50 Harvard Essays

Essays are for reference only. Do NOT copy or imitate anything! 
Plagiarism is severely punished! 
as a scholar, as a contributor to my community, and as a member of a family. 
But neither my family nor my extended family nor my teachers could comprise my 
entire identity. Rather, I will remain like the first page of a book with the first line 
incomplete – a story waiting to be told. 
ANALYSIS 
Levey’s essay is very much a self-exploration of being an intellect. Her idea of 
emphasizing her love of learning is solid and she clearly has a sophisticated grasp of 
prose, but the overall package might have done better with a little more understated 
elegance. The introduction is intriguing with the use of an unobvious historical fact 
about customs in the Middle Ages. She successfully introduces herself and her 
perception of her role in the world. The first two paragraphs are an easy read, 
except that the use of too many polysyllabic adjectives can become a little bit 
distracting. Personal essays that are “show me rather than tell me” tend to be more 
convincing. What mental gymnastics has she experienced before? W here has 
she really pushed for self-growth? The section which describes college as “the next 
stop on my journey for self-enlightenment” and “the crescendo of my intellectual 
revolution catalyzed by professors who can awaken my mind, ignite my senses, and 
alter my perception of the world” is a little bit over the top. You don’t have to tell the 
reader that college is the next step in intellectual growth, the reader should be able 
to sense it from the essay itself. 
“Myung!” 
“Myung!” 
--Myung! H. Joh 
The hot-blooded Spaniard seems to be revealed in the passion and urgency of his 
doubled exclamation points… 
-----Pico Lyer, “In Praise of the Humble Comma” 
Are you a member of the Kung! Tribe? is a commonly asked question when people 
see my signature, which has an exclamation point at the end of it. No, I am not a 
member of any tribe, nor am I putting the mark at the end of my name to be “cute.” 
It is not simply a hiccup in my handwriting; it is there for a specific reason. But 
before I elaborate on why I believe the exclamation point is such an appropriate 
punctuation mark for me, let us explore the other marks I might have used: 
Myung? 
Although the question mark bears a certain swan-like elegance in its uncertain 
curves, it simply does not do the job. While it is true that I am constantly discovering 

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