You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics:
With this prompt, Harvard wants you to focus on an intellectual or learning experience that's had a big impact on you in terms of your personal growth, your academic/intellectual interests and passions, the field of study you want to pursue, etc.
Allen describes his essay as "probably neutral to [his Harvard] application, not a strong net positive or net negative," so it's important to note that this Harvard essay example is not representative of exactly what you should do in your own Harvard supplement essay. Rather, we're showing it to you to give you a taste of how you could approach the Harvard essay and to demonstrate the kinds of simple mistakes you should avoid.
This is also an opportunity for applicants to discuss any major struggles they have had (that most students their age haven't had) and the personal effects these experiences have had on their lives.
How to Write the Harvard Essay: Every Prompt Analyzed
Our resident full SAT/ACT scorer and co-founder of PrepScholar, Allen Cheng, applied to, got into, and attended Harvard—and he's posted his own Harvard supplement essay for you to look at. You can read all about Allen's essay in his analysis of his successful Harvard application.
- Living or traveling abroad
- Moving to a new place or living in multiple places
- Working a part-time job
- Working a temporary job or internship somewhere outside your own community
After you've waited, read over your essay again, noting any mistakes in spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation. Take care to also note any awkward wording, unclear areas, or irrelevant ideas. Ask yourself: is there anything you should add? Delete? Expand?
While you don’t have to complete this essay, we at CollegeVine recommend completing any essay that could potentially give Harvard a deeper insight into your personality. Here, Harvard is simply asking for a list of the activities you participate in outside of school. However, note that you don’t want to repeat anything you may have mentioned when listing your extracurriculars elsewhere on your application.
With that being said, however, keep in mind who’s reading your essay. Although this is a “letter to your future roommate,” your roommate actually won’t be reading this. The only people who will be reading your essay are those on the admissions committee, so while you should be a little more casual, you still want to be appropriate.
If this question does not apply to your experiences, however, feel free to skip it. There’s no need to dwell on not completing this question, as it won’t make or break your application.
Harvard University, perhaps the most prestigious and well-known institution in the world, is the nation’s oldest higher learning establishment with a founding date of 1636. Boasting an impressive alumni network from Sheryl Sandberg to Al Gore, it’s no surprise that Harvard recruits some of the top talents in the world.
Your intellectual life may extend beyond the academic requirements of your particular school. Please use the space below to list additional intellectual activities that you have not mentioned or detailed elsewhere in your application. These could include, but are not limited to, supervised or self-directed projects not done as school work, training experiences, online courses not run by your school, or summer academic or research programs not described elsewhere. (Optional – 150 words)
An excellent way to ensure that you’re remaining true to yourself is to have a close friend or family member read your essay to see if the essay screams you . Students often fall into the trap of trying too hard to be someone they’re not, when in reality your most honest self is your true self. Harvard simply wants greater insight into who you are as a person so don’t be afraid to show some personality!
Prompt 2 (required): Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (50-150 words)
Prompt 3 (optional): You may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about yourself or your accomplishments. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics:
One of the essential writing skills is considered the ability to present the information, allowing free expression of ideas that will fully support the studies as student accomplished. Also, the writing will be able to mention the associated studies and works in the paper.
- When writing a draft of your paper, make sure you use Harvard style formatting.
- It is recommended to make notes and write down all the information sources that are used in your writing.
- The sources of information should be used as a solid basis at the literature research stage. The literature research stage allows to include all important details of referencing sources in your writing.
As you may already know, the academic writing has several standards and format that are widely used by various institutions. The writing formats should be reviewed as guidelines that help to educate students of how they should organize, structure and reference their papers. Harvard is considered to be one of the oldest writing and referencing styles to format your paper. Let’s review the specifications of Harvard formatting style.
One of the most commonly used paper styles is considered to be Harvard essay writing style. Initially, Harvard style has a form of referencing style of writing. When Harvard essay outline or Harvard reference style are used, it provides the credibility to the authors and a chance to citing their works. We agree with the statement that professional essay writing requires a set of necessary skills and writing experience. As a matter of fact, to write a quality paper, a student should have technical, writing and qualitative expertise. The expertise includes in-depth knowledge of the particular subject, associated facts and additional aspects of the topic.
Harvard Essay Outline
After consulting with our team of professional writers, we have decided to do a shortlist of tips that will help you to draft your Harvard style paper properly.
We have decided to do a list of Harvard format APA style in order to make your writing job easier. As soon as you have full comprehension of Harvard style writing format, it will be easy for you to do a good paper using it.
- Harvard format is recognized by many institutions, colleges and universities. One of the greatest advantages of Harvard style is the simplicity of referencing. It is easy to follow and the instructors find it highly beneficial to be used as main writing format.
- Harvard referencing guide has a set of standard requirements, allowing to cite the information sources properly. The standard requirements include citing the name of the writer, title, year of publication, publisher and publications’ place.
- Harvard style uses in-text reference guidelines. In-text guidelines include the name and year as well as page reference of the chosen quotation or citation.
- Harvard style has a format of general document arrangement. It includes such major required standard of using font such as Times New Roman and double spacing.
- As a result, the mentioned above Harvard formatting style allows the document to be easy-to-read and “user-friendly” for the reader.
No matter what I decide to major in I hope to be able to engage and contribute using the knowledge I receive to return to Saudi Arabia and challenge the limitations and restrictions that are currently present, especially regarding women's issues.
Go to your Common App activities list and pick 2-3 possible topics.
You may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about yourself or your accomplishments. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics (650 words)
(Do this only if you haven’t done that already answered this question in your personal statement). If you need help, here’s a whole guide based on that prompt. And I know that link says “personal statement” at the top, but it describes four different kinds of essays. If that doesn’t work for you, consider writing about one of your most important extracurricular activities. And hey, if all else fails, just grab one of the prompts above—say the roommate prompt—and let ‘er rip. I’ve seen that work too.
Harvard Supplemental Essay Prompt #4 - Example EssayS
Next, give a short and straightforward summary of what you imagine you’ll see yourself doing upon graduation with the degree you earn at Harvard. Even if you have no idea, it’s totally OK to come up with a placeholder career/life after graduation. Feel free to dream and get ambitious here.
For International Students: What specific plan do you have, if any, for using the education you hope to receive? (0-50 words)
Tackling the Harvard University supplemental essays is no joke. Why? Well, you’ve got three essays to write with a whopping 900 words across all of Harvard’s supplemental essays. And that’s not including the 650-word Common App essay you’ll also be submitting. (Want a guide for the Common App essay? Try this one.)
Now let’s get into the fun part: how to write great essays for Harvard.
This is another prompt where you can casually insert your knowledge of Harvard University. Although it doesn’t specifically ask about what you hope to gain from a Harvard education, you could still connect your answer to a specific major or course that can prepare you to take on greater challenges. Think about your academic passions, where you see yourself in ten years, and how Harvard concentrations such as “Folklore and Mythology” or “Developmental and Regenerative Biology” can help you reach those levels.
Remember, this question strictly asks about the application of academics. Keep your focus narrowed. In order to impress the admissions officers, your strategy should lie in outlining a strong connection between your intended academic and extracurricular endeavors in college with the role they can play in your goals in the future.
This is one of the most open-ended options among the Harvard supplemental essays 2020-2021 . There are, of course, many different parts of your identity to choose from - your cultural background, gender identity or sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, or even an activity that you participate in that is unusual. Whether it’s learning languages or playing a little-known instrument, your essay should stay focused on one or two things that make you different so that you can dedicate more words to each of these qualities.
In order to make the most out of this essay, write about an activity that you haven’t described in your personal statement, preferably one where you’ve demonstrated leadership and can highlight tangible achievements. Talk about why the activity appeals to you, what it has taught you or if it has inspired growth in some way. Since you don’t have a lot of space, make sure to use your words carefully and elaborate on your commitment as much as you possibly can.
Prompt 3
Cliché answers to avoid for this question would be issues that are noble but overly-broad, such as finding the cure to cancer or ridding the world of poverty. While these are definitely worth the concern, you must think about more specific issues on an attainable scale that you hope to address in the near future. How will you use your Harvard education to make a significant impact? Your answer can be used to demonstrate your dedication to your community, how you operate as a leader, and how you can take advantage of the resources and facilities of the prestigious Cambridge institution.
You may wish to include an additional essay if you feel that the college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about yourself or your accomplishments. You may write on a topic of your choice, or you may choose from one of the following topics (No word limit
You can attempt this essay if you’re hoping to take a gap year, and show that you’ve put active thought into plans for the upcoming twelve months. Even if this isn’t your plan, the prompt could be used to talk about your passions outside of academics, or things on your bucket list. Hypothetically, if you had a year to pursue something, what would you do?
Even though the prompt says to “list,” if you have space, mention one or two facts about the courses or projects, such as your motivations behind pursuing them, whether they have impacted your goals, and your biggest takeaways from the experiences. Since admissions officers want to see whether you’re an individual who isn’t shy about pursuing new opportunities, take advantage of this prompt to provide new information about yourself that they might not have guessed from the rest of your application.