What's the scariest part of the college application? For most, it's that big white space where an essay is supposed to go, and this book puts you in the admissions officer's seat as you set out to write those college application essays.

College Essays That Made a Difference, 2nd Edition includes 123 real-life essays written by applicants to Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, MIT, and more, as well as complete application profiles of all the students, including test scores, GPAs, demographic information, and where they got in and where they didn't.

Inside you'll find interviews with admissions pros at Amherst College, Bucknell University, Colgate University, Cooper Union, Deep Springs College, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Macalester College, Northwestern University, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, University of Virginia, Wake Forest University, and Yale University.

You'll also find real essays written for applications to the following colleges: Amherst College, Barnard College, Bates College, Boston College, Bowdoin College, Brown University, California Institute of Technology, Carleton College, Claremont McKenna College, Colby College, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Davidson College, Duke University, Georgetown University, Harvard College, Haverford College, Johns Hopkins University, Macalester College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Middlebury College, New College of Florida, Northwestern University, Pomona College, Princeton University, Rice University, Stanford University, Swarthmore College, Tufts University, United States Air Force Academy, United States Coast Guard Academy, United States Naval Academy, University of Chicago, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Washington and Lee University, Washington University in St. Louis, Wellesley College, Wesleyan University, Williams College, and Yale University.