I am looking for good example college essays and have looked at Squired.co for their free essays, APStudyNotes and university websites. Does anyone have any sample essays with notes analyzing what works and doesn’t work for the essay? Preferably from competitive schools. Thanks!
Check out your local library. Ours has several books just devoted to writing the college application essay.
Yes, many books with titles like “50 Successful Harvard Application Essays”, “ College Essays That Made a Difference”, etc.
$10 at Amazon if you can’t find them at a library.
Have you looked at Hack The College Essay by John Dewis? It gives examples of essays that got into selective schools and it explains what works and doesn’t work and why (according to him). It is a relatively short and interesting read, in my opinion (and it is a free PDF). It is great to read before you have started to avoid spending lots of time with an approach that is less effective. If the link doesn’t work just Google it and you will find it. https://www.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/uploads/1/0/9/5/109505679/hack_the_college_essay_2017.pdf
Hamilton, JHU, and Tufts all publish ‘essays that worked’ from admitted applicants on their websites. (no notes or commentary though)
“140 College Essay Examples for 11 Schools + Expert Analysis”
On the Prepscholar blog is a great resource.