Harvard Successful Application

22.11.
2024, 11:54 My Successful Harvard Application: Complete Common App and Supplement
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PrepScholar Advice Blog
My Successful Harvard Application (Complete

Common App + Supplement)
Posted by Allen Cheng

OTHER HIGH SCHOOL , COLLEGE ADMISSIONS , LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION ,
EXTRACURRICULARS , COLLEGE ESSAYS
Relax, you booked a
In 2005, I applied to college and got into every school I applied to, including Harvard,
Princeton, Stanford, and MIT. I decided to attend Harvard.
In this guide, I'll show you the entire college application that got me into
Harvard—page by page, word for word.
https://blog.prepscholar.com/successful-harvard-application-common-application-harvard-supplement 1/88
22.11.2024, 11:54 My Successful Harvard Application: Complete Common App and Supplement
In my complete analysis, I'll take you through my Common Application, Harvard

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To my knowledge, a college application analysis like this has never been done
before. This is the application guide I wished I had when I was in high school.
If you're applying to top schools like the Ivy Leagues, you'll see firsthand what a
successful application to Harvard and Princeton looks like. You'll learn the strategies I
used to build a compelling application. You'll see what items were critical in getting
me admitted, and what didn't end up helping much at all.
Reading this guide from beginning to end will be well worth your time—you might
completely change your college application strategy as a result.
First Things First
Here's the letter offering me admission into Harvard College under Early Action.
I was so thrilled when I got this letter. It validated many years of hard work, and I was
excited to take my next step into college (...and work even harder).
I received similar successful letters from every college I applied to: Princeton,
Stanford, and MIT. (After getting into Harvard early, I decided not to apply to Yale,
Columbia, UChicago, UPenn, and other Ivy League-level schools, since I already knew I
would rather go to Harvard.)
The application that got me admitted everywhere is the subject of this guide.
You're going to see everything that the admissions officers saw.
If you're hoping to see an acceptance letter like this in your academic future, I highly
recommend you read this entire article. I'll start first with an introduction to this guide
and important disclaimers. Then I'll share the #1 question you need to be thinking
about as you construct your application. Finally, we'll spend a lot of time going
through every page of my college application, both the Common App and the Harvard
Supplemental App.
Important Note: the foundational principles of my application are explored in

detail in my How to Get Into Harvard guide. In this popular guide, I explain:
what top schools like the Ivy League are looking for
how to be truly distinctive among thousands of applicants
why being well-rounded is the kiss of death
If you have the time and are committed to maximizing your college application
success, I recommend you read through my Harvard guide first, then come back
to this one.
You might also be interested in my other two major guides:
How to Get a Perfect SAT Score / Perfect ACT Score

How to Get a 4.0 GPA
What's in This Harvard Application Guide?
From my student records, I was able to retrieve the COMPLETE original application I
submitted to Harvard. Page by page, word for word, you'll see everything exactly as
I presented it: extracurricular activities, awards and honors, personal statements
and essays, and more.
In addition to all this detail, there are two special parts of this college application
breakdown that I haven't seen anywhere else:
You'll see my FULL recommendation letters and evaluation forms. This

includes recommendations from two teachers, one principal, and
supplementary writers. Normally you don't get to see these letters because you
waive access to them when applying. You'll see how effective strong teacher
advocates will be to your college application, and why it's so important to
build strong relationships with your letter writers.
You'll see the exact pen marks made by my Harvard admissions reader on
my application. Members of admissions committees consider thousands of
applications every year, which means they highlight the pieces of each
application they find noteworthy. You'll see what the admissions officer
considered important—and what she didn't.
For every piece of my application, I'll provide commentary on what made it so

effective and my strategies behind creating it. You'll learn what it takes to build a
compelling overall application.
Importantly, even though my application was strong, it wasn't perfect. I'll point out
mistakes I made that I could have corrected to build an even stronger
application.
Here's a complete table of contents for what we'll be covering. Each link goes directly
to that section, although I'd recommend you read this from beginning to end on your
first go.
Common Application
Personal Data
Educational Data
Test Information
Family
Activities: Extracurricular, Personal, Volunteer
Short Answer
Additional Information
Academic Honors
Personal Statement
Teacher and Counselor Recommendations
Teacher Letter #1: AP Chemistry

Teacher Letter #2: AP English Lang
School Report
Principal Recommendation
Harvard Application Supplement
Supplement Form
Writing Supplement Essay
Supplementary Recommendation #1
Supplemental Application Materials
Final Advice for You
I mean it—you'll see literally everything in my application.
In revealing my teenage self, some parts of my application will be pretty

embarrassing (you'll see why below). But my mission through my company
PrepScholar is to give the world the most helpful resources possible, so I'm publishing
it.
One last thing before we dive in—I'm going to anticipate some common concerns
beforehand and talk through important disclaimers so that you'll get the most out of
this guide.
Important Disclaimers
My biggest caveat for you when reading this guide: thousands of students get into
Harvard and Ivy League schools every year. This guide tells a story about one
person and presents one archetype of a strong applicant. As you'll see, I had a
huge academic focus, especially in science (this was my Spike). I'm also irreverent and
have a strong, direct personality.
What you see in this guide is NOT what YOU need to do to get into Harvard,
especially if you don't match my interests and personality at all.
As I explain in my Harvard guide, I believe I fit into one archetype of a strong applicant
—the "academic superstar" (humor me for a second, I know calling myself this sounds
obnoxious). There are other distinct ways to impress, like:
being world-class in a non-academic talent

achieving something difficult and noteworthy—building a meaningful
organization, writing a novel
coming from tremendous adversity and performing remarkably well relative to
expectations
Therefore, DON'T worry about copying my approach one-for-one. Don't worry if

you're taking a different number of AP courses or have lower test scores or do
different extracurriculars or write totally different personal statements. This is what
schools like Stanford and Yale want to see—a diversity in the student population!
The point of this guide is to use my application as a vehicle to discuss what top
colleges are looking for in strong applicants. Even though the specific details of
what you'll do are different from what I did, the principles are the same. What makes
a candidate truly stand out is the same, at a high level. What makes for a super strong
recommendation letter is the same. The strategies on how to build a cohesive,
compelling application are the same.
There's a final reason you shouldn't worry about replicating my work—the application
game has probably changed quite a bit since 2005. Technology is much more
pervasive, the social issues teens care about are different, the extracurricular
activities that are truly noteworthy have probably gotten even more advanced. What I
did might not be as impressive as it used to be. So focus on my general points, not
the specifics, and think about how you can take what you learn here to achieve
something even greater than I ever did.
With that major caveat aside, here are a string of smaller disclaimers.
I'm going to present my application factually and be 100% straightforward about what
I achieved and what I believed was strong in my application. This is what I believe will
be most helpful for you. I hope you don't misinterpret this as bragging about my
accomplishments. I'm here to show you what it took for me to get into Harvard and
other Ivy League schools, not to ask for your admiration. So if you read this guide and
are tempted to dismiss my advice because you think I'm boasting, take a step back
and focus on the big picture—how you'll improve yourself.
This guide is geared toward admissions into the top colleges in the country,
often with admissions rates below 10%. A sample list of schools that fit into this:
Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, MIT, UChicago, Duke, UPenn, CalTech,
Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, Northwestern, Brown. The top 3-5 in that list are
especially looking for the absolute best students in the country, since they have
the pick of the litter.
Admissions for these selective schools works differently from schools with
>20% rates. For less selective schools, having an overall strong, well-rounded
application is sufficient for getting in. In particular, having an above average GPA and
test scores goes the majority of the way toward getting you admission to those
schools. The higher the admission rate, the more emphasis will be placed on your
scores. The other pieces I'll present below—personal statements, extracurriculars,

recommendations—will matter less.
Still, it doesn't hurt to aim for a stronger application. To state the obvious, an
application strong enough to get you Columbia will get you into UCLA handily.
In my application, I've redacted pieces of my application for privacy reasons, and one
supplementary recommendation letter at the request of the letter writer. Everything
else is unaltered.
Throughout my application, we can see marks made by the admissions officer

highlighting and circling things of note (you'll see the first example on the very first
page). I don't have any other applications to compare these to, so I'm going to
interpret these marks as best I can. For the most part, I assume that whatever he
underlines or circles is especially important and noteworthy—points that he'll
bring up later in committee discussions. It could also be that the reader got bored
and just started highlighting things, but I doubt this.
Finally, I co-founded and run a company called PrepScholar. We create online

SAT/ACT prep programs that adapt to you and your strengths and weaknesses. I
believe we've created the best prep program available, and if you feel you need to
raise your SAT/ACT score, then I encourage you to check us out. I want to emphasize
that you do NOT need to buy a prep program to get a great score, and the advice in
this guide has little to do with my company. But if you're aren't sure how to improve
your score and agree with our unique approach to SAT/ACT prep, our program may
be perfect for you.
With all this past us, let's get started.
The #1 Most Important College Application Question:

What Is Your PERSONAL NARRATIVE?
If you stepped into an elevator with Yale's Dean of Admissions and you had ten
seconds to describe yourself and why you're interesting, what would you say?
This is what I call your PERSONAL NARRATIVE. These are the three main points
that represent who you are and what you're about. This is the story that you tell
through your application, over and over again. This is how an admissions officer
should understand you after just glancing through your application. This is how your
admissions officer will present you to the admissions committee to advocate for why
they should accept you.
The more unique and noteworthy your Personal Narrative is, the better. This is
how you'll stand apart from the tens of thousands of other applicants to your top
choice school. This is why I recommend so strongly that you develop a Spike to show
deep interest and achievement. A compelling Spike is the core of your Personal
Narrative.
Well-rounded applications do NOT form compelling Personal Narratives, because "I'm

a well-rounded person who's decent at everything" is the exact same thing every
other well-rounded person tries to say.
Everything in your application should support your Personal Narrative, from

your course selection and extracurricular activities to your personal statements and
recommendation letters. You are a movie director, and your application is your way
to tell a compelling, cohesive story through supporting evidence.
Yes, this is overly simplistic and reductionist. It does not represent all your
complexities and your 17 years of existence. But admissions offices don't have the
time to understand this for all their applicants. Your PERSONAL NARRATIVE is what
they will latch onto.
Here's what I would consider my Personal Narrative (humor me since I'm

peacocking here):
1) A science obsessive with years of serious research work and ranked 6th in a
national science competition, with future goals of being a neuroscientist or physician
2) Balanced by strong academic performance in all subjects (4.0 GPA and perfect test
scores, in both humanities and science) and proficiency in violin
3) An irreverent personality who doesn't take life too seriously, embraces controversy,
and says what's on his mind
These three elements were the core to my application. Together they tell a
relatively unique Personal Narrative that distinguishes me from many other strong
applicants. You get a surprisingly clear picture of what I'm about. There's no question
that my work in science was my "Spike" and was the strongest piece of my
application, but my Personal Narrative included other supporting elements, especially
a description of my personality.
This might be what you're picturing as you read this Personal Narrative, which is
good, because it's distinctive.
A good test of a strong Personal Narrative: if you swap out one item in the Personal
Narrative, you'll get a feeling of a completely different person.
It's far easier to grasp onto three strong points about a person than ten
different thin threads. This, again, is why being well-rounded is so deadly—mix ten
different paint colors together and you end up with an unappealing, indistinguishable
mess.
Note also that point #2 is probably the weakest, least unique part of the Personal
Narrative. Most people applying to top colleges have great test scores and grades, so
this is rarely distinguishing by itself. By point #2, I meant to say that I wasn't 100%
hardcore science geek and was competent in other aspects of life.
Throughout the rest of my guide, I will keep referring back to my Personal

Narrative so that you'll see how strongly each piece of my application
reinforces it, from my extracurriculars to personal statements and recommendation
letters. You should get a very strong flavor of who I am, which is the hallmark of a
memorable, effective application.
I'll end this guide with strategies and questions for you to ponder for yourself. The
major question for you to ponder as you read is—what is YOUR Personal Narrative,
and how are you going to show it through every component of your
application?
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My College Application, at a High Level

Drilling down into more details, here's an overview of my application.
I had a 4.0 GPA, unweighted, with 12 AP courses (5 in senior year). I got perfect
SAT and ACT scores (1600 and 36) and seven 5's on AP courses by the time I
applied.
This put me comfortably in the 99th percentile in the country, but it was
NOT sufficient to get me into Harvard by itself! Because there are
roughly 4 million high school students per year, the top 1 percentile still
has 40,000 students. You need other ways to set yourself apart.
My extracurriculars and awards were what really got me into Harvard. In

particular, I ranked nationally in the top 20 in the US National Chemistry
Olympiad, and I participated in Research Science Institute, what was then (and
may still be now) the most prestigious science research program for high school
students.
Your Spike will most often come from your extracurriculars and academic
honors, just because it's hard to really set yourself apart with your
coursework and test scores.
My letters of recommendation were very strong. Both my recommending

teachers marked me as "one of the best they'd ever taught." Importantly, they
corroborated my Personal Narrative, especially regarding my personality. You'll
see how below.
My personal statements were, in retrospect, just satisfactory. They

represented my humorous and irreverent side well, but they come across as too
self-satisfied. Because of my Spike, I don't think my essays were as important to
my application.
Finally, let's get started by digging into the very first pages of my Common
Application.
My Complete Common Application, Page by Page
To set the stage, I applied Early Action to Harvard early in senior year, and this is the
application I used to get in early. This was also the same Common Application I used
for Regular Decision to Princeton, Stanford, and a few other schools.
Let's start with the Common Application, which will form the bulk of the application.
Then we'll go into the Harvard supplemental application. Both applications have
changed in format a bit since 2005, so I'll be indicating what each section is now
known as in the latest Common Application.
Personal Data
Now known as: Profile
This is a straightforward section where you list your basic information. But as I point
out below, a lot is conveyed about you through just a few questions.
I've redacted some stuff here for privacy reasons.
There are a few notable points about how simple questions can actually help build a
first impression around what your Personal Narrative is.
First, notice the circle around my email address. This is the first of many marks
the admissions officer made on my application. The reason I think he circled this was
that the email address I used is a joke pun on my name. I knew it was risky to use
this vs something like allencheng15@gmail.com, but I thought it showed my
personality better (remember point #3 about having an irreverent personality in my
Personal Narrative).
Don't be afraid to show who you really are, rather than your perception of what
they want. What you think UChicago or Stanford wants is probably VERY wrong,
because of how little information you have, both as an 18-year-old and as someone
who hasn't read thousands of applications.
(It's also entirely possible that it's a formality to circle email addresses, so I don't want
to read too much into it, but I think I'm right.)
Second, I knew in high school that I wanted to go into the medical sciences, either as
a physician or as a scientist. I was also really into studying the brain. So I listed both in
my Common App to build onto my Personal Narrative.
In the long run, both predictions turned out to be wrong. After college, I did go to
Harvard Medical School for the MD/PhD program for 4 years, but I left to pursue
entrepreneurship and co-founded PrepScholar. Moreover, in the time I did actually
do research, I switched interests from neuroscience to bioengineering/biotech.
Colleges don't expect you to stick to career goals you stated at the age of 18.
Figuring out what you want to do is the point of college! But this doesn't give you an
excuse to avoid showing a preference. This early question is still a chance to build
that Personal Narrative.
Thus, I recommend AGAINST "Undecided" as an area of study—it suggests a lack

of flavor and is hard to build a compelling story around. From your high school work
thus far, you should at least be leaning to something, even if that's likely to change in
the future.
Finally, in the demographic section there is a big red A, possibly for Asian American.
I'm not going to read too much into this. If you're a notable minority, this is where
you'd indicate it.
Educational Data
Now known as: Education
This section was straightforward for me. I didn't take college courses, and I took a
summer chemistry class at a nearby high school because I didn't get into the lottery
at my school that year (I refer to this briefly in my 4.0 GPA guide).
The most notable point of this section: the admissions officer circled Principal
here. This is notable because our school Principal only wrote letters for fewer than 10
students each year. Counselors wrote letters for the other hundreds of students in
my class, which made my application stand out just a little.
I'll talk more about this below, when I share the Principal's recommendation.
(In the current Common Application, the Education section also includes Grades,
Courses, and Honors. We'll be covering each of those below).
Test Information
Now known as: Testing
Back then AP scores weren't part of this section, but I'll take them from another part
of my application here.
I scored a perfect 1600 on my SAT (the SAT changed to a 2400 scale in 2005 and then
changed back to 1600 in 2016), a 36 on my ACT, 800's on all but one SAT Subject Test,
and seven 5's on AP tests.
I need to make one very important point that stresses a lot of students and parents
out.
You do NOT need perfect scores to get into Harvard, Princeton, Yale or other
top schools.
It's true that colleges want you to take a very demanding courseload and to excel
academically. After all, schools like Harvard have the pick of the litter, and there are
plenty of students who get super high test scores AND have amazing achievements.
Remember, over 40,000 students fit in the top 1 percentile of students nationwide.
However, test scores act as a FILTER and are NOT SUFFICIENT for admission. Top
schools are generally looking to see that you fit in the top 1 percentile of the country.
But within that 1 percentile, your score does NOT make a big difference in your
chances of admission.
Just a sanity check: the average SAT score at Harvard is a 1540. The 75th percentile is a
1600, and the 25th percentile is a 1470. For the ACT, that's an average of 34, and a
75th percentile of 35 and a 25th percentile of 32.
In other words, a 1530 on the SAT is NOT going to significantly change your chances,
compared to a perfect 1600. In their eyes, you've already proven yourself
academically. They know that there is some amount of chance every time you take a
test, so a 1600 is more or less equivalent to a 1530.
NO ONE looked at my test scores alone and thought, "Wow, based on his GPA
and test scores, Allen really deserves admission!"
However, their standards are still very high. You really do want to be in that top 1
percentile to pass the filter. A 1400 on the SAT IS going to put you at a disadvantage
because there are so many students scoring higher than you. You'll really have to dig
yourself out of the hole with an amazing application.
I talk about this a lot more in my Get into Harvard guide (sorry to keep linking this,
but I really do think it's an important guide for you to read).
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Let's end this section with some personal notes.
Even though math and science were easy for me, I had to put in serious effort to
get an 800 on the Reading section of the SAT. As much as I wish I could say it was
trivial for me, it wasn't. I learned a bunch of strategies and dissected the test to get to
a point where I understood the test super well and reliably earned perfect scores.
I cover the most important points in my How to Get a Perfect SAT Score guide, as
well as my 800 Guides for Reading, Writing, and Math.
Between the SAT and ACT, the SAT was my primary focus, but I decided to take the
ACT for fun. The tests were so similar that I scored a 36 Composite without much
studying. Having two test scores is completely unnecessary—you get pretty much
zero additional credit. Again, with one test score, you have already passed their filter.
Finally, class finals or state-required exams are a breeze if you get a 5 on the
corresponding AP tests.
Family
Now known as: Family (still)
This section asks for your parent information and family situation. There's not much
you can do here besides report the facts.
I'm redacting a lot of stuff again for privacy reasons.
The reader made a number of marks here for occupation and education. There's
likely a standard code for different types of occupations and schools.
If I were to guess, I'd say that the numbers add to form some metric of "family
prestige." My dad got a Master's at a middle-tier American school, but my mom didn't
go to graduate school, and these sections were marked 2 and 3, respectively. So it
seems higher numbers are given for less prestigious educations by your parents. I'd
expect that if both my parents went to schools like Caltech and Dartmouth, there
would be even lower numbers here.
This makes me think that the less prepared your family is, the more points you get,
and this might give your application an extra boost. If you were the first one in your
family to go to college, for example, you'd be excused for having lower test
scores and fewer AP classes. Schools really do care about your background and
how you performed relative to expectations.
In the end, schools like Harvard say pretty adamantly they don't use formulas to
determine admissions decisions, so I wouldn't read too much into this. But this can
be shorthand to help orient an applicant's family background.
Extracurricular, Personal, and Volunteer Activities
Now known as: Activities
For most applicants, your Extracurriculars and your Academic Honors will be where
you develop your Spike and where your Personal Narrative shines through. This was
how my application worked.
Just below I'll describe the activities in more detail, but first I want to reflect on this
list.
As instructed, my extracurriculars were listed in the order of their interest to me. The
current Common App doesn't seem to ask for this, but I would still recommend it to
focus your reader's attention.
The most important point I have to make about my extracurriculars: as you go

down the list, there is a HUGE drop in the importance of each additional activity
to the overall application. If I were to guess, I assign the following weights to how
much each activity contributed to the strength of my activities section:
Activity Name Contribution to Application
Research Science Institute 2004 75%
Jisan Research Institute 10%
Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra 6%
Science Olympiad/Science Bowl/Math Team 4%
City of Hope Medical Center 1%
Pre-Medicine Club 1%
Hospital Quartet Performances 1%
Chemistry Club 1%
In other words, participating in the Research Science Institute (RSI) was far
more important than all of my other extracurriculars, combined. You can see
that this was the only activity my admissions reader circled.
You can see how Spike-y this is. The RSI just completely dominates all my other
activities.
The reason for this is the prestige of RSI. As I noted earlier, RSI was (and likely still
is) the most prestigious research program for high school students in the
country, with an admission rate of less than 5%. Because the program was so
prestigious and selective, getting in served as a big confirmation signal of my
academic quality.
In other words, the Harvard admissions reader would likely think, "OK, if this very
selective program has already validated Allen as a top student, I'm inclined to believe
that Allen is a top student and should pay special attention to him."
Now, it took a lot of prior work to even get into RSI because it's so selective. I had
already ranked nationally in the Chemistry Olympiad (more below), and I had done a
lot of prior research work in computer science (at Jisan Research Institute—more
about this later). But getting into RSI really propelled my application to another level.
Because RSI was so important and was such a big Spike, all my other
extracurriculars paled in importance. The admissions officer at Princeton or MIT
probably didn't care at all that I volunteered at a hospital or founded a high school
club.
This is a good sign of developing a strong Spike. You want to do something so

important that everything else you do pales in comparison to it. A strong Spike
becomes impossible to ignore.
In contrast, if you're well-rounded, all your activities hold equal weight—which likely
means none of them are really that impressive (unless you're a combination of
Olympic athlete, internationally-ranked science researcher, and New York Times
bestselling author, but then I'd call you unicorn because you don't exist).
Apply this concept to your own interests—what can be so impressive and such a
big Spike that it completely overshadows all your other achievements?
This might be worth spending a disproportionate amount of time on. As I recommend

in my Harvard guide and 4.0 GPA guide, smartly allocating your time is critical to your
high school strategy.
In retrospect, one "mistake" I made was spending a lot of time on the violin.
Each week I spent eight hours on practice and a lesson and four hours of orchestra
rehearsals. This amounted to over 1,500 hours from freshman to junior year.
The result? I was pretty good, but definitely nowhere near world-class. Remember,
there are thousands of orchestras and bands in the country, each with their own
concertmasters, drum majors, and section 1st chairs.
If I were to optimize purely for college applications, I should have spent that
time on pushing my spike even further—working on more Olympiad competitions,
or doing even more hardcore research.
Looking back I don't mind this much because I generally enjoyed my musical training
and had a mostly fun time in orchestra (and I had a strong Spike anyway). But this
problem can be a lot worse for well-rounded students who are stretched too thin.
Aside from these considerations about a Spike, I have two major caveats.
First, developing a Spike requires continuous, increasingly ambitious

foundational work. It's like climbing a staircase. From the beginning of high school,
each step was more and more ambitious—my first academic team, my first research
experience, leading up to state and national competitions and more serious research
work.
So when I suggest devoting a lot of time to developing your Spike, it's not necessarily
the Spike in itself—it's also spending time on foundational work leading up to what
will be your major achievement. That's why I don't see my time with academic teams
or volunteering as wasted, even though in the end they didn't contribute as much to
my application.
Second, it is important to do things you enjoy. I still enjoyed playing the violin and
being part of an orchestra, and I really enjoyed my school's academic teams, even
though we never went beyond state level. Even if some activities don't contribute as
much to your application, it's still fine to spend some time on them—just don't delude
yourself into thinking they're stronger than they really are and overspend time on
them.
Finally, note that most of my activities were pursued over multiple years. This is
a good sign of commitment—rather than hopping from activity year to year, it's
better to show sustained commitment, as this is a better signal of genuine passion.
In a future article, I'll break down these activities in more detail. But this guide is
already super long, so I want to focus our attention on the main points.
Short Answer: Extracurricular Activities

Now known as: Activities
In today's Common Application, you have 50 characters to describe

"Position/Leadership description and organization name" and 150 characters for
"Please describe this activity, including what you accomplished and any recognition
you received, etc."
Back then, we didn't have as much space per activity, and instead had a short answer
question.
The Short Answer prompt:
Please describe which of your activities (extracurricular and personal activities

or work experience) has been most meaningful and why.
I chose RSI as my most significant activity for two reasons—one based on the
meaning of the work, and another on the social aspect.
Reading the second paragraph now, it's a bit cringe-y in its enthusiasm, but I really did
have an amazing experience and am still good friends with some of my classmates
from RSI, over a decade later.
(This is only the beginning of my cringe-y writing—wait until you get to my Personal
Essays.)
Additional Information/Explanation
Now known as: Writing --> Additional Information
In my application and in the Common Application, there's an Additional Information

section, where you can write about anything else. I chose to spend this clarifying my
extracurriculars even further.
My main motive in this section was to add more detail around my most significant
activities: what I did, why they should be noteworthy to the reader, and what I
personally gained from them.
You can see how there's so much more information than appears in my brief list of
activities.
The only parts the reader underlined were the name of my research supervisor, and
the fact that my research was then a Siemens-Westinghouse Semi-Finalist. Both of
these legitimate my research.
I highly recommend you take the time to write an Additional Information

section. You have so little space in your Yale application or Duke application to
express yourself—this is purposely designed so everyone doesn't submit 100 pages
of drivel. Here you have an extra 650 words to add more color around your life
and accomplishments—DO IT.
Academic Honors
Now known as: Education --> Honors
Along with Activities, Academic Honors is the other major area where you can really
shine and develop a big Spike.
The higher the level of competition and the more prestigious the award, the
more the honor is worth.
This has an exponential relationship, because of how quickly the field is narrowed at
each stage of competition. A state ranking is probably worth 10x that of a regional
ranking; a national ranking 10x that of a state ranking; and an international ranking
even more. This can also mean an international ranking is worth 1000x that of a
regional ranking—again, why a big Spike is so impressive.
It's obvious that schools like Yale and UChicago want the best students in the world
that they can get their hands on. Academic honors and awards are a great,
quantifiable way to show that.
Here's the complete list of Academic Honors I submitted. The Common Application
now limits you to five honors only (probably because they got tired of lists like these),
but chances are you capture the top 98% of your honors with the top five.
Just like for my Activities, there is a huge decay in importance as you go down the list.
By far, the biggest academic honor I had was competing in the US National
Chemistry Olympiad, where I ranked #6 in the country in junior year, out of
roughly 11,000 students who took the first round test. This single honor probably
contributed 90% of the value of this page.
That's a really big Spike.
If you don't know about these academic Olympiads, they're like the Olympics for
math and science geeks. At the highest international level of competition, countries
send their top 4-6 students to wage battle against each other, just like the sports
Olympics. The best known subjects are Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (in
order of descending prestige, among nerds).
I ranked at the national level, before the US selected their final team—a study camp
of 20 students. In junior year, I didn't make it onto the international team to compete
(I did in senior year, too late for college apps). But this was still a national level honor,
in a well-known competition.
If you are nationally or internationally ranked for something meaningful, you

really stand out in the reader's mind, because most applicants only have regional
and state honors, if even that. This is why I say a big Spike makes you stand out
clearly among a bin of well-rounded applicants.
Note that even though I had a strong application, I clearly didn't have the strongest
application possible. At Harvard in my class, I knew International Math and Physics
Olympiad gold medalists, people who were on their national teams for the hardest
subjects AND ranked in the top percentiles worldwide. (And there were students with
similar level accomplishments in other arenas, from music performance to writing.)
Earning this kind of honor was nearly a golden ticket to getting into schools like
Harvard, because you literally are the best in the world at what you care about. So
you don't need anywhere near a "perfect" application to get in.
Charlie wins a Golden Ticket to Harvard.
I know this is intimidating if you don't already have a prestigious honor. But
remember there are thousands of nationally-ranked people in a multitude of honor
types, from science competitions to essay contests to athletics to weird talents.
And I strongly believe the #1 differentiator of high school students who achieve
things is work ethic, NOT intelligence or talent. Yes, you need a baseline level of
competence to get places, but people far undervalue the progress they can make if
they work hard and persevere. Far too many people give up too quickly or fatigue
without putting in serious effort.
If you're stuck thinking, "well I'm just an average person, and there's no way I'm going
to become world-class in anything," then you've already lost before you've begun.
The truth is everyone who achieves something of note puts in an incredible
amount of hard work. Because this is invisible to you, it looks like talent is what
distinguishes the two of you, when really it's much more often diligence.
I talk a lot more about the Growth Mindset in my How To Get a 4.0 GPA guide.
So my Chemistry Olympiad honor formed 90% of the value of this page. Just like
extracurriculars, there's a quick dropoff in value of each item after that.
My research work took up the next two honors, one a presentation at an academic
conference, and the other (Siemens) a research competition for high school
researchers.
The rest of my honors were pretty middling:
National Merit Scholarship semifinalist pretty much equates to PSAT score,

which is far less important than your SAT/ACT score. So I didn't really get any
credit for this, and you won't either.
In Science Olympiad (this is a team-based competition that's not as prestigious

as the academic Olympiads I just talked about), I earned a number of 1st place
state and regional medals, but we never made it to nationals.
I was mediocre at competition math because I didn't train for it, and I won some
regional awards but nothing amazing. This is one place I would have spent more
time, maybe in the time I'd save by not practicing violin as much. There are great
resources for this type of training, like Art of Problem Solving, that I didn't know
existed and could've helped me rank much higher.
At the risk of beating a dead horse, think about how many state medalists there
are in the country, in the hundreds of competitions that exist. The number of
state to national rankers is probably at least 20:1 (less than 50:1 because of variation
in state size), so if there are 2,000 nationally ranked students, there are 40,000
state-ranked students in something!
So state honors really don't help you stand out on your Princeton application. There
are just too many of them around.
On the other hand, if you can get to be nationally ranked in something, you will
have an amazing Spike that distinguishes you.
Personal Statement
Now known as: Personal Essay
Now, the dreaded personal statement. Boy, oh boy, did I fuss over this one.
"What is the perfect combination of personal, funny, heartrending, and inspirational?"
I know I was wondering this when I applied.
Having read books like 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, I was frightened. I
didn't grow up as a refugee, wrenched from my war-torn home! I didn't have a sibling
with a debilitating illness! How could anything I write compare to these tales of
personal strength?
The trite truth is that colleges want to know who you really are. Clearly they
don't expect everyone to have had immense personal struggle. But they do want
students who are:
thoughtful
growth-oriented
passionate
introspective
creative
ambitious
confident
kind and good-hearted
Whatever those words mean to you in the context of your life is what you should
write about.
In retrospect, in the context of MY application, the personal statement really

wasn't what got me into Harvard. I do think my Spike was nearly sufficient to get
me admitted to every school in the country.
I say "nearly" because, even if you're world-class, schools do want to know you're not
a jerk and that you're an interesting person (which is conveyed through your personal
essay and letters of recommendation).
Back then, we had a set of different prompts:
I chose to write on a topic of my choice. After thorough brainstorming, I didn't really

identify with any of the other topics. I couldn't think of a topic that wasn't trite and
that I cared about enough. I also felt a need to be distinctive and thought that a free
essay topic might give me more freedom.
The way I saw it, the personal statement was a vehicle to convey my
personality and my interests. To build my Personal Narrative, I wanted to showcase
my personality and reveal a bit about my life experiences. Even though the life
experiences I'd had weren't distinctive in themselves, I thought I could package them
from an interesting perspective.
The idea I used was to talk about my battle against the snooze alarm. I really did
love sleep (and still do) and I thought it'd be interesting to frame my personality,
interests, and life experiences from this perspective.
Frankly this personal statement is really embarrassing. Each time I read it, I cringe a
bit. I think I sound too smug and self-satisfied. But again in the interest of
transparency, here goes:
What did you think?
I'm still cringing a bit. Parts of this are very smug (see /r/iamverysmart), and if you
want to punch the writer in the face, I don't blame you. I want to as well.
We'll get to areas of improvement later, but first, let's talk about what this personal
essay did well.
As I said above, I saw the theme of the snooze button as a VEHICLE to showcase a
few qualities I cared about:
1) I fancied myself a Renaissance man (obnoxious, I know) and wanted to

become an inventor and creator. I showed this through mentioning different
interests (Rubik's cube, chemistry, Nietzsche) and iterating through a few designs for
an alarm clock (electric shocks, explosions, Shakespearean sonnet recitation).
2) My personality was whimsical and irreverent. I don't take life too seriously. The
theme of the essay—battling an alarm clock—shows this well, in comparison to the
gravitas of the typical student essay. I also found individual lines funny, like "All right,
so I had violated the divine honor of the family and the tenets of Confucius." At once I
acknowledge my Chinese heritage but also make light of the situation.
3) I was open to admitting weaknesses, which I think is refreshing among people

taking college applications too seriously and trying too hard to impress. The frank
admission of a realistic lazy habit—pushing the Snooze button—served as a nice foil
to my academic honors and shows that I can be down-to-earth.
So you see how the snooze button acts as a vehicle to carry these major points
and a lot of details, tied together to the same theme.
In the same way, The Walking Dead is NOT a zombie show—the zombie environment
is a VEHICLE by which to show human drama and conflict. Packaging my points
together under the snooze button theme makes it a lot more interesting than just
outright saying "I'm such an interesting guy."
So overall, I believe the essay accomplishes my goals and the main points of what I
wanted to convey about myself.
Note that this is just one of many ways to write an essay. It worked for me, but it
may be totally inappropriate for you.
Now let's look at this essay's weaknesses.
Looking at it with a more seasoned perspective, some parts of it are WAY too try-
hard. I try too hard to show off my breadth of knowledge in a way that seems
artificial and embellishing.
The entire introduction with the Rubik's cube seems bolted on, just to describe my
long-standing desire to be a Renaissance man. Only three paragraphs down do I get
to the Snooze button, and I don't refer again to the introduction until the end. With
just 650 words, I could have made the essay more cohesive by keeping the same
theme from beginning to end.
Some phrases really make me roll my eyes. "Always hungry for more" and "ever the
inventor" sound too forced and embellishing. A key principle of effective writing is
to show, not say. You don't say "I'm passionate about X," you describe what
extraordinary lengths you took to achieve X.
The mention of Nietzsche is over-the-top. I mean, come on. The reader probably
thought, "OK, this kid just read it in English class and now he thinks he's a
philosopher." The reader would be right.
The ending: "with the extra nine minutes, maybe I'll teach myself to cook fried rice" is
silly. Where in the world did fried rice come from? I meant it as a nod to my Chinese
heritage, but it's too sudden to work. I could have deleted the sentence and wrapped
up the essay more cleanly.
So I have mixed feelings of my essay. I think it accomplished my major goals and

showed the humorous, irreverent side of my personality well. However, it also gave
the impression of a kid who thought he knew more than he did, a pseudo-
sophisticate bordering on obnoxious. I still think it was a net positive.
At the end of the day, I believe the safest, surefire strategy is to develop a Spike
so big that the importance of the Personal Essay pales in comparison to your
achievements. You want your Personal Essay to be a supplement to your
application, not the only reason you get in.
There are probably some cases where a well-rounded student writes an amazing
Personal Essay and gets in through the strength of that. As a Hail Mary if you're a
senior and can't improve your application further, this might work. But the results are
very variable—some readers may love your essay, others may just think it's OK.
Without a strong application to back it up, your mileage may vary.
We can help.

League.
Teacher and Counselor Recommendations
This is a really fun section. Usually you don't get to read your letter of
recommendation because you sign the FERPA waiver. I've also reached out to my
letter writers to make sure they're ok with my showing this.
Teacher recommendations are incredibly important to your application. I would

say that after your coursework/test scores and activities/honors, they're the 3rd most
important component of your application.
The average teacher sees thousands of students through a career, and so he or she is
very well equipped to position you relative to all other students. Furthermore, your
teachers are experienced adults—their impressions of you are much more reliable
than your impressions of yourself (see my Personal Essay above). They can
corroborate your entire Personal Narrative as an outside observer.
The most effective recommendation letters speak both to your academic

strengths and to your personality. For the second factor, the teacher needs to have
interacted with you meaningfully, ideally both in and out of class. Check out our guide
on what makes for effective letters of recommendation.
Starting from sophomore year, I started thinking about whom I connected better
with and chose to engage with those teachers more deeply. Because it's standard
for colleges to require two teachers in different subjects, I made sure to engage with
English and history teachers as well as math and science.
The minimum requirement for a good letter is someone who taught a class in which
you did well. I got straight A's in my coursework, so this wasn't an issue.
Beyond this, I had to look for teachers who would be strong advocates for me on
both an academic and personal level. These tended to be teachers I vibed more
strongly with, and typically these were teachers who demonstrably cared about
teaching. This was made clear by their enthusiasm, how they treated students, and
how much they went above expectations to help.
I had a lot of teachers who really just phoned it in and treated their job perfunctorily
—these people are likely to write pretty blasé letters.
A final note before reading my actual teacher evaluations—you should avoid getting
in the mindset where you get to know teachers JUST because you want a good
recommendation letter. Your teachers have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of
students pass through, and it's much easier to detect insincerity than you think.
If you honestly like learning and are an enthusiastic, responsible, engaging

student, a great recommendation letter will follow naturally. The horse should
lead the cart.
Read my How to Get a 4.0 GPA for tips on how to interact with teachers in a genuine
way that'll make them love you.
Teacher Letter #1: AP Chemistry Teacher
I took AP Chemistry in 10th grade and had Miss Cherryl Vorak (now Mynster). She was
young, having taught for fewer than 5 years when I had her. She was my favorite
teacher throughout high school for these reasons:
She was enthusiastic, very caring, and spent a lot of time helping struggling
students. She exuded pride in her work and seemed to consider teaching her
craft.
She had a kind personality and was universally well liked by her students, even if
they weren't doing so well. She was fair in her policies (it probably helped that
science is more objective than English). She was also a younger teacher, and this
helped her relate to kids more closely.
She was my advocate for much of the US National Chemistry Olympiad stuff,
and in this capacity I got to know her even better outside of class. She provided
me a lot of training materials, helped me figure out college chemistry, and
directed me to resources to learn more.
By the time of the letter writing, I had known her for two full years and engaged with
her continuously, even when I wasn't taking a class with her in junior year. We'd build
up a strong relationship over the course of many small interactions.
All of this flowed down to the recommendation you see here. Remember, the
horse leads the cart.
First, we'll look at the teacher evaluation page. The Common Application now has 16
qualities to rate, rather than the 10 here. But they're largely the same.
You can see a very strong evaluation here, giving me the highest ratings possible for
all qualities.
In today's Common Application, all of these Ratings are retained, aside from
"Potential for Growth." Today's Common App also now includes Faculty Respect,
Maturity, Leadership, Integrity, Reaction to Setbacks, Concern for Others, and TE

Overall. You can tell that the updated Common App places a great emphasis on
personality.
The most important point here: it is important to be ranked "One of the top few
encountered in my career" for as many ratings as possible. If you're part of a big
school, this is CRITICAL to distinguish yourself from other students. The more
experienced and trustworthy the teacher, the more meaningful this is.
Again, it's a numbers game. Think about the 20,000+ high schools in the country
housing 4 million+ high school students—how many people fit in the top 5% bucket?
Thus, being marked merely as Excellent (top 10%) is actually a negative rating,
as far as admissions to top colleges is concerned. If you're in top 10%, and someone
else with the SAME teacher recommender is being rated as "One of the top ever," it's
really hard for the admissions officer to vouch for you over the other student.
You really want to make sure you're one of the best in your school class, if not one of
the best the teacher has ever encountered. You'll see below how you can accomplish
this.
Next, let's look at her letter.
As you read this, think—what are the interactions that would prompt the teacher
to write a recommendation like this? This was a relationship built up in a period of
over 2 years, with every small interaction adding to an overall larger impression.
You can see how seriously they take the letter because of all the underlining.
This admissions reader underlined things that weren't even underlined in my
application, like my US National Chemistry Olympiad awards. It's one thing for a
student to claim things about himself—it's another to have a teacher put her
reputation on the line to advocate for her student.
The letter here is very strong for a multitude of reasons. First, the length is notable
—most letters are just a page long, but this is nearly two full pages, single spaced.
This indicates not just her overall commitment to her students but also of her
enthusiastic support for me as an applicant.
The structure is effective: first Miss Vorak talks about my academic accomplishments,
then about my personal qualities and interactions, then a summary to the future.
This is a perfect blend of what effective letters contain.
On the micro-level, her diction and phrasing are precise and effective. She makes
my standing clear with specific statements: "youngest student…top excelling
student among the two sections" and "one of twenty students in the nation." She's
clear about describing why my achievements are notable and the effort I put in, like
studying college-level chemistry and studying independently.
When describing my personality, she's exuberant and fleshes out a range of

dimensions: "conscientious, motivated and responsible," "exhibits the qualities of a
leader," "actively seeks new experiences," "charismatic," "balanced individual with a
warm personality and sense of humor." You can see how she's really checking off all
the qualities colleges care about.
Overall, Miss Vorak's letter perfectly supports my Personal Narrative—my love

for science, my overall academic performance, and my personality. I'm flattered and
grateful to have received this support. This letter was important to complement the
overall academic performance and achievements shown on the rest of my
application.
Teacher Letter #2: AP English Language Teacher
My second teacher Mrs. Swift was another favorite. A middle-aged, veteran English
teacher, the best way I would describe her is "fiery." She was invigorating and
passionate, always trying to get a rise out of students and push their thinking,
especially in class discussions. Emotionally she was a reliable source of support for
students.
First, the evaluation:

You can see right away that her remarks are terser. She didn't even fill out the section
about "first words that come to mind to describe this student."
You might chalk this up to my not being as standout of a student in her mind, or her
getting inundated with recommendation letter requests after over a decade of
teaching.
In ratings, you can see that I only earned 3 of the "one of the top in my career." There
are a few explanations for this. As a teacher's career lengthens, it gets increasingly
hard to earn this mark. I probably also didn't stand out as much as I did to my
Chemistry teacher—most of my achievement was in science (which she wasn't closely
connected to), and I had talented classmates. Regardless, I did appreciate the 3 marks
she gave me.
Now, the letter. Once again, as you read this letter, think: what are the hundreds of
micro-interactions that would have made a teacher write a letter like this?
Overall, this letter is very strong. It's only one page long, but her points about my
personality are the critical piece of this recommendation. She also writes with the flair
of an English teacher:
"In other situations where students would never speak their minds, he showed
no hesitation to voice questions, thoughts, and ideas."
"controversial positions often being the spark that set off the entire class"
"ability to take the quiet and shy student and actively engage"…"went out of my
way to partner him with other students who needed"
"strength of conviction"…"raw, unbridled passion"…"He will argue on any topic

that has touched a nerve."
These comments most support the personality aspect of my Personal Narrative—

having an irreverent, bold personality and not being afraid of speaking my mind. She
stops just short of making me sound obnoxious and argumentative. An experienced
teacher vouching for this adds so much more weight than just my writing it about
myself.
Teacher recommendations are some of the most important components of your

application. Getting very strong letters take a lot of sustained, genuine interaction
over time to build mutual trust and respect. If you want detailed advice on how to
interact with teachers earnestly, check out my How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better
Grades guide.
Let's go to the final recommendation, from the school counselor.
School Report
Now known as: School Report
The first piece of this is reporting your academic status and how the school works
overall. There's not much to say here, other than the fact that my Principal wrote my
recommendation for me, which we'll get into next.
Counselor Recommendation
Now known as: Counselor Recommendation
Let's talk about my school principal writing my recommendation, rather than a school
counselor.
This was definitely advantageous—remember how, way up top in Educational Data,

the reader circled the "Principal." Our Principal only wrote a handful of these
recommendations each year, often for people who worked closely with him, like
student body presidents. So it was pretty distinctive that I got a letter from our
Principal, compared to other leading applicants from my school.
This was also a blessing because our counseling department was terrible. Our
school had nearly 1,000 students per grade, and only 1 counselor per grade. They
were overworked and ornery, and because they were the gatekeepers of academic
enrollment (like class selection and prerequisites), this led to constant frictions in
getting the classes you wanted.
I can empathize with them, because having 500+ neurotic parents pushing for
advantages for their own kids can get REALLY annoying really fast. But the counseling
department was still the worst part of our high school administration, and I could
have guessed that the letters they wrote were mediocre because they just had too
many students.
So how did my Principal come to write my recommendation and not those for
hundreds of other students?
I don't remember exactly how this came to be, to be honest. I didn't strategize to have
him write a letter for me years in advance. I didn't even interact with him much at all
until junior year, when I got on his radar because of my national rankings. Come
senior year I might have talked to him about my difficulty in reaching counselors and
asked that he write my recommendation. Since I was a top student he was probably
happy to do this.
He was very supportive, but as you can tell from the letter to come, it was clear he
didn't know me that well.
Interestingly, the prompt for the recommendation has changed. It used to start with:
"Please write whatever you think is important about this student."
Now, it starts with: "Please provide comments that will help us differentiate this
student from others."
The purpose of the recommendation has shifted to the specific: colleges probably
found that one counselor was serving hundreds of students, so the letters started
getting mushy and indistinguishable from each other.
Here's the letter:
This letter is probably the weakest overall of all my letters. It reads more like a
verbal resume than a personal account of how he understands me.
Unlike my two teacher recommendations, he doesn't comment on the nature of

our interactions or about my personality (because he truly didn't understand them
well). He also misreported by SAT score as 1530 instead of 1600 (I did score a 1530 in
an early test, but my 1600 was ready by January 2004, so I don't know what source he
was using).
Notably, the letter writer didn't underline anything.
I still appreciate that he wrote my letter, and it was probably more effective than a
generic counselor letter. But this didn't add much to my application.
At this point, we've covered my entire Common Application. This is the same
application I sent to every school I applied to, including Harvard, Princeton, and
Stanford. Thanks for reading this far—I hope you've gotten a lot out of this already.
If you keep reading to the end, I'll have advice for both younger students and
current applicants to build the strongest application possible.
Next, we'll go over the Harvard Supplemental Application, which of course is unique
to Harvard.
Harvard Application Supplement

For most top colleges like Princeton, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, and so on, you will
need to complete a supplemental application to provide more info than what's listed
on the Common Application.
Harvard was and is the same. The good news is that it's an extra chance for you to
share more about yourself and keep pushing your Personal Narrative.
There are four major components here:
The application form
Writing supplement essay

Supplementary recommendations
Supplemental application materials
I'll take you through the application section by section.
Harvard Supplement Form
First, the straightforward info and questions.
This section is pretty straightforward and is similar to what you'd see on a Columbia
application.
I planned to live in a Harvard residence, as most students do.
Just as in my Common App, I noted that I was most likely to study biological sciences,
choose Medicine as my vocation, and participate in orchestra, writing, and research
as my extracurriculars. Nothing surprising here—it's all part of my Personal Narrative.
Interestingly, at the time I was "absolutely certain" about my vocational goals, which
clearly took a detour once I left medical school to pursue entrepreneurship to create
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I had the space to list some additional honors, where I listed some musical honors
that didn't make the cut in my Common App.
Here are the next two pages of the Harvard supplemental form.
The most interesting note here is that the admissions officer wrote a question
mark above "Music tape or CD." Clearly this was inconsistent with my Personal
Narrative—if violin was such an important part of my story, why didn't I want to
include it?
The reason was that I was actually pretty mediocre at violin and was nowhere near
national-ranked. Again, remember how many concertmasters in the thousands of
orchestras there are in the world—I wasn't good enough to even be in the top 3
chairs in my school orchestra (violin was very competitive).
I wanted to focus attention on my most important materials, which for my Personal

Narrative meant my research work. You'll see these supplementary materials later.
Additional Essays
Now known as: Writing Supplement
For the most part, the Harvard supplemental essay prompt has stayed the same. You
can write about a topic of your choice or about any of the suggestions. There are now
two more prompts that weren't previously there: "What you would want your future
college roommate to know about you" and "How you hope to use your college
education."
Even though this is optional, I highly recommend you write something here. Again,
you have so few chances in the overall application to convey your personal voice—an
extra 500 words gives you a huge opportunity. I would guess that the majority of
admitted Harvard students submit a Writing Supplement.
After a lot of brainstorming, I settled on the idea that I wanted to balance my

application by writing about the major non-academic piece of my Personal
Narrative—my music training. Also, I don't think I explicitly recognized this at the
time, but I wanted to distance myself from the Asian-American stereotype—driven
entirely by parent pressure, doing most things perfunctorily and without interest. I
wanted to show I'd broken out of that mold.
Here's my essay:
Reading it now, I actually think this was a pretty bad essay, and I cringe to high
heaven. But once again, let's focus on the positive first.
I used my violin teacher as a vehicle for talking about what the violin meant to
me. (You can tell I love the concept of the vehicle in essays.) He represented passion
for the violin—I represented my academic priorities. Our personal conflict was really
the conflict between what we represented.
By the end of the essay, I'd articulated the value of musical training to me—it was
cathartic and a way to balance my hard academic pursuits.
Halfway in the essay, I also explicitly acknowledged the Asian stereotype of parents
who drove their kids, and said my parents were no different. The reader underlined
this sentence. By pointing this out and showing how my interest took on a life of its
own, I wanted to distance myself from that stereotype.
So overall I think my aims were accomplished.
Despite all that, this essay was WAY overdramatic and overwrought. Some
especially terrible lines:
"I was playing for that cathartic moment when I could feel Tchaikovsky himself
looking over my shoulder."
"I was wandering through the fog in search of a lighthouse, finally setting foot
on a dock pervaded by white light."
OK, please. Who really honestly feels this way? This is clumsy, contrived writing. It
signals insincerity, actually, which is bad.
To be fair, all of this is grounded in truth. I did have a strict violin teacher who did get
pretty upset when I showed lack of improvement. I did appreciate music as a
diversion to round out my academic focus. I did practice hard each day, and I did
have a pretty gross callus on my pinky.
But I would have done far better by making it more sincere and less
overworked.
As an applicant, you're tempted to try so hard to impress your reader. You want to
show that you're Worthy of Consideration. But really the best approach is to be
honest.
I think this essay was probably neutral to my application, not a strong net positive or
net negative.
Supplementary Recommendations
Harvard lets you submit letters from up to two Other Recommenders. The Princeton
application, Penn application, and others are usually the same.
Unlike the other optional components (the Additional Information in the Common
App, and the Supplementary Essay), I would actually consider these letters optional.
The reader gets most of the recommendation value from your teacher
recommendations—these are really supplementary.
A worthwhile Other Recommender:
has supervised an activity or honor that is noteworthy

has interacted with you extensively and can speak to your personality
is likely to support you as one of the best students they've interacted with
If your Other Recommenders don't fulfill one or more of these categories, do

NOT ask for supplementary letters. They'll dilute your application without adding
substantively to it.
To beat a dead horse, the primary component of my Personal Narrative was my

science and research work. So naturally I chose supervisors for my two major
research experiences to write supplemental letters.
First was the Director of Research Science Institute (the selective summer research
program at MIT). The second was from the head of Jisan Research Institute, where I
did Computer Science research.
This letter validates my participation in RSI and incorporates the feedback from my
research mentor, David Simon. At the time, the RSI students were the most talented
students I had met, so I'm also flattered by some of the things the letter writer said,
like "Allen stood out early on as a strong performer in academic settings."
I didn't get to know the letter writer super well, so he commented mainly on my
academic qualifications and comments from my mentor.
My mentor, who was at one of the major Harvard-affiliated hospitals, said some very
nice things about my research ability, like:
"is performing in many ways at the level of a graduate student"
"impressed with Allen's ability to read even advanced scientific publications and
synthesize his understanding"
Once again, it's much more convincing for a seasoned expert to vouch for your
abilities than for you to claim your own abilities.
My first research experience was done at Jisan Research Institute, a small private
computer science lab run by a Caltech PhD. The research staff were mainly high
school students like me and a few grad students/postdocs.
My research supervisor, Sanza Kazadi, wrote the letter. He's requested that I not
publish the letter, so I'll only speak about his main points.
In the letter, he focused on the quality of my work and leadership. He said that I had a
strong focus in my work, and my research moved along more reliably than that of
other students. I was independent in my work in swarm engineering, he says, putting
together a simulation of the swarm and publishing a paper in conference
proceedings. He talked about my work in leading a research group and placing a high
degree of trust in me.
Overall, a strong recommendation, and you get the gist of his letter without reading
it.
One notable point—both supplemental letters had no marks on them. I really think
this means they place less emphasis on the supplementary recommendations,
compared to the teacher recommendations.
Supplemental Application Materials
Finally, finally, we get to the very last piece of my application.
Let me beat the dead horse even deader. Because research was such a core part of
my Personal Narrative, I decided to include abstracts of both of my papers. The main
point was to summarize the body of work I'd done and communicate the major
results.
As Harvard says, "These materials are entirely optional; please only submit them if
you have unusual talents."
This is why I chose not to submit a tape of my music: I don't think my musical skill was
unusually good.
And frankly, I don't think my research work was that spectacular. Unlike some of my
very accomplished classmates, I hadn't ranked nationally in prestigious competitions
like ISEF and Siemens. I hadn't published my work in prominent journals.
Regardless, I thought these additions would be net positive, if only marginally so.
I made sure to note where the papers had been published or were entering
competitions, just to ground the work in some achievement.
We can help.

League.
Overall Recap and Advice

So there we have it—my entire college application. As promised, I showed you every
single page and word, in excruciating detail.
Once again, the point of my showing this to you is NOT to give you an application to
replicate, but rather to talk you through how to craft a compelling, coherent
application.
From my advice, you should be able to go through similar thinking and apply
the concepts to your own situation.
Here are the most important pieces of advice and questions for you to think about.
For Freshmen to Juniors in High School
The earlier you are in high school, the more time you have to prepare and implement
the right strategies to build a strong, distinctive application. Here are the most
important questions that form the foundation of your application:
In your fields of interest, what can be such a big Spike that it completely
overshadows everything else you can do? Think broadly. Think ambitiously.
What are the steps you must take to achieve this?
Are your test scores, coursework, and grades good enough to comfortably
put you in the 99th percentile nationwide? What is lacking right now, and how
can you make the biggest improvement with the least amount of effort?
You need at least two teachers you engage well with, in different subjects, to
write your recommendations. Get three to be safe. Who are these teachers?
How can you interact with them, inside and outside of class, to get them to
advocate for you 100%? What can you do to make them say you were one of
the very best students they've ever taught?
What is the Personal Narrative you want to tell? This can change over time,
but start thinking about who you are as a person, and how you can show that
through your application.
If you execute successfully on these three dimensions, you will be on the path to
getting admission to schools like Harvard and Princeton. I know, easier said than
done. But you can accomplish a lot more than you think if you work hard and
strategize smartly.
For Seniors Applying to College
At this point, most of your application is set in stone. Your job now is to package your
3 years of work into a cohesive, compelling application. Here are the biggest
questions for you to answer:
What are the three defining points of your Personal Narrative? What do you
really want the reader to appreciate about you? Keep these precise and restrict
yourself to 3 major points. One template: this should consist of your 1) major
interest and goal, 2) your supplementary interest and goal, 3) how you would
describe your personality in 3 words.
How are you going to convey this Personal Narrative through every single
piece of your application?
Personal Essays: At a high level, what are the major points you want to
make in your essay? What do you want the reader to know about you, on a
deep personal level? How will this map onto the actual subject you write about?
Again, the Walking Dead isn't about zombies—it's a human drama exploring
relationships.
Activities: What was the single most important activity to you? Why was it
so meaningful? Why? Ask yourself "why?" five times. If you introspect deeply
enough, this will reveal the core of what you care about. Then make sure you
convey this through your activities descriptions, additional information, or
supplementary materials.
Recommendation Letters: Hopefully you should have developed strong,

genuine relationships with teachers you care about. The letters should flow
naturally from here, and you will only need to do gentle prodding to make sure
they meet deadlines.
Keep Reading
At PrepScholar, we've published the best guides available anywhere to help you
succeed in high school and college admissions.
Here's a sampling of our most popular articles:
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SAT 800 Series: Reading | Math | Writing—Learn important strategies to excel in

each section of the SAT.
ACT 36 Series: English | Math | Reading | Science—Learn how to get a perfect 36 on

each section of the ACT.
How to Get Into Harvard and the Ivy League—The foundational guide where I
discuss the philosophy behind what colleges are looking for, how to develop a Spike,
and why being well-rounded is the path to rejection.
How to Get a 4.0 GPA and Better Grades—Are you struggling with getting strong
grades in challenging coursework? I step you through all the major concepts you need
to excel in school, from high-level mindset to individual class strategies.
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About the Author

author image
Allen Cheng
As co-founder and head of product design at PrepScholar, Allen has guided
thousands of students to success in SAT/ACT prep and college admissions. He's
committed to providing the highest quality resources to help you succeed. Allen
graduated from Harvard University summa cum laude and earned two perfect
scores on the SAT (1600 in 2004, and 2400 in 2014) and a perfect score on the
ACT. You can also find Allen on his personal website, Shortform, or the
Shortform blog.
Ask a Question Below

Have any questions about this article or other topics? Ask below and we'll reply!
Jasmine 31.12.2015, 10:46:18

Thanks so much Allen for the great article!
John Bell 31.12.2015, 12:54:07

Thanks for all the tips you provide on this website btw!
Aaliyah Davy 31.12.2015, 15:34:41

You're the best!!! Thank you for this, it's so helpful.
Daniel Pyone Maung 03.01.2016, 09:48:43

Awesome! I wish I had it a month ago. :)
Alaina 03.01.2016, 13:30:10

Hi Allen! I have two questions. The first, does having straight A's hurt your spike? And
the second, is it bad if your spike isn't in a core subject? Thank you! I appreciate this
article greatly!
Justin Berkman 10.01.2016, 22:49:19

Hi Alaina,
Thanks for your questions. Straight A's won't hurt your spike, unless the time you
spend to get perfect grades takes away from your accomplishments in your
spike. If you want to get into the most selective colleges, you should have mostly
A's, though. It's not bad if your spike isn't in a core subject. For example, your
spike can be in a musical instrument, art, or athletics.
Im glad you liked the article. Best of luck to you!
Carter 14.01.2016, 16:25:37

Which do you recommend taking most, the ACT or SAT. Especially for Ivy League
schools
Justin Berkman 15.01.2016, 17:46:06

Hi Carter,
Thanks for your question. Ivy League schools don't have a preference between
the SAT and ACT. As of now, there is more information about the ACT vs. the new
ACT, so it may be easier to prepare for the ACT. Check out these articles for
further information: http://blog.prepscholar.com/the-new-sat-vs-the-act-a-full-
breakdown
http://blog.prepscholar.com/should-you-take-the-act-or-the-new-2016-a-guide
Hope that helps. Best of luck to you!
Joseph Gentry 22.01.2016, 12:52:57

Is it neccesary for a spike to be so large that other activities are not rounded at all?
For example, is it okay to have equal grades (A's) in all subjects but have an athletic
spike?
Justin Berkman 24.01.2016, 00:55:34

Hi Joseph,
Thanks for your question. Regardless of your spike, it's important to get good
grades if you want to get into the most selective colleges. If you have a spike in
athletics and you have straight A's, then you're going to get into great colleges.
You're on the right track. Keep doing well in school and in your athletics. Allen's
point was that you don't need perfect grades to get into the best colleges if
you're world-class in athletics. Best of luck to you!
gifty okpala 15.04.2016, 02:37:02

which exams are required for ivy league colleges? must one take the SAT and SATII
Francesca Fulciniti 17.04.2016, 12:14:39

Hi Gifty - The requirements will vary by school. Almost all US colleges and
universities will accept either the SAT or the ACT, but some require subject tests
in addition (for example, Harvard will accept scores from either the SAT or the
ACT, but applicants must also submit scores for two SAT subject tests).
For information on specific schools, you should check out their admissions
websites or PrepScholar's admissions pages. Just google "PrepScholar [school
name] admissions," and the first link that comes up that should be the one you
want.
Iren Jani 20.04.2016, 02:32:07

What are some competitions and projects that can form a great spike on
writing/literature? I feel like it's harder to create a spike on humanities than on
science subjects since there aren't many prestigious opportunities for teenager.

Hi Iren - publications are a great way to develop a spike in writing/literature! You
might start off by submitting pieces to print or online publications that are
targeted towards teen readers and authors. You also may have better luck with
looking for other niche publications. Good luck! - Francesca
Cheryl 20.04.2016, 19:04:45

Hi, thank you so much for this informative article! I have a question about teacher
recommendation:
I have an English teacher who is known to write great recommendation letters given
his supposed ability to observe and understand each of his students. However, I am
only average in his class and I don't participate that much, and I also don't think we
have a "personal connection". Yet, I feel like my writing skills and thinking has grown a
lot in his class.
On the other hand, I participate a lot in my Spanish class, but that class is considered
relatively easy for me; so I don't think my academic strengths are emphasized in that
class.
I can only choose one humanities teacher to write my recommendation...who do you
think I should ask?
Thank you so much for reading this!!

Hi Cheryl - thanks for your question. I can't tell you for sure who you should ask,
but I think there's one important thing you should do before you make a
decision: talk to your English teacher. From your description, he sounds like a
pretty reasonable guy. If this is true, I'd set up a short meeting with him to voice
your concerns. You might say that you've heard he writes really thoughtful letters
for his students, and you feel that you've learned a lot in his class, but you want
to make sure he'd feel comfortable writing you a strong letter of
recommendation. If he seems at all hesitant (or if he agrees with your concerns),
then you might want to have a chat with your Spanish teacher. I hope this helps! -
Francesca
Cheryl 23.04.2016, 15:37:06
Yes, thank you so much!
Sarelle Chaparian 12.09.2016, 03:38:50

Dear Allen,
I also left a comment on your 'how to get into Harvard' guide yesterday. You made
every single point clear. I do have a problem, however.
Being a Lebanese citizen, the academic program where I live is completely different
than that of USA.
My problem is the 'huge spike' you often refer to in your article; we do not have
national competitions here, high schools here are set on a permanent schedule, so
students do not choose what courses they take, and last but not least, we do not take
AP classes.
We do, however, take governmental exams at the end of high school senior year,
which are a huge deal in some Middle Eastern countries. Does my score in these
exams help me 'stand out'? Me not having anything special on my list. (Awards or
summer camps or extracurricular activities.)
I once again repeat that students here are not given as many opportunities, and I
have not participated in any of the above mentioned activities or competitions. I do
however, have a strong GPA, and a perfect academic performance.
Thank you for your time, I will be waiting for your reply, for this aspect of my life is
fairly demotivating, seeing I may not have a chance here.
Truly yours,
Sarelle Chaparian
Justin Berkman 12.09.2016, 13:38:01

Hi,
Thanks for your question. Colleges just want to see that you're taking advantage
of your available resources. You won't be penalized for not taking AP classes if
you're unable to do so. If you do very well on your governmental exams, that will
definitely help your applications.
Generally, you should just try to do the best you can with your available
opportunities. If there are ways for you to pursue your interests outside of
school, then you should try to do so. And do the best you can in school and on
your standardized tests. Elite colleges are looking for students who have made
the most out of their situations.
Hope that helps. Best of luck to you.
Justin
Sarelle Chaparian 12.09.2016, 16:28:25
Thank you for writing back. That certainly does help. Thank you also for
taking the time to help each and every one of us. Your efforts are highly
appreciated.
Karisma Holloway 02.12.2016, 15:22:42

I can see that you are also passionate about helping others succeed from your very
detailed articles. Thank you so much for the great advice!
Abdullah Khan 30.12.2016, 09:24:21

I was wondering how admissions looks at the applications of recruited athletes. Are
they judged based on the the same criteria as normal applicants or do they have to
pass an easier standard?
Ellen McCammon 03.01.2017, 19:50:53

Hi Abdullah,
This is going to vary dramatically from school to school (and even from sport to
sport within each school). Schools will sometimes consider applicants with
slightly lower academic credentials in the face of an exceptional talent, be it in
music, athletics, creative writing, and so on. Others won't. There's no hard and
fast rule.
ebbie 30.03.2020, 15:39:30

Thanks for such an thorough and engaging guide to the college app. I've a question
about waiving one's right to read LORs (or not), and wonder how you accessed your
LORs.
I'm headed back to school for a career change after a long interval, and this waiver
request is new to me. A little research revealed that it seems nearly ubiquitous to
waive the right, and that not doing so creates a good chance the letter itself as well as
how it's received will be negatively impacted. Some arguments to support the
opposing view are to catch any mistakes and to preserve one's right on principle.
I'm interested in my LORs for various reasons, including learning about how I'm
perceived, the impact of my affect on people, how other people express themselves,
and how these expressions are then interpreted and weighed by others.
I also believe that while recommendations should honestly reflect the student and
the opinions of the recommender, I believe the student should have the right to
present their best possible case... and sometimes, a student may not be aware that
their beloved teacher is a poor, ineffective writer.
I think highly of my recommenders and don't have any concern that they want
anything other than to enthusiastically endorse me. And obviously, I don't want to
unnecessarily disempower such support. But my intellectual interests, my desire for
accuracy, and yes my principles all have me leaning towards not waiving my right.
Can you offer any insights on this debate and how waiving your right or not can affect
your application? And is there a way to get access to your LORs after you have waived
your right?
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PrepScholar Advice Blog

My Successful Harvard Application (Complete

Posted by Allen Cheng

Relax, you booked a

In my complete analysis, I'll take you through my Common Application, Harvard

Worried about college applications?

Our world-class admissions counselors can help. We've guided thousands of

Get in to Your Top Choice School

First Things First

Important Note: the foundational principles of my application are explored in

You might also be interested in my other two major guides:

How to Get a Perfect SAT Score / Perfect ACT Score

What's in This Harvard Application Guide?

You'll see my FULL recommendation letters and evaluation forms. This

For every piece of my application, I'll provide commentary on what made it so

Teacher and Counselor Recommendations

Teacher Letter #1: AP Chemistry

Harvard Application Supplement

Final Advice for You

I mean it—you'll see literally everything in my application.

In revealing my teenage self, some parts of my application will be pretty

being world-class in a non-academic talent

Therefore, DON'T worry about copying my approach one-for-one. Don't worry if

scores. The other pieces I'll present below—personal statements, extracurriculars,

Throughout my application, we can see marks made by the admissions officer

Finally, I co-founded and run a company called PrepScholar. We create online

With all this past us, let's get started.

The #1 Most Important College Application Question:

Well-rounded applications do NOT form compelling Personal Narratives, because "I'm

Everything in your application should support your Personal Narrative, from

Here's what I would consider my Personal Narrative (humor me since I'm

Throughout the rest of my guide, I will keep referring back to my Personal

Want to build the best possible college application?

PrepScholar Admissions combines world-class admissions counselors with

Get in to Your Top Choice School

My College Application, at a High Level

My extracurriculars and awards were what really got me into Harvard. In

My letters of recommendation were very strong. Both my recommending

My personal statements were, in retrospect, just satisfactory. They

My Complete Common Application, Page by Page

Now known as: Profile

I've redacted some stuff here for privacy reasons.

Thus, I recommend AGAINST "Undecided" as an area of study—it suggests a lack

Now known as: Testing

5 SAT Tips for 160+ Points 5 ACT Tips for 4+ Points

Let's end this section with some personal notes.

Now known as: Family (still)

I'm redacting a lot of stuff again for privacy reasons.

Extracurricular, Personal, and Volunteer Activities

Now known as: Activities

The most important point I have to make about my extracurriculars: as you go

Activity Name Contribution to Application

Research Science Institute 2004 75%

Jisan Research Institute 10%

Pasadena Young Musicians Orchestra 6%

Science Olympiad/Science Bowl/Math Team 4%