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Applicants can distinguish themselves for admission in a number of ways. Some show unusual academic promise through experience or achievements in study or research. Many are “well rounded” and have contributed in various ways to the lives of their schools or communities. Others are “well lopsided” with demonstrated excellence in a particular endeavor—academic, extracurricular or otherwise. Still others bring perspectives formed by unusual personal circumstances or experiences.
Academic accomplishment in high school is important, but we also seek people with enthusiasm, creativity and strength of character.
Most admitted students rank in the top 10–15 percent of their graduating classes, having taken the most rigorous secondary school curriculum available to them.
人有个性，学校同样有个性。要想提高自己申请到Dream School的概率，必须要了解它们的个性。下面我们来一起分析哈佛大学的个性。除了各种标准化成绩以及硬件条件外，哈佛大学还需要从申请者身上看到以下这些潜力，同时也要求申请者是能适应哈佛大学文化的学习者。
过人的领导能力。 这也是人格魅力的一部分。他能够带动甚至是煽动一群他需要的人才追随他，不论其面临的是丰厚的利润还是重重的困难。
强大的自信心。 在困难面前有自信解决，在机遇面前有自信把握。
敏感睿智。 能敏感地发现问题，同时又能在繁杂无序的事物中，睿智地分析出头绪，专注核心问题并解决。
强大的行动力。 不优柔寡断，也不在没有任何把握的情况下胡乱作出决断。
创新意识。 敢于创造、发现或是接纳新事物。
这个过程就好比是一个顶级厨师做菜。首先有明确的想法，知道自己要做的是什么。然后不必亲自上阵，便能有条不紊地组织好助手为其搜罗、准备各种常见的、稀有的、凡是完成这道菜而必须要有的原材料。同时，需要知道各种调味料的特点，把握哪个火候是放入哪种材料的最佳时间。他要决定在小火煮几分钟就要转到中火，也需要把握在大火烧到什么状况时便可将整道菜装盘上桌。即便众口难调，他也坚信自己的这道菜能够倾倒众生。
每年哈佛大学都有超过50,000名申请者，但学院本身每年只会招收1900名左右符合其个性的精英。面对如此众多的优秀竞争者，要如何脱颖而出？你本身的强大和优秀固然是必要条件。此外，在哈佛大学的申请过程中，四道命题的Essay就像一面多棱镜，它的目的是帮助学校更清晰地审视申请者。如果利用得当，这面多棱镜可以折射出你身上的闪光点，并且有可能根据拿捏的角度，将这些闪光点变得更为熠熠生辉，使考官确认在众多优秀的人才中，你就是哈佛大学寻找的那一个。
在了解了哈佛大学的录取“个性”之后，接下来在第三部分我们将帮助大家洞察哈佛大学本科录取中最为“个性化”、最能判断你是否是哈佛大学预备人才的部分——哈佛大学历年Essay题目剖析及范文。
Occasionally, students feel that college application forms do not provide sufficient opportunity to convey important information about themselves or their accomplishments. If there is something you would like us to know, please inform us below. If you wish to include an additional essay, you may do so.
在某些情况下，学生们会觉得大学申请表不能提供充分的机会让他们展示自己或自己的各种成就的重要信息。如果有想要让我们知道的任何信息，请在此告诉我们。你也可以另外提供一篇文章。
【类别】 相关经历型
【关键词】 unusual, circumstances
【题目翻译】 你生活中非同寻常的境况
【题目分析】 正如关键词中所体现的，unusual是这道题目所考查的重点。哈佛大学这种聚集了世界顶尖人才的学府显然不可能满足于申请者们平淡无奇的经历和背景。在哈佛大学的“官方说法”中专门有一句提到“Still others bring perspectives formed by unusual personal circumstances or experiences.” 这就说明，哈佛大学还是很重视申请者是否有非同寻常的经历。从某种程度上说，它很有可能弥补学术方面或其他方面的不足。因此，在这个题目上的出色发挥很可能为整个申请带来画龙点睛的一笔。
但是，仅仅停留在讲述一个unusual circumstance显然是远远不够的。这道题看似只是让申请者讲述一个不平凡的经历，但实际上是在考查申请者对unusual这个词的理解和把握。因此，所选择的经历或事件本身是否非同寻常并不见得有多大关系，重要的是申请者为什么认为自己的某个circumstance是unusual的，以及如何将这个circumstance的unusual之处体现出来。所以，如果申请者只是绞尽脑汁地选择了一个自己认为与众不同的境况进行讲述，那么，即便经历本身再特别，也缺乏说服力。
再回到题目类型。题目虽然是关于unusual circumstances的，但重点也还是要放在circumstance背后所体现的申请者的个人特质上。因此，答题时千万不能对circumstance进行事无巨细的描述和介绍，而全然不顾申请者自身在其中所发挥的作用和所体现出来的能力。参考官方说法和哈佛大学录取“个性”分析中的内容，总体来说就是要通过一个unusual circumstance来体现一个unusual的你。
Life is all about challenging and exceeding one's boundaries, which is why I love cycling. I enjoy that each time tiredness almost beats me but is finally defeated by my hard work during road cycling. I can almost feel the exact second when my personal limit is reached and exceeded.
As the president of our school's cycling club, I planned to challenge our group's limits and organized a cycling tour from Sichuan Province to Xizang, along a challenging route with increasing altitude and complicated geographical features.
I spent about two entire weeks planning the route, searching for hotels in which we could stay and calculating the daily distance we needed to cover and our intended average speed. Altogether, the entire trip took us twenty days, during which I really learned a lot over this unforgettable journey.
On our way from XX to XX, one of our teammates suddenly fell off his bike because of the slippery road and rainy weather. At first we didn't regard it as a big deal, but later, as he had to slow down to ease the pain, we started to fall behind our schedule and were in danger of being unable to arrive at our hotel before midnight. At first, the whole team was supportive and encouraging. We all slowed down, waiting for and accompanying the injured member. But as it was getting late and extremely cold, some of the members started to complain and got angry about the whole thing.
At this point, as the leader of the group I decided to let those members who were fast and energetic enough to go ahead in order to check-in before the hotel reception closed. Then, the rest of us would accompany the injured one at a manageable speed. This worked well, and the whole team had a good rest at the hotel, while the injured member received medical treatment.
The next morning, we had a small meeting concerning the accident of the day before and I raised the issue of team spirit and supportiveness since some members wanted to abandon their teammate. Finally, we talked through everything and were able to again form a unified and supportive team.
It was not until our final arrival at Lhasa, that we truly realized the worthiness of the journey. We not only enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way and challenged our physical competence, but also learned the importance of team spirit and leadership, without which we could never have arrived at our final destination as a team.
This unusual and noteworthy circumstance is worthy of being written and told to others. I am proud that our team made this journey possible and successful. However, I know that this will only be one of the many difficulties and challenges in my life. There will surely be more in the future, but being a challenge-lover, I'm not afraid and can't wait to enjoy the excitement of making the impossible possible.
作者通过描写组织去西藏的骑行之旅体现出自己以下三个方面的个人特质：领导能力（Leadership）、解决问题的能力（Problem-solving）以及团队精神（Team Spirit）。
文章开头说作者喜欢冒险和挑战极限，顺理成章地引出了自行车社团和西藏骑行之旅的叙述。紧接着的第二、三段描述了整个unusual circumstance发生的背景，并从侧面体现出作者本人作为社团团长所具备的策划和思考能力。从选择路线到规划整个行程，这个过程本身就是极具挑战性的。因此，作者虽然没有重点写这两段，但是细心的人会看出作者其实已经通过这些看似简单带过的描述体现了个人出众的能力。
第四、五、六段是对于circumstance的具体描述。这个事件是由一位队友摔伤而引发的整个队伍的团队精神破裂的问题。首先，队友摔伤是个没有预料到的突发事件。这本身就是对整个团队的一个挑战，也是对领导者应对危机能力，即problem-solving的考验。在这里，作者并没有着重笔墨描写如何细心照顾受伤队友，而是很快意识到队友受伤这个问题给整个团队带来的潜在影响（无法按时到达酒店办理入住手续）。基于这一点，在第五段中，作者做出了合理的决策——大家分头行动，各自分工，以确保整个团队的顺利到达。这体现出作者所具备的leadership，即能够在危机时刻作出正确的判断，将伤害减至最低。
然而，作者的能力还不仅仅停留在解决这一突发事件的层面上。第六段描述了第二天整个团队进行精神建设的过程。这说明作者作为一个领导者，敏锐地察觉到由队友受伤这个表面问题所引发的更深一层的问题——团队精神（team spirit），并且深知这一问题的严重性。基于此，作者立即进行了休整，在问题还没有越积越深的时候及时解决，为之后的旅途顺利奠定了基础。
最后两段概括了整段经历的意义和收获，同时将这次unusual circumstance所体现出的能力做了升华，指出这些特质能够给作者的未来人生带来帮助和收获。结尾呼应开头，强调作者是个勇于挑战和超越极限的人。
【类别】 相关经历型
【关键词】 travel, living, other countries
【题目翻译】 在其他国家旅行或居住的经历
【题目分析】 这道题看似是描述异国旅行或居住的经历，其实是在考查申请者能否很快适应一个全新的生活环境的能力。到美国学习对于很多申请者来说是一个很大的挑战，这个挑战不仅仅是在学术层面上，很多时候生活和文化差异会给留学生带来更大的冲击和困难。因此，这个题目的主旨是通过申请者对以往异国经历的叙述来评估其适应和面对异国生活挑战的能力和潜力。
所以，在选择异国经历事例和题目的写作过程中，一定要以体现自己适应异国生活挑战、解决所遇困难等方面作为出发点。切忌将题目变为类似游记或记叙文的形式，而忽略题目的主旨。另外，所谓“异国”正暗含了文化差异（cultural difference）这个特点。不同于一般在国内旅行或居住的经历，异国经历所蕴含的共同挑战就是接受和面对因cultural difference所产生的各种问题，如生活习惯、饮食差异、为人处事的准则、礼貌礼节、语言、社交圈子等。在写作时，可将cultural difference这个概念作为核心，由具体经历展开，体现自身面对异国挑战的能力和适应新生活、新环境的潜力。
I have a home in Australia. I don't mean that my family is so rich that we bought another house on the Gold Coast to escape long and cold winters in Beijing. My home there is actually that of my host family with whom I stayed during an English language immersion program held by my high school and XX high school in Sydney last summer. And now it's already my permanent home in Australia.
Unlike most of my other friends in the summer program, whose assigned host families suited them well, I found my first host family extremely hard to get on well with. During the first week of my stay, I was treated as a stranger in the house. My dinner was prepared separately by my host mom, who would call me for dinner after all of the other family members had already finished their meals. Every evening, after a full day's language classes, I would sit at the table alone, eating my dinner. The family would sit together on the sofa enjoying the TV programs they loved. I felt very isolated. That's not what I expected to experience in a home-stay situation. I wanted to communicate as much as I could with my host family and make good use of the language environment and resources available.
After serious consideration, I decided to approach and talk to my host family; I tried to be as active as I could to start conversations with them and found common topics on which we could share opinions. Unfortunately, this didn't work well. They seemed more comfortable talking among themselves and excluding me, a stranger in their home. Then, I talked to my other friends in the program, asking them how their host families treated them, because I thought it may have just been common in Australian culture that host families do not treat their guests as family members. It might have been me who was harboring a wrong expectation. However, it turned out that they were all being well-received as new members of their host families, and some of them even went shopping or out for picnics with their host families. After understanding the situation, I went to our program coordinator and told him about my problem. He then referred me to the manager of the home-stay service agency, which was in charge of the entire home-stay business. I explained to the manager the situation that I was facing, and the expectations that I had, emphasizing that the purpose of our program is to experience English language immersion; home-stays are not just for accommodation but are an important part of language exposure. The manager then looked into my case and finally decided to find me a new host family.
Before moving to the new family, I also thanked my first family for everything they did for me, explaining that it was my expectation and our program's aim that didn't suit their family, and that it was not their fault. They were very considerate and we had dinner together the night I left for my new home.
The new home, now my home in Australia, had a very nice and caring family, which treated me as one of their own and also became my great friends. I had a great time with them in Sydney. We maintained contact even after I left Australia, and often updated each other and shared our lives and feelings. They even invited me to stay with them again this winter.
I have never thought that it was luck that brought my Australian family and me together. The home-stay problem that I faced taught me the importance of effective communication and tolerance. The entire problem-solving process for me was a test of my communication skills on many levels. I am glad that I passed through it with good results, which has given me a warm Aussie home.
文章第一段开头巧妙地引出了作者在澳洲寄住在当地人家里的海外经历，为后文的详细叙述做了很好的铺垫。本段主要起抛砖引玉的作用，内容简单明了。
第二段省去了不必要的叙述，直接讲述在第一个住家所遇到的困难：难以融入家庭氛围，所以达不到语言熏陶和学习的目的。这个问题对一般人来说可能不算什么，虽然没有交流，但自己住得舒服，能够安稳度日即可。但是作者却认识到了住在当地人家里这个安排的重要性，以及它对英语学习所能提供的帮助。
第三段开始讲述作者面对这样的困难如何一步步与不同的人进行沟通来解决问题。首先，作者尝试与住家沟通，积极交谈以求融入家庭氛围。这个方法没有起到太大作用后，作者没有直接去找协调老师反映，而是意识到澳洲的文化差异，先从其他同学那里侧面了解整个情况，确定自己的情况只是特例而并非普遍情况后才采取下一步行动。接下来，作者找到负责整个交流活动的协调老师反映情况。之后又直接与负责安排住家的服务中心管理者进行沟通，详细叙述了自己的情况和预期，强调自己的目的和立场。这整个过程看似简单，但其中蕴含着不同的沟通方式和技巧。同样的问题，如何向协调老师反映，如何与服务中心经理沟通，都是不一样的技巧和学问——这全都体现出作者的沟通能力。
第四段是整个问题的收尾，也体现出作者考虑问题的全面性。一走了之并不是应有的态度。虽然住家的确在某些方面做得不符合自己的期望，但作者还是解释了个中缘由，避免了不必要的冲突和误解。
第五段与开头呼应，讲述了与新住家的相处情况。
最后一段升华点题，突出了沟通在整个经历中的重要性，体现出作者在海外这样一个新的环境中应对问题和困难的能力和技巧。
【类别】 自我介绍型
【关键词】 books, most affected
【题目翻译】 对你影响最大的书籍
【题目分析】 阅读是学习的一个重要途径。一本好书可能给你的人生带来巨大的影响和转变。因此，这道介绍影响自己最深的书籍的题目旨在考查申请者从阅读中学习成长以及塑造自我的能力。
很多申请者会苦恼于如何选择一本好书。为了回答此类问题，有时甚至会寻找一些名著或发人深思的学术著作来阅读。其实，本题的重点并不在于选择某本绝世好书，而是在于申请者如何从一本书中读出对自己有意义、有帮助的东西。这本书可以很平凡，不一定是什么名家著作，但你却可以从中获益良多——这往往是体现申请者能力和过人之处的重点。因此，这本影响你最深的书籍之所以对你影响巨大，并不是因为它本身有多好，而是在于你怎样把它读好。
在对书籍的基本信息（书名、作者等）和主要内容进行简单清晰的描述之后，写作的重点要放在你是如何从书中读出对你有意义、有影响的东西的。要体现出你的阅读并不局限于读懂书的内容（例如一个故事或一个学术观点）的层面上，而是能够透过表层挖掘出隐藏在下面的更深层的含义，并将其与你自身联系起来，转变为对你有益的东西。
在阐述了这个深层次阅读的过程之后，最后要着重点明你所挖掘出来的东西为什么能够给你带来很大的影响，以及这个影响是什么。比如：人生观、价值观的改变，对某些事物看法的转变，激励或勉励，启发，对某一领域或事物产生兴趣等。总而言之，本文的重点在于要体现出你通过阅读提升自我、完善自我的能力和过程。
Change means challenge, and challenge means opportunity. That's what I've learned from the inspiring little book my mother bought me last summer: Who Moved My Cheese?
Everyone is looking for his own delicious cheese, and when you find it you feel right, comfortable and satisfied. Then you get used to it, building up your habits and routines and developing your comfort zone. Later, when your cheese is gone, you feel anxious, desperate and lost. This is when change begins, posing challenges, and at the same time providing new possibilities and opportunities. I don't want to be the one who is defeated by change and finally suffers from leaving the comfort zone. I want to be the one who receives change as a welcome challenge and one who makes challenges into opportunities.
When my parents first suggested that I apply to universities in the U.S. after graduating from high school, I felt that it was ridiculous and refused the suggestion at once, without even giving it serious consideration. But now I am sitting at my desk writing this short essay for an application to Harvard. It is really Who Moved My Cheese ? that changed my mind and caused me to reach out. Life in my hometown, with all my family members, friends, and familiar environment, is comfortable and satisfactory. I'm used to the lifestyle here and have already established an easy routine. This is my old cheese, which I've been eating for a long time. Studying in the U.S. would be like someone suddenly taking away my old, delicious cheese and I have to explore and find myself a new piece. From that book, I know that finding new cheese in a big maze can be painful and exhausting, and sometimes even frustrating and disappointing. However, I also have come to realize from the book that after a long and tough journey, the new cheese found is always more delicious than the old one, or is greater in quantity, sometimes in quality, and sometimes greater in variety. Thus, I believe that a new environment at Harvard will grant me many challenges and risks, along with which opportunity and new possibilities in life will be available for me to explore and use for my learning and progress.
Yes, Harvard is my next piece of new cheese. No matter how difficult the search will be, I will continue to embrace new challenges, and constantly adjust myself in an ever-changing society, and will never stop searching for the next piece of cheese.
文章开头十分简短，但却非常有力地点出了作者从《谁动了我的奶酪？》这本书中所悟出的一个道理：改变意味着挑战，挑战意味着机会。简洁有力，让读者眼前一亮。
第二段描述了这本书的主旨。此处并没有拘泥于具体的情节和细节，而是将书中通过故事所要表达的人生哲理直接表现出来，避免了不必要的情节描述和冗长的细节描写。此处便能体现出作者的阅读能力——并非就故事读故事，而是看故事悟哲理；读的不是表面，而是深层次的挖掘。
第三段是文章的关键段，主要体现了这本书是如何影响作者作出放弃在家乡读大学的安稳日子而选择申请美国大学这条充满挑战的道路的决定的。这就脱离开关于书籍的简单描述进而切入到作者的个人特质层面，从书中的道理过渡到了实际的人生抉择。这个转变的过程正体现出作者从书中获益的具体过程。作者不仅能把握住书的主旨，还能将这些道理真正运用到实际生活中去，使自己的人生受益。这才是真正会读书、有能力、有远见的人所具有的特质。
最后一段回归到书中关于奶酪的这个比喻。作者不仅仅将哈佛大学视为人生的下一个目标，还表现出不断追求新的目标、新的变化的信心，并力求在变化和挑战中调整自己，寻找机遇，进而将自身的特质和从书中读到的哲理再次升华。
【类别】 相关经历型
【关键词】 academic experience, meant the most
【题目翻译】 对你来说最重要的一次学术经历（可以是一个课程、一个项目、一篇论文或一个研究题目）
【题目分析】 题目将经历的范围限制在了学术层面，主旨在于考查申请者学术方面的相关能力和特质。因此，文章要展现自己有在哈佛大学学习所要具备的学术能力。在这里要注意的是，美国大学的学术氛围和教学模式与国内高中和大学是截然不同的。所以，在选择学术经历以及体现你的学术能力时，不能将国内的标准作为出发点，而是要把自己当作哈佛大学的学生来审视这道题目。通过学术经历体现出来的学术能力应该能够应对在哈佛大学这个学术环境中所遇到的各类挑战和困难。
美国大学的教学风格比较开放，注重激发学生的个人思维以及锻炼学生的团队合作能力。因此，适用于国内高中或大学的一些学习能力（例如背诵文本、勤奋刻苦、独立钻研等）未必适用于美国高校。相反，一些国内不太注重的能力（例如发散性思维、团队合作、批判性思维、逻辑思维等）却是美国大学学术氛围中不可或缺的。
因此，在选择学术经历时，要以以上要求作为出发点。在对经历进行描述的同时不要忘记着重体现自己的学术能力和特质，避免简单空泛的描述。
The academic experience that has meant the most to me was the summer course on academic writing that I took with professor XX at XX University. The eight-week course was truly a turning point in my life for which I will feel grateful and thankful forever.
High school students do not really need to write academic essays, as most of the writing we do normally focus on either narrative or descriptive pieces. But I've always dreamed of being an academic researcher in a university. Thus, when I heard about the summer course I didn't hesitate in applying, thinking that this could be a good opportunity to prepare me for my future goals.
And the course didn't disappoint me. Professor XX organized and delivered the course effectively and engagingly. Each time we met together, Prof. XX gave us academic articles written by his students who were roughly our same age, and asked us to work in groups and find strengths and weaknesses in them. At first, we could only give vague and anecdotal commentary, for example, “the language is beautiful” or “the meaning is clear”. But later, as Prof. XX facilitated our thinking, we gradually started to dig into the structure and logical relationships of the component parts of the essays. We discussed concepts like coherence, cohesion, and logical sequencing, and our critical analyses became clearer and clearer. Our comments became much more constructive and meaningful. However, the thing that influenced me the most was not the training in writing skills, but instead was the fact that the articles we evaluated were actually written by Prof. XX himself, or even other distinguished professors. When Prof. XX revealed this fact to us during the last lecture, we couldn't believe it! Shocking and surprising as it was, this also helped me realize the importance of critical thinking. We are used to believing and accepting what is said by authorities and experts, but in fact a lot of things produced by them are questionable, or even wrong. Thus, maintaining a critical eye becomes important for us, especially in academic research, which is where I want to be in the future.
After taking this course, I have continued being skeptical and critical about everything presented to me, from everyday newspapers and website information to academic articles and books. Last semester, our school held a small-scale research paper competition, encouraging every student to find a topic of interest and do some research resulting in an academic paper. I was very excited about the competition; but it was not that I want to win, but rather that I finally had the chance to put into use what I had learned from that summer course. I chose to evaluate our English course's textbook. I read it again and again, not treating it as the “canonical Bible” that most students tended to do, but as just a normal book with educational purposes. With a pair of trained and highly critical eyes, I found lots of detailed mistakes and points which needed vast improvements, and together with my interviews surveying students' feedback, I wrote a 3000-word research paper on the topic. The paper won the second prize in the school's competition and I was given the chance to present my work in front of the entire school.
With such a pair of critical and skeptical eyes, I am no longer afraid of challenging authorities or canons at all, since I believe that questioning and critical analysis are important in the development and evolution of knowledge and civilization. I am lucky to have been made aware of the importance of these two critical skills through Prof. XX's summer course, the most inspiring and meaningful academic experience I've ever had.
文章第一段平铺直叙，切入主题，讲述了对作者来说最有意义的学术经历是某大学某教授开设的暑期课程。简短扣题，并没有冗长地展开叙述，自然而然地引出下文。
第二段并没有马上进入对暑期课程的详细描述，而是写了作者选择上这门课的原因：想要得到学术写作方面的训练，更好地向自己做学术研究者的目标迈进。这样一来，整个暑期课程就有了一个宏观的意义和目的。这样的写法还从侧面体现出作者是对未来有规划、有目标的人。
第三段开始讲述课程的内容，也就是具体的academic experience的描述。本段简单介绍了课程的设置、教授授课的特殊方式和学生在这个过程中得到的训练和技巧的提高。段末进行了一个小小的升华，点出critical thinking的重要性，同时也展现出整篇文章所要体现出的作者的特质。
作者并没有在介绍完这个学术经历之后就匆匆收尾，而是又扩展出第四段，作为对这段academic experience的一个成果检验，或者说是其意义和重要性的体现。这就避免了空泛的经历叙述，做到了重点突出。这里，作者将自己在暑期课程中所学的东西进行了运用和实践，在学校的小论文比赛中获得了很好的成绩。这一段是非常关键的，是全文的亮点。这一段按照惯例扣题，与开头相呼应，将critical thinking这个能力的意义和作用进行升华，恰到好处。