50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays

Connect to the Rest of Your Application
“Take stock of what you’ve done in high school, and try to find something 
that you have spent significant time on that has captured or transformed you, 

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Chapter 22: Advice on Writing from Ivy League Students
and write about that. It is also important that this activity or event resonates 
in the rest of your application. For example, my application essay on the emo-
tional paradigm shift I experienced resonated in the fact that I was a member 
of several different bands (local, regional, and all-state) and music clearly per-
meated my life.”
—Devin Nambiar, Columbia University