Elizabeth Segran recently detailed for FastCompany some fascinating findings about the language and topics used by successful entrants to top universities. She introduced me to AdmitSee, a startup that invites verified college students to share their application materials with potential applicants. High school students can pay to access AdmitSee’s repository of successful college essays, while college students who share their materials receive a small payment every time someone accesses their data. ADMITSEE CRUNCHED THE DATA IN 15,000 ESSAYS FROM THE ADMISSIONS FILES OF SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE APPLICANTS. Their team analyzesd all of these materials, gathering both qualitative and quantitative findings. And they’ve detailed their insights about what different elite colleges are looking for in essays. One of the most striking differences they noticed was between successful Harvard and Stanford essays. (AdmitSee had 539 essays from Stanford and 393 from Harvard at the time of the interview, but more trickle in every day.) High-achieving high schoolers frequently apply to both schools—often with the very same essay—but it appears that there are significant differences between what their respective admissions departments seem to want, so smart applicants will heed and tailor their essays to individual institutions, just as job applicants should tailor their resumes to individual positions they may be applying for. Here are some findings from the data: The terms “father” and “mother” appeared more frequently in successful Harvard essays, while the terms “mom” and “dad” appeared more frequently in successful Stanford essays. TIP: This might be a clue as to a preference for more formal language for Harvard, and more relaxed (West Coast) language for Stanford.WHAT DO YOU CALL YOUR PARENTS?
HARVARD LIKES DOWNER ESSAYS
AdmitSee found that negative words tended to show up more on essays accepted to Harvard than essays accepted to Stanford. For example, Shyu says that ‘cancer,’ “difficult,” “hard,” and “tough” appeared more frequently on Harvard essays, while “happy, “passion,” “better,” and “improve” appeared more frequently on Stanford essays.
STUDENTS WHO TAKE RISKS WITH THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF THEIR COLLEGE ESSAYS TEND TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL ACROSS THE BOARD.
This statement by AdmitSee had to do with the content of the essays. At Harvard, admitted students tended to write about challenges they had overcome in their life or academic career, while Stanford tended to prefer creative personal stories, or essays about family background or issues that the student cares about. “Extrapolating from this qualitative data, it seems like Stanford is more interested in the student’s personality, while Harvard appears to be more interested in the student’s track record of accomplishment,” Shyu says.
With further linguistic analysis, AdmitSee found that the most common words on Harvard essays were “experience,” “society,” “world,” “success,” “opportunity.” At Stanford, they were “research,” “community,” “knowledge,” “future” and “skill.”
WHAT THE OTHER IVIES CARE ABOUT
It seems Brown favors essays about volunteer and public interest work, while these topics rank low among successful Yale essays. Successful Princeton essays, similar to those of Harvard, often tackle experiences with failure. Meanwhile, Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania tend to accept students who write about their career aspirations. Essays about diversity—race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation—tend to be more popular at Stanford, Yale, and Brown.
Based on AdmitSee’s data, Dartmouth and Columbia don’t appear to have strong biases toward particular essay topics. This means that essays on many subjects were seen favorably by the admissions departments at those schools. However, Shyu says that writing about a moment that changed the student’s life showed up frequently in essays of successful applicants to those schools.
RISK-TAKING PAYS OFF
One general insight is that students who take risks with the content and the structure of their college essays tend to be more successful across the board. One student who was admitted to several top colleges wrote about his father’s addiction to pornography and another wrote about a grandparent who was incarcerated, forcing her mother to get food stamps illegally. Weird formats also tend to do well. One successful student wrote an essay tracking how his credit card was stolen, making each point of the credit card’s journey a separate section on the essay and analyzing what each transaction meant. Another’s essay was a list of her favorite books and focused on where each book was purchased.
“One of the big questions our users have is whether they should take a risk with their essay, writing about something that reveals very intimate details about themselves or that takes an unconventional format,” Shyu says. “What we’re finding is that successful essays are not ones that talk about an accomplishment or regurgitate that student’s résumé . The most compelling essays are those that touch on surprising personal topics.”
Of course, one caveat here is that taking a risk only makes sense if the essay is well-executed. Shyu says that the content and structure of the story must make a larger point about the applicant, otherwise it does not serve a purpose. And it goes without saying that the essay must be well-written, with careful attention paid to flow and style.
Shyu says that there are two major takeaways from the company’s data. The first is that it is very valuable for applicants to tailor their essays for different schools, rather than perfecting one essay and using it to apply to every single school. The second is that these essays can offer insight into the culture of the school. “The essays of admitted students are also a reflection of the community at these institutions,” Shyu says. “It can provide insight into whether or not the school is a good fit for that student.
TIP: customize each essay, and do enough research on each school that the admissions officers are convinced that it is THEIR school you want to attend…and tell them why!
Elizabeth Segran’s final word? If you want to go to Harvard and are writing about your parents, make sure to refer to them as “mother” and “father!”
