50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays

Going Negative Is Okay If It Highlights Growth
“My advice is to say things about yourself in a way that shows off your best 
attributes. Also don’t be afraid to write something that shows you in a negative 
light if you show growth. Instead of writing how you’re perfect, write about 
something negative that happened to show personal growth.”
—Aditya Kumar, Brown University
Evoke Feeling
“Write about what you care about and what you know well! Do not write 
about what you believe the admissions officers want to hear. Instead, focus 
on something that you feel strongly about and try to translate those feelings 
onto paper.
“The best pieces of writing are those that evoke a feeling; I focused spe-
cifically on description and detail. I wanted to bring the reader into my essay 
and let them live vicariously through me for five minutes. If you can take 
the reader somewhere by means of the story you tell it will undoubtedly be 
memorable.
“One thing that helped me to begin writing after I decided upon the gist of 
my essay was writing down verbs and adjectives that came to my mind when 
I thought of the subject I was writing about. In my case it was the woods—I 
imagined it beyond aesthetics; I thought of smells, textures, and feelings. I 
wanted to make my writing as specific as possible.”
—Mollie Mattuchio, Brown University

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