<p>Does such a thing exist? Are there any good websites where I can read some solid essays to get a feel for how I should construct/write mine?</p>
<p>I really cannot seem to find a website that has real, previously-submitted top-tier college essays. Links would be very, very much appreciated. Thanks in advanced :)</p>
<p>There is a Harvard book out there that is something like “50 essays that worked.” The JHU admissions page has around 5 essay on it, which are fairly good to get an idea.</p>
<p>I’m using the book On Writing the College Application Essay by Harry Bauld, and it’s very helpful (consensus on CC is that it is the best book for essays). It has advice for starting the process, finding topics, how to get out a draft, how to revise it for tone and sentence structure, how not to fall into common pitfalls or use empty buzzwords, how to use decent metaphors, etc. (but it is not overly formulaic). Also, it has some very good student-written essays. Then some so-so ones. Then some really bad ones. (All of the student-written essays included have comments by admissions officers at competitive colleges.) AND there are some professionally written essays that Bauld thought fit the mold of a college essay.</p>
<p>You can also read newspaper articles, particularly editorials, to see how authors can grab a reader and tell a story in a relatively casual sense.</p>
<p>Most random websites are deceptive in that the essays they have are not actually that good.</p>