50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays

My Family and Heritage
“Since I applied to numerous colleges, several of which had different ap-
plications, I had to write a lot of different admissions essays. My favorite one, 
(the one I think of when someone asks me about my personal statement), 
was written about my family and my heritage. I have always been proud of 
my heritage and grew up with a very supportive family which influenced me 
a great deal through my childhood. I had been told that it was ideal to write 
about something you are passionate about and that is important to you, and 
as my love for my own culture had always given me a great appreciation for 
all other cultures and had opened my eyes to the world in a different way, I 
felt that it was the perfect topic. I used the concrete idea of a Lebanese game I 
learned as a child from my cousins to show how my heritage impacted me.”
—Maya Ayoub, Harvard University