Acing Harvard University’s 2024-2025 Supplemental Essays
2024-2025 HARVARD SUPPLEMENTAL ESSAY PROMPTS
Harvard recently released its supplemental essays for the Class of 2029. They are similar to last year’s essays, with the main difference being that the maximum word limit is now 150, as opposed to 200. This means that more than ever, not a single word can be wasted on information that is not useful to the admissions officers in deciding if you are a good fit for Harvard and if your placement warrants leaving another highly qualified applicant without a seat.
Learn how to ensure every word counts towards that purpose by joining us for a brief analysis of the Harvard essay prompts for applicants to the Class of 2029!
Despite the repeal of affirmative action, the ideology behind it remains firmly instilled in the hearts and minds of admissions officers nationwide. This ideology, however, is based on a principle that should theoretically be universally accepted: that intellectual diversity is beneficial for a college’s student body. The controversy arises because the way one thinks about the world, and the perspectives they hold, are strongly correlated with one’s lived experiences. Unfortunately, in our world, these lived experiences are often strongly correlated with race, gender, and other aspects of personal identity. As a result, many admissions officers lose sight of the goal of curating a class that exhibits intellectual diversity. Instead, they often reduce it to racial, gender, orientation, and other forms of diversity predicated on identity rather than on the concrete, demonstrable perspectives an individual possesses that can directly enhance the intellectual diversity of the incoming class.
With that said, when writing an essay to an admissions officer, you should have a charitable view of them and assume that they will be doing their job. That means you should still try to show the admissions officer how you will contribute to the intellectual diversity of the incoming class. Your lived experiences should be used to show the reader how you arrived at your perspective. After showing the reader how your lived experiences provided you with a non-trivial perspective on life or towards the study of an academic discipline, cite specific examples of how, using that perspective, you can enrich a student club or some other specific function at Harvard, like an annual tradition or spaces in dormitories.
This is a new addition that wasn’t present last year. The goal of this question is to demonstrate to the reader that you can benefit from disagreeing with a peer by refining the idea you defended in that disagreement. This usually occurs when you critically engage with someone else’s idea or position, even if you strongly disagree with it. Do your best to show yourself critically engaging with someone else’s position, even if you disagree with it. Do your best to understand it and see it in the most charitable light possible. The aim is to show that you can have a strong disagreement with someone yet come out of it better by learning something about the shortcomings of your own position. Be specific about what you learned; the goal isn’t to boast about defeating someone’s argument or making them change their mind. This question evaluates whether you will benefit from being part of Harvard's intellectually vibrant student community, a non-negotiable prerequisite for admission to Harvard.
When writing this essay, make sure not to discuss any experiences you have already covered in another supplemental essay for Harvard or in the Common App essay you will be submitting to them. As a rule, you should avoid bragging in all of your essays; highlighting your accomplishments is better suited for the activity list and honors and awards sections. Instead, focus on an activity that has facilitated significant personal or intellectual growth for you. Give the reader a clear picture of your thoughts or circumstances prior to engaging in the activity, share anecdotes from the experience that prompted your growth, and, finally, provide a clear depiction of where you stood after the activity.
4. How do you hope to use your Harvard education in the future?
For this essay, you want to give a clear specific goal that what your extracurriculars, coursework, and overall life decisions that you have undertaken so far, can support you in achieving. It's essential to make the reader care about this goal by emphasizing its necessity for improving the world and addressing humanity's greatest challenges. By the end of the essay, you want the reader to see your goal as incredibly important and to be rooting for you to achieve it. Make sure your goal is specific and grounded in reality, convincing the reader that you can accomplish what you've outlined here. Additionally, highlight why it is vital for someone to achieve this goal due to its significance.
5. Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you.
In this essay, aim to strike a balance between sharing practical information about yourself that is essential for peaceful coexistence with your roommate and revealing aspects of your personality that demonstrate your intellectual curiosity and kindness.
If you would like a review of your Harvard essays by an admissions expert or have any further questions about Harvard’s essays or other college admissions essays, please schedule a free consultation with us below. We would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.
