50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays

Writing about My Heritage
“I wrote about my heritage as a Korean American because it spoke about 
who I was, who I am and who I want to become. It came naturally to me be-
cause it was something that had been a recurring theme in my life.”
—Anonymous, Yale University
Showcasing Leadership and Community Service
“When I was applying for Caltech, there were two long essays. One of the 
prompts was on how you discovered Caltech, the reasons why you decided to 
apply, and what you would contribute to the school. The second prompt gave 
a choice of writing on an event that changed your life or on an activity outside 
of math and science that is meaningful to you. The prompts have changed, 
and Caltech now uses the Common Application.
“In general, there were two topics that I decided to use for my personal 
statements. One was on a team project for a physics class, and the other was 
on playing the piano at a senior home. So for Caltech, I decided to use the 
team project as the topic for the first prompt and piano playing for the sec-
ond prompt. I used the team project to exhibit skills such as leadership and 
creativity. I also weaved into the essay about how my interest in engineering 
developed from the project, leading me to search and find Caltech. For the 
second prompt, I incorporated playing the piano and volunteer work, com-
bining passion with giving back to the community.”
—Anonymous, Caltech