[Harvard Crimson Business Board samples a successful admission essay, and an analysis of why it was successful.]

10 Successful Harvard Essays

2025

"Getting into Harvard College isn’t just about perfect grades or test scores—it’s about telling your story. In this feature, The Harvard Crimson along with HS2 Academy presents ten standout personal statements from students who made it through one of the most competitive admissions processes in the world."

1.Claire's Essay(excerpt)

In my vision I focus on a lone front tooth backdropped by a black abyss; thin lips dance around it in motions forming words, yet I can’t seem to hear them.

In the kitchen behind my grandfather sits his definition of luxury — a now stale and cold Filet-o-Fish from the Beijing McDonald’s. American basketball plays on the television across from where we’re sitting on the sofa; players’ shoes squeak and balls bounce louder in my ears than those words. In this moment, his Mandarin goes in one ear and out the other. I don’t listen the way I do when he’s screaming at my mother, a bitter, blind rage fueled by undercurrents of fear and “I miss you.”

My focus blurs, and the tooth disappears. Basketball fades to silence, and I’m on the airplane home to America. We’re separated once more by an ocean and three thousand unspoken miles. It’s a whirlwind; five years pass, and my few apathetic summers in China are over before I can blink twice.

The last clear memory I have is waking up on my thirteenth birthday to my dad handing me the landline kept for international phone calls: “Waigong has something he wants to read to you.”

It is a poem that he had written about me. Through the phone, I could do nothing but hear his voice, static worsening the Mandarin already slurred by missing teeth. The poem says everything he loved about his granddaughter, everything he saw in her, despite barely knowing her. It is a reflection of last dreams, visions, and hopes of his own.

Professional Review by The Ivy Institute

Some essays tell you who someone is. Clara’s shows you how she became that person.

What makes Fish Out of Water stand out isn’t just the fish-to-freshman metaphor or her stories that connect immigration and biology — two themes admissions officers encounter often — but how she makes those familiar ideas feel personal. It’s how at ease she is in describing discomfort and how she captures the awkwardness and isolation of language barriers with honesty. A less thoughtful writer might have simply said, “It was hard learning English.” Clara, however, shows us how, using creative humor to poke fun at herself while revealing her unique skills, flaws, and strengths through SpongeBob reruns, word-play, and a fascination with labeled diagrams. This is exactly what admissions officers want to see: the maturity to reflect in a way that brings the story vividly to life beyond the screen.

https://www.business.thecrimson.com/10-successful-harvard-essays-2025