Essays That Worked: 50 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Colleges [Paperback]

Boykin Curry (Editor), Brian Kasbar (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 18, 1990

"Outstanding."
THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
Standing out from the crowd on college applications is vital. That is why the personal essay is so important. From the thousands submitted each year, the essays in this book were named the best by admissions officers at the naton's top colleges. Some of the pieces are sad, some are serious, some are off-beat, but every essay gives a special insight into the student's personality--an insight that grades and test scores don't reveal.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This terrific collection of college-application essays would be enough to scare anyone off. But it is just as likely to inspire greatness. These are essays that admissions officers of top schools read and loved. Forget your lofty plans to abolish world hunger or your deep and meaningful tour of Europe. These successful college applicants wrote about thumb sucking, inchworms, a recipe for cranberry bread, and arguing with Dad about what to write. "Some of the best essays are about seemingly trivial things," say the editors of Essays That Worked. "By finding the profound in the mundane, a writer can tell the admissions officer more about his personality than all the teacher references ever could." This book urges you to write something that couldn't possibly have been written by anyone else--something that will cause an admissions officer to say, as one does about a piece included here, "This essay blew me away, and it still does." And finally, don't fret about how fine these essays are. "We chose fifty essays from over one hundred thousand applications." say the editors. "You've got a much better chance of getting into Harvard than getting your essay into this book." --Jane Steinberg

From the Publisher

Let's face it. Grades are not what get us into college. True, grades may place us in a certain group of eligible candidates, but what makes the final and most important impression is the essay. It is imperative to have an essay that is compelling and interesting enough to stand out among the thousands of other applications. I gave Essays that Worked to my cousin last fall when he was applying to colleges, with strict instructions not to just reproduce one of the essays in the book. He used it as a guide and a building point for his own ideas. And I must admit he wrote a great essay. He will be going to Cornell in the fall.
-- JMC

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st Ballantine Books ed edition (August 18, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449905179
• ISBN-13: 978-0449905173
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,014,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Bunch - but needs better Critiques, March 27, 2001

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essays That Worked: 50 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Colleges (Paperback)

I purchased 3 College Essay books (100 Successful College Application Essays, 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, and Essays That Worked), and have the following comments... I believe that the Harvard book has the best suggestions on how to write an essay, along with the best commentary/critique. However, the essays are a bit too polished. I think for 90% of prospective college students, their essays would be more like those in and patterned like those in Essays That Worked. For varied ideas on essays, the 100 Successful book gives some good ideas, but I believe many of the essays to be subpar. I did each book to have some interesting general reading, especially if one likes "short stories"... or if one is interested in 17 & 18 year olds, and what goes thru their minds.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it for the Courage, December 18, 2000

By 

artemis w (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essays That Worked: 50 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Colleges (Paperback)

Look, don't read this book to find out "what works" or "what they want". Read it for the courage to write about what you want, and to know that what you have to say has value. You can't copy the essays, you can't even expect to emmulate them, but if you can find the spirit of these essays in yourself, you too will write a successful essay. I made my paresnt read this book so they would stop freaking out over my unusual choices in essays. This book gives you permission to be creative and be yourself when writing application essays.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Inspiration!, April 27, 2002

By 

"naomiii" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essays That Worked: 50 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Colleges (Paperback)

This book does not teach you how to write an "Essay That Works," but it provides 50 examples of the different categories, approaches and subject matters that can be used in order to write a personal statement. I am a high school junior, and the thought of writing an essay that was supposed to encompass my entire personality was making me nervous, so I bought this book to see what kind of essay I should be prepared to write... now, I feel a lot more at ease. This book doesn't offer much "critique" of the essays, but it does explain why a particular essay worked or why a certain approach was successful... it also shows that ANY subject can become the subject matter of an insightful personal statement (like eating Oreo cookies, babysitting or watching an Inchworm), and it helped me brainstorm a few ideas of my own. I also recommend Harry Bauld's "On Writing The College Application Essay" as an instructional book... otherwise, "50 Essays That Worked" is all you need in order to inspire you and get you motivated.