50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays

The Mother-Daughter Bond
“I wrote about the topic, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words. Select a 
picture or photo of your choice, and elaborate on its significance to you.’ 
Ultimately, it worked because I had something to say—I chose a photo of my 
mother and me; just before applying to college, my mom had survived cancer 
treatment. Her strength during this time showed me just how amazing she 
was and how strong our mother-daughter bond was.”
—Jessica S. Yu, Stanford University
Exemplifying a Different Kind of Diversity
“I wrote a bunch and got help from my favorite English professor who 
helped tell me which ones were complete garbage and which ones made me 
look like an all-star.
“I chose ones that either identified me as a really unique individual or 
instances in which I learned a life lesson in a rather unconventional way. The 
key is making yourself stand out. For the former I wrote about the fact that 
I come from a diverse background but that it is more interesting than the 
normal diversity. I’m half black half white and I wrote about the fact that my 
Italian parent took over making the corn bread while my African-American 
parent took over making the pizza and what it was like to grow up in a sur-
prisingly diverse neighborhood.
“For the latter I chose to write about the fact that I did nOT read 
Great 
Expectations for freshman year English even though it was required. In the end 

---

183
Chapter 21: Advice on Topics from Ivy League Students
I came to regret this decision because I Sparknoted it, and it sounded really 
awesome by chapter 24. I made an oath to myself after that to read every as-
signed book no matter what kind of hard work it took, even if the other kids 
were getting better grades than me by reading synopses.”
—Colin Adamo, Yale University