Five Tips for Ivy League Application Essays

Five Tips for Ivy League Application Essays

Applying to Ivy League schools is a full-time job. They have between three and seven supplemental essays each, so if you’re planning to apply to more than one, it’ll take some effort and planning so you don’t go crazy! Here are five tips we give to our students who want to apply to Ivy League schools (or Ivy-adjacents, like Stanford, Oxford, and Cambridge):

1. Get specific. Each supplemental essay needs to be crafted specifically for that school and show that you know exactly which resources you’ll take advantage of while you’re there. Think about it: if you were on a date with someone and they said, “yeah, everybody says you’re great and you ARE great,” that’s not as compelling as “I love the way you sing. I would love to go to a concert sometime. I’ve heard you’re especially great at jazz piano!” Specificity will help you avoid clichés, stereotypes, and generalities.

2. Emphasize your passions over trying to “sound smart.” Admissions officers can tell if you’re throwing a bunch of SAT words in there that don’t serve the purpose of your essay or feel unnatural. If you write about what you love most, it will be easy for admissions officers to see your passion and the effect it has had on you and your community.

3. Make sure each supplemental essay highlights a unique part of you. Don’t write about the same idea for each one. Shake it up, even if you feel like you haven’t gotten to say everything you’d like to say about a particular subject. Think about it like creating a meal: the more dishes you have, the more flavors the diner will get to experience.

4. Show your charisma and humor. When speaking to a Yale admissions officer last year, he told me, “when I read applications, I want to think, ‘I’d love to get lunch with this person.’” Allow your charm to come through in your writing, and don’t be afraid to make jokes. As my high school Spanish teacher used to say, “there’s no better way to demonstrate mastery of a language than to make a joke.” Humor keeps the reader interested and makes them like you more!

5. Be yourself. Don’t shy away from the vulnerable parts of your life, but present them in a way that isn’t “woe is me” but rather “this is what has made me a stronger, more empathetic, more curious person.” You don’t have to write a sob story, but be honest about what has been hard for you in your life and what you’ve learned from the process of overcoming it.

Do these ideas seem incomprehensible or are you unsure of how to incorporate them? We would love to help you craft essays that will make you, your parents, and your teachers burst with pride and feel confident that you’ve given these essays everything you’ve got. Email Nathaniel at nathaniel@kingfisherprep.com (a Yale graduate himself, whose students are now at almost every Ivy League) and we’ll set up an appointment to help you.

"Five Tips for Ivy League Application Essays"