50 Successful Harvard Application Essays

J
USTINE
L
IU
When I was a child, I begged my parents for my very own Brother PT-1400 P-Touch Handheld Label
Maker to fulfill all of my labeling needs. Other kids had Nintendos and would spend their free time
with Mario and Luigi. While they pummeled their video game controllers furiously, the pads of their
thumbs dancing across their joysticks, I would type out labels on my industrial-standard P-Touch with
just as much zeal. I labeled everything imaginable, dividing hundreds of pens into Ziploc bags by
color, then rubber-banding them by point size. The finishing touch, of course, was always a glossy,
three-eighths-inch-wide tag, freshly churned out from my handheld labeler and decisively pasted
upon the numerous plastic bags I had successfully compiled.
Labeling became therapeutic for me; organizing my surroundings into specific groups to be
labeled provides me with a sense of stability. I may not physically need the shiny color-coded label
verifying the contents of a plastic bag as
BLUE HIGHLIGHTERS—FAT
, to identify them as such, but seeing
these classifications so plainly allows me to appreciate the reliability of my categorizations. There
are no exceptions when I label the top ledge of my bookshelf as containing works from
ACHEBE,
CHINUA TO CONRAD, JOSEPH
. Each book is either filtered into that category or placed definitively into
another one. Yet, such consistency only exists in these inanimate objects.
Thus, the break in my role as a labeler comes when I interact with people. Their lives are too
complicated, their personalities too intricate for me to resolutely summarize in a few words or even
with the 26.2 feet of laminated adhesive tape compatible with my label maker. I have learned that a thin
line exists between labeling and just being judgmental when evaluating individuals. I can hardly
superficially characterize others as simply as I do my material possessions because people refuse to
be so cleanly separated and compartmentalized. My sister Joyce jokes freely and talks with me for
hours about everything from the disturbing popularity of vampires in pop culture to cubic
watermelons, yet those who don’t know her well usually think of her as timid and introverted. My
mother is sometimes my biggest supporter, spouting words of encouragement and, at other instances,
my most unrelenting critic. The overlap becomes too indistinct, the contradictions too apparent, even
as I attempt to classify those people in the world whom I know best.
Neither would I want others to be predictable enough for me to label. The real joy in human
interaction lies in the excitement of the unknown. Overturning expectations can be necessary to
preserving the vitality of relationships. If I were never surprised by the behaviors of those around me,
my biggest source of entertainment would vanish. For all my love of order when it comes to my
room, I don’t want myself, or the people with whom I interact, to fit squarely into any one category. I
meticulously follow directions to the millimeter in the chemistry lab but measure ingredients by

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pinches and dashes in the comfort of my kitchen. I’m a self-proclaimed grammar Nazi, but I’ll admit
e. e. cummings’s irreverence does appeal. I’ll chart my television show schedule on Excel, but I would
never dream of confronting my chores with as much organization. I even call myself a labeler, but
not when it comes to people. As Walt Whitman might put it, “Do I contradict myself? / Very well, then
I contradict myself, / (I am large, I contain multitudes.).”
I therefore refrain from the temptation to label—despite it being an act that makes me feel so
fulfilled when applied to physical objects—when real people are the subjects. The consequences of
premature labeling are too great, the risk of inaccuracy too high because, most of the time, not even
the hundreds of alphanumeric digits and symbols available for entry on my P-Touch can effectively
describe who an individual really is.
REVIEW
The first thing that jumps out about this essay is the topic. While other college applicants might offer
their profound thoughts on life, love, and the human condition, Justine begins with a slightly less sexy
topic: labeling stuff. She readily admits that it’s a bit of an eccentric hobby; as she says in her essay,
label makers are to her what video game consoles are to much of the rest of the teenage demographic.
The unorthodoxy of it, though, is precisely what makes it so captivating. The essay draws the reader
in with a topic that, at a very minimum, is intriguing. This immediately puts Justine, the writer, in the
incredibly advantageous position of having a story that people actually want to read.
Complementing her distinctive choice of topic, Justine has an infectiously quirky style that truly
shines through in her writing. Her vocabulary is sprinkled with little idiosyncrasies, making it easy to
imagine her as a child as she “decisively pasted” labels onto “successfully compiled” bags, proudly
basking in her triumphant success. Justine’s use of specific, geeky details is quite endearing, a kind of
lightheartedness that makes a reader laugh just a little bit inside while following along. As she
describes her Brother PT-1400 P-Touch Handheld Label Maker, the 26.2 feet of label-maker tape, or
her bag of “Blue Highlighters—Fat,” readers get a powerful sense of her youthful enthusiasm for
labeling.
Her subsequent shift from labeling as hobby to labeling as stereotyping—while an attempt to
provide some additional substance to the essay—is less memorable. While her anecdotes about her
labeling hobby are original and refreshing, her discussion of labeling people feels a bit trite. She
essentially observes that labeling people is wrong because people are not one-dimensional, a well-
worn platitude. It was a safe choice. But was it the best?
Instead, Justine could have improved her essay by focusing on what makes her stand out, namely
her creative, quirky personality. After all, a successful college essay needs not to draw any deep
philosophical conclusions about the world—its main purpose is simply to bring the writer ’s unique
voice to life. Nevertheless, Justine does a terrific job expressing herself as an individual, infusing her
essay and her application as a whole with a warm and distinct personality.

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—Victor C. Wu

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