Essays That Worked: 50 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Colleges

I purchased 3 College Essay books (100 Successful College Application Essays, 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, and Essays That Worked), and have the following comments... I believe that the Harvard book has the best suggestions on how to write an essay, along with the best commentary/critique. However, the essays are a bit too polished. I think for 90% of prospective college students, their essays would be more like those in and patterned like those in Essays That Worked. For varied ideas on essays, the 100 Successful book gives some good ideas, but I believe many of the essays to be subpar. I did each book to have some interesting general reading, especially if one likes "short stories"... or if one is interested in 17 & 18 year olds, and what goes thru their minds.

Look, don't read this book to find out "what works" or "what they want". Read it for the courage to write about what you want, and to know that what you have to say has value. You can't copy the essays, you can't even expect to emmulate them, but if you can find the spirit of these essays in yourself, you too will write a successful essay. I made my paresnt read this book so they would stop freaking out over my unusual choices in essays. This book gives you permission to be creative and be yourself when writing application essays.

I loved this book! One reviewer here complained about typos -- but the typos are there for a reason, as the book explains. (The essays are reproduced VERBATIM.) There's a good reason this book has been so successful for so many years, and it's spawned so many pale imitators. 5 stars isn't enough!

Don't buy it, you won't like it. I gave it to my 10-year-old son who is going to go to Yale like his father did, and the young lad showed me typographical errors - the very thought of it!!

Anyone applying to a college that requires an application essay will benefit enormously from reading this book! It's not preachy or didactic; rather, it lets the excellent essays speak for themselves. Superb