yet, there is little preparation for any of these ideas, and while it
again seems conversational and friendly to keep bringing in these new points of fascination, the
structure somewhat detracts from the essay.
Another risk that she takes is pointing out a potential academic weakness late in the essay. In order
to demonstrate her status as a storyteller, she chooses to share that she initially found AP Biology to
be a struggle due to its content and the obscurity of some of the vocabulary involved in the course.
This is not necessarily an issue here, since she qualifies her statement by explaining that viewing
academics through the lens of a story allows her to understand concepts that initially would seem
foreign. However, doing this incorrectly could easily lead an admissions officer to develop a
negative impression of the applicant. As it is written in this case, the statement suggests that Carrie can
not only creatively come up with methods to master material, but she also can be effective at
communicating with others throughout her studies, summing up an essay that expresses an impressive
individual’s passions and interests.
Her willingness to present her flaws alongside her strengths gives the impression that Carrie is
presenting herself fully. The positives she writes about herself are more believable as a result of this.
The strategy works awfully well, and gives the essay a fitting conclusion.

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—David W. Kaufman

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