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Dandelion Dreams Essay | Top Harvard Personal Statement Examples

Top 50 Harvard Application Essay Example #50

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege to help many high schoolers write their personal statements.  Fortunately, many got into their dreams schools including Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University and UCLA.  Frankly, some of them probably wouldn’t have garnered admissions if it weren’t for the examples they were able to emulate before obtaining acceptance.  However, most of them didn’t even know these existed.

Fortunately for them, I did.

I have a batch of favorite essays I share with my students.  With our blog, I plan on sharing many of them with some of you out there who are aiming to do the same.  The following is one of my favorites that I’ve had the privilege to discover.  And it wasn’t because it was right in front of me.

This one in particular was the LAST essay example in the book “50 Successful Harvard Application Essays.”

“Dandelion Dreams” By Emmeline Chuang 

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Top Personal Statement Examples: The Zebra College Essay

This is one of my favorite creative college essay examples for students.  It shows how a student can answer the boring personal statement prompts with flair.  At the same time, it answers the question in a strong effort to be like a … well … zebra.

The Zebra College Essay Video

Model Personal Statement: The Zebra Essay                 

There comes a time in every man’s life when he must answer a character-defining question: If you could have a super power, what would it be? This hypothetical subject has been debated among underage heroes for centuries; it has been heard on playgrounds, in tree houses, and under manholes all over the planet. Its answers come as varied as transliterated spellings of “Hanukkah.” Read more

The Most Challenging Public University to Get into in 2021

“UCLA received the most applications in its history in fall 2021…”

We received news recently that we got another student into possibly the hardest public university to get into these days.  Interestingly, it wasn’t the toughest when I was growing up.  With that said, this university is where hundreds of thousands are applying to every year (these days).

UCLA is almost as tough as an Ivy League

The University of California, Los Angeles is more difficult to obtain admissions than the traditional top public University, UC Berkeley.  There’s been a surge of applications in recent years.  Almost 168,000 students applied for regular and transfer admissions for the fall of 2021.  This is 50,000+ more than applied for UC Berkeley — what many have considered the best public University in the United States for years.

A few reasons for the larger influx of applicants include:

  • Freshman applications from African Americans and Latinos increased by 48% and 33% respectively since 2020, according to the Newsroom. American Indian Freshman applicants grew by 16%, while Pacific Islander Freshman applications grew by around 34%.
  • UCLA’s outreach efforts and partnerships with organizations and high schools in underserved communities contributed to the increase in the application pool…
  • The removal of standardized testing as an admissions requirement also contributed to the increase in applicants

UCLA Admissions Rate is lower than Top Private Liberal Arts Programs

Comparing the admissions rates and Freshman Class sizes to other Top Public Universities, it appears UCLA may be the toughest:

Frankly, UCLA is harder to get into than some of the best known universities in the world including:

  • Carnegie Mellon
  • NYU
  • Emory
  • Harvey Mudd
  • Williams
  • or Wellesley

And who said that the popularity of higher ed is waning?  

College Decisions: Should I go to Tufts or UC Davis?

TLDR:

  • It depends on where you want to live AFTER college
  • Weigh the decision based on your potential major & what you’re trying to gain out of the 4 years
  • If rankings matter, it might be easy to choose — “might” being the key word

Where do you ultimately want to live?

I graduated from UPS.

You’re probably thinking at this point, “U. P. What the…?”

Or you’re potentially going to make a joke of it like the many who recognize the logistics company. I don’t mind. I’m used to it.

Despite it… Read more

Are there any Tulane graduates and/or professors who would be interested in speaking with me about the school?

Elaborating beyond the comment I added:

What I wrote:

I hope so. Great question, but I’m curious if they feel comfortable to answer here publicly. You may want to reach out to them directly though admitsee, the university’s website and alumni association.

(expounding)

I imagine you went to the University’s website, as I suggested, but as you know, it’s one big brochure that will most likely say Tulane is the best (or a version of it). That’s why you came here and tried out the question. This type of question is starting to grow on Quora and I hope you get even better answers.

However, in the meantime, I understand your needs. As a result, I shared one of the best resources I know to get direct feedback from current students. Read more

Harvard front gate

Top 10 Tips on How to get into Harvard University as an Undergraduate + Several Bonus Strategies

My answer became quite popular on Quora.  As a result, I thought I would share it with our readers here on our site helping many of you potential Harvard applicants.

Top 10 Strategies for Applying to Harvard + 4 Bonus Tips

For our Quora visitors, scroll quickly to the #11th tip in blue below for the extra tips: 

1) Become the valedictorian of Stanford’s Online High School and tell Harvard’s admissions team that you’ve had a change of heart. You’ve realized you should have went to Harvard’s Online High School. And since there is no such thing, Harvard Undergrad would be a fine substitute.

2) Get your parents to donate $400 million and 1 dollars to Harvard edging out A Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Made Harvard’s Biggest Donation Ever. I’m thinking the admissions committee “might” give you a stronger look at your application. Ridiculous? Quite possibly. However, the typical 5% chance most people are faced won’t be the same for this future donor most likely.

Further support for this point comes from an edit:

Peter Malkin graduated from Harvard Law School in 1958. He became a very wealthy real estate businessman, and huge donor. In 1985, the university’s indoor athletic facility was renamed the Malkin Athletic Center in his honor. All three of Malkin’s children went to Harvard. By 2009, five of his six college-age grandchildren had followed suit. (One brave boy dared to go to Stanford instead.)

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