“For one of my two post-Harvard personal statements, I wrote about something mundane—the backyard chickens I raised with my mother and sister”
The writing I started with looked nothing like the final. For my personal statement, I scanned my mind countless times for the details of a 5th-grade encounter with a friend, the first time I shared my for-fun creative writing with anyone. That essay, the one I used for an early rejection from Harvard, depicted the beginnings of an author’s motivation: a love of positive reception and a murky desire to write more in college. The 17 other schools on my list would receive something completely different.