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John f. kennedy’s harvard entrance essay resurfaces online 87 years later.

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It’s no “Ask not… ” speech, that’s for sure.

John F. Kennedy’s college admissions letter to Harvard University has resurfaced on social media some 87 years later, and the Twitterati are hardly impressed with the iconic 35th president of the United States.

The note, penned by the young White House hopeful on April 23, 1935, is currently archived at the  John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

His prompt was simple — “Why do you wish to come to Harvard?” — but his answer was even simpler.

In an indisputably underwhelming statement composed of just five sentences, the 17-year-old Bay State native answered the query that would determine his educational future.

He wrote, “The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university.” 

He continued: “I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a ‘Harvard man’ is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.”

Kennedy eventually wound up at Harvard and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1940.

“ ’Harvard is a whole vibe. And I’m tryna catch the wave. Lemme in.’ — JFK,” one reader joked . The reaction garnered more than 59,000 likes on Twitter.

"Harvard is a whole vibe. And I'm tryna catch the wave. Lemme in." – JFK — C.E. Little, Ph.D. (@ItsDrLittle) February 1, 2022

“If you want to see peak white mediocrity, here’s JFK’s Harvard admission essay,” added another.

Even the Velveeta cheese brand chimed in : “LOL OUR PRODUCT DESCRIPTION FROM OUR WEBSITE IS 28 WORDS LONGER THAN JFK’S HARVARD COLLEGE ESSAY!”

The Democrat’s short but influential term as the nation’s youngest elected president began in 1961. JFK was assassinated on Nov. 22, 1963 at the age of 46.

But his family’s academic legacy continues until this day . Jack Schlossberg, Kennedy’s grandson via daughter Caroline Kennedy, recently graduated from Harvard Law and Harvard Business School.

Schlossberg, 29, previously attended Yale University and graduated in 2015 with a degree in history with a concentration in Japanese history.

He also appeared at the 2020 Democratic National Convention where he voiced support of now-president Joe Biden and touched upon JFK’s career.

“Times have changed, but the themes of my grandfather’s speech — courage, unity and patriotism — are as important today as they were in 1960,” he said. “Once again, we need a leader who believes America’s best days are yet to come. We need Joe Biden.”

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Why Is JFK's Harvard Admissions Essay Going Viral?

Social media users are discovering President John F. Kennedy's "underwhelming" Harvard application.

In one tweet from February 7, a UCLA PhD student tweeted JFK's Harvard application essay with a simple screenshot and the text "YALL IM CRYING PLEASE LOOK AT THIS!!!" The tweet has nearly 70,000 likes and 8,000 retweets.

Many users point out how underwhelming the essay is, others suggest that the line that got him accepted was the mention of his father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., who graduated from Harvard in 1912.

It reads the essay full:

The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university. I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a "Harvard man" is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.

It's only five sentences long, and as many pointed out on Twitter, it doesn't really say much. Yet, the essay worked—he got in, started in fall of 1936, and graduated cum laude in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts in government.

Harvard admissions has become extremely competitive in the years since JFK applied; the acceptance rate fell to 3.43 percent in 2021. Yet, according to the Harvard Crimson , "Between 2014 and 2019, the acceptance rate for legacies, 33 percent, dwarfed Harvard’s overall acceptance rate of only 6 percent."

JFK's own children and grandchildren attended Harvard: his daughter, Caroline Kennedy graduated from undergrad in 1980, and granddaughter, Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, graduated in 2010. Jack Kennedy Schlossberg didn't attend for undergrad, opting to go to Yale University instead, but he recently graduated with dual degrees from Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School.

It's not just Twitter where JFK's essay is going viral; on TikTok, law student Rashid Eldoma analyzes the essay:

Musician Jordan Kahan, who goes by Boxout, also responded to the essay on the platform joking that it "basically boils down to 'Harvard's pretty cool, also my dad went here, so let me in please."

This isn't the first time the essay has gone viral. It surfaces every few years, in part thanks to the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum's digitized version.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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People are dunking on JFK's half-assed Harvard admission essay in the wake of the Supreme Court axing affirmative action

• The Supreme Court ruled to overturn race-based affirmative action on Thursday.
• After the ruling, many focused on John F. Kennedy's underwhelming 1935 Harvard admission essay.
• People painted Kennedy as a classic legacy admission — a system that exists in some form today.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action , the essay John F. Kennedy wrote in 1935 emerged online as a topic of discussion — and derision.

The essay, which was first published by The Washington Post in 2013, reappeared on social media on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled that affirmative action in college admissions was unconstitutional.

Affirmative action — giving additional weight to applicants from disadvantaged demographics — had been upheld for four decades and helped minority groups access elite institutions like Harvard.

When Kennedy applied there, aged 17, the process was nowhere near as rigorous, with an application form just three pages long, per The Post.

Kennedy did not appear to be trying very hard to impress the school, other than name-dropping his rich father.

"The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university," the essay read. 

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"I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a 'Harvard man' is an enviable distinction and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain," it added. That was it.

—Rebecca Brenner Graham, PhD (@TheOtherRBG) June 29, 2023

The short essay shocked people on social media, who pointed out that the mention of Kennedy's father — a wealthy businessman who graduated from Harvard in 1912 — was most likely what got him into the Ivy League. 

One person jokingly tweeted : "Getting into Harvard: 1) be a person of color in the top 20 of every student in America, with SATs and recommendation from a state senator. 2) have Robert Kennedy be your dad, write something about being a Harvard man on a cocktail napkin, and transcribe it to your application."

Although Kennedy's example was extreme and unlikely to cut muster today, US colleges do explicitly favor applicants whose parents went there, via the legacy system.

Commentators — including President Joe Biden — on Thursday noted that the legacy system remained untouched by the court ruling.

The system, they complained, left colleges unable to shape their decisions on grounds or race, but able to do so based on applicants' parents, who are likely to already be privileged thesmelves, and probably white.

Kennedy started his degree in 1936 and graduated cum laude in 1940 with a Bachelor of Arts in government. He became America's 35th president around 20 years later.

Harvard admissions have become extremely competitive in the years since Kennedy applied.

In 1935, a total of 7,870 students were admitted to Harvard, according to a Harvard Crimson article at the time.

Only 1,984 people were admitted into the class of 2026, making the admission rate just 3%, according to the Ivy League's website. 

The Supreme Court's ruling on Thursday was criticized by many, including Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who argued in a dissenting opinion that it failed to understand the critical role race plays in society.

A group of Harvard University administrators  said in a statement  that the school would "continue to be a vibrant community whose members come from all walks of life, all over the world."

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JFK's College Essay Was Worse Than Yours

In 1935, according to documents recently released online by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Harvard asked JFK a question all of us who've applied to college should recognize: why did he want to attend Harvard?

This is how Kennedy responded:

The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I felt that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university. I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a “Harvard man” is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.

Kennedy's surprisingly vapid answer has turned many people into amateur admissions officers. How could someone who would later inspire his fellow Americans--albeit with the help of a speechwriter--to "ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country" write something so incredibly uninspiring? And how did Harvard accept him?

JFK was "kind of a dunce," says Eve Binder at IvyGate:

Kennedy's application really skimps on smarmy, sycophantic adjective-dropping, a sure sign that he has no idea what he’s talking about. This shit would never pass muster on the Common App. Not to mention the fact that he sounds more eager to own an embossed Harvard money clip than he does to have a Harvard education--although that's pretty much true for all Harvard students, so pass.

College consultant Barbara Cooper, as quoted by The Huffington Post , says that while Kennedy's legacy status would give him an edge, he would have a hard time getting into Harvard today:

The essay itself, from today's point of view, is missing a true understanding of the unique features of Harvard's offerings. It's not even clear if he visited or attended the information session, which many schools say is essential to indicating that you have an interest.

It's "hard to imagine a more slap-dash effort," claims Ralph Alter at American Thinker:

The lack of seriousness is surprising, considering that ol' bootlegging Daddy Joe was likely to be hovering imperiously in the background. Kennedy's essay sounds more like the response one gets from a beauty pageant contestant than that of a young man serious about his future ... One must remember, however, that the family's hopes were still pinned on Joe Kennedy Jr. who was considered the political standard bearer for the Kennedy progeny.

Today's college applicants can learn from Kennedy, asserts Ryan Brown at Campus Progress:

If JFK is any indication, early academic trajectory isn't always revealing of someone's abilities. Our 35th president finished his four years [of high school] at the Choate School in Wallingford, Conn., with a cumulative average of 68, placing him in the third quarter of his class. But by the time he graduated with honors from Harvard five years later, he'd written an international affairs senior thesis that would go on to become a bestselling book, Why England Slept . By his 30th birthday, he was a U.S. congressman.

Kennedy's application also includes a note from Choate's headmaster, who assures Harvard JFK "can be relied upon to do enough to pass."

clock This article was published more than  10 years ago

JFK’s Harvard application (with essay) and other school records

The 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy this Friday has prompted an avalanche of coverage about his life and death, including today’s visit to his graveside at Arlington Cemetery by President Obama  and former President Bill Clinton. Here’s a look at something that hasn’t got much attention: his education.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has digitized a number of records relating to his educational experience, and here are some of those documents, including his Harvard University application — in his own handwriting — as well as his grades from The Choate School and a letter from his father, Joseph Kennedy, to the Harvard admissions dean explaining that JFK was “brilliant” but “careless” and “lacks ambition” for things that didn’t interest him.

JFK went to these schools: Through fourth grade, the Edward Devotion School, Noble and and Greenough Lower School and the Dexter School in Massachusetts; Riverdale Country Day School in New York from fifth through seventh grades;  the Canterbury School in Connecticut for eighth grade; The Choate School in Connecticut for high school. He attended Princeton University for no more than two months in 1935, and later enrolled and graduated from Harvard.

Take a look at his grades and his university application. You may be surprised.

PHOTOS:  JFK, the man behind Camelot – A selection of the best images from his life

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JFK's Harvard | Harvard's JFK

Just as Harvard shaped “Jack” Kennedy during his time as a student, John Fitzgerald Kennedy influenced Harvard during his political career, first as US senator, then as President of the United States.

This year, a century after the birth of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the nation will reflect on the life and legacy of the man who became the 35th President of the United States. The objects in this exhibition, drawn from the collections of the Harvard University Archives, are presented as evidence of the important relationship between Kennedy and Harvard University. Kennedy, as a young politician, was in some ways shaped by his experience at Harvard before World War II; in turn, the policies he pursued as President would have an influence on Harvard as well.

JFK’s Harvard | Harvard’s JFK is a collaborative effort of the Harvard University Archives, Harvard Library Preservation Services, Harvard Library Communications, and Harvard Public Affairs & Communications.

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The Art of Applying®

MBA Admissions Consulting | MPP & MPA Admissions Consulting | Harvard Application Advice

Harvard Kennedy School 2022-2023 Essay Advice: MPP, MPA, MPA/MC, MPA-ID

posted on November 16, 2022

Welcome to the ultimate guide to writing outstanding Harvard Kennedy School essays! Below you’ll find advice for every HKS application essay prompt for the 2022-2023 application cycle.

Table of Contents

Introduction

HKS 2022 Application Deadline

Top 10 Mistakes I See in Harvard Kennedy School Essays

Table of Required Essays by Degree

Personal History Essay Advice

Optional statement essay advice, joint or concurrent degree essay advice, reapplication essay advice, jfk essay advice, mpp essay advice, expectations essay advice, perspectives essay advice, two-year mpa essay advice, career goals essay advice, professional contribution essay advice, biographical profile vs. background summary statement, international development essay advice, public policy essay.

Hey there! I’m Kaneisha Grayson, the author of this article and the founder of The Art of Applying®.

I started The Art of Applying® in 2010 while a joint degree student at Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Business School. Since then, my team and I have helped hundreds of applicants successfully apply to Harvard Kennedy School through our paid services, blog posts, and Youtube videos.

This blog post has the most up to date advice for the most difficult to write Harvard Kennedy School essays based on what my team and I have seen work for our clients.

If you find a mistake or a needed update in this article, let us know so we can correct it. Our 7000+ loyal email newsletter subscribers and visitors to our website help us keep our advice up to date and helpful for everyone.

If you’d like my team to help you with your Harvard Kennedy School application, contact us for more information.

What is the Harvard Kennedy School 2022 deadline?

The HKS 2022 application deadline is Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 3 pm Eastern Time .

Which essays are required for each HKS degree application?

Don’t make these mistakes in your harvard kennedy school application.

Sometimes, it’s easier to know what NOT to do. Use this checklist to make sure you don’t make these common mistakes in your Harvard Kennedy School application essays.

Do not wait several sentences or paragraphs to clearly answer the question the prompt is asking.

I know it feels creative and whimsical to start your essay with a story. Or to take the reader on a journey with a big reveal at the end of your essay. And I’m not saying you can’t do that. However, if you are not a strong creative writer, I would advise you to be as straightforward with answering the essay prompts as possible.

Imagine that your essays are policy memos that the U.S. President needs to read before an important meeting.

Do not start your personal statements or application essays with a quote.

The one exception would be if your quote is from one of the “characters” in the story you are telling. Then, a quote could be a compelling way to start the essay. However, what my team of consultants and I see most often are essays that start with quotes from a famous person or public figure. Don’t do that.

You have limited words with which to express yourself. Don’t waste even one sentence on a trite, overused phrase as a shortcut for seeming profound, heartfelt or unique.

Do not write essays that are simply your resume accomplishments in prose format. 

Your resume is the place where you can succinctly summarize the accomplishments and results you have achieved, using numbers as often as possible to quantify the results of your efforts. Your essays are the place where you tell your story, make your case, and communicate your fit with the school and degree program by directly addressing the prompt(s) you’ve been given.

Do not use trite phrases like “I want to change the world.” 

Vague phrases like the one above don’t actually tell the reader anything specific about you as an individual, leader, and team member.

 If you think about it, every human that has ever lived changed the world just by having lived here, right? They made their impact on the world, even if it was a teeny tiny impact. Rather than relying on empty platitudes, be as specific as possible about the type of impact you hope to have.

Do not accidentally mention the wrong school name. 

Nearly every season, we receive materials for editing, where the applicant mentions the wrong school name. It doesn’t mean that your application will automatically be thrown in the trash if you use the wrong school name. However, it shows a lack of proofreading one’s materials. It can also make you look insincere about your commitment to attending that particular school.

Do not submit materials that are over the word limit. 

I know you have a lot you want to share with the HKS admissions committee, but word limits are in place for a reason. When you submit materials that are over the word limit, you annoy the AdCom and make it clear that you disregard directions. By submitting essays that are within the required word limit, you are forced to express yourself in a clear, concise way. This is a skill that you will need as a student at Harvard Kennedy School as well as in your post-HKS career, whether in the public, private, or nonprofit sectors. 

But, Kaneisha, can I submit an essay that is just a few words over the word limit? Like…just give me 20 words extra. Pretty please? Nein! You are applying alongside hundreds of other highly qualified applicants. Do not frustrate, annoy, or disrespect the AdCom’s time by not taking the time to edit your essay down to the word count.

Do not wait until the last minute to write and revise your essays.

HKS takes a holistic view of your entire application. I know that sounds like marketing speak from the Admissions Office, but it’s true. It’s not just about your grades or your test score.

In 2021, I had a client who we helped get into Harvard Kennedy School with a GPA below 2.5 . He worked with our team on strengthening his applicant profile and his essays for ten months : from January 2021 until November 2021.

Your essays are the most important part of your application. The earlier you can start on them, the better. Use the previous year’s prompts as your jumping off point.

How likely is it that the Harvard Kennedy School essay prompts from last year will be different this year?

It is highly unlikely that the the prompts you see on the Harvard Kennedy School website for the prior application season will change substantially in this upcoming application season. In the 12+ years I’ve been in business, I’ve only seen the essays change twice. So the essay prompts change about every 4 years or so.

Optional Do Not’s for your Harvard Kennedy School Essays & Resume

The don’ts below are based on my personal preference and aren’t as important as the “do not”s above.

Do not use “justified alignment” for your essays. 

It creates strange spacing within your sentences. While it may look more polished to you that all of your lines take up the full line, it is a less pleasant reading experience forr the reader.

Do not include your photo on your resume or CV. 

While this is a common practice in some nations outside of the US, it is not common practice in the US.

Do not use “interesting” design elements on your CV.

I prefer a black and white CV with no color, no “interesting” bullet point shapes like diamonds, starts, etc.—just plain filled-in bullets or open bullets. I don’t even really like those horizontal separating lines on CV. I like just words and bullet points on resumes with a good amount of white space, so my eyes can rest and I’m not looking at a wall of text.

Diversity of all kinds (race and ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, physical abilities, political philosophy, intellectual focus, socioeconomic status, geographic and many others) is important to enriching the educational experience at the Kennedy School.  Please share with us anything in your background or life experience that has shaped your perspectives and how that would contribute to the classroom and community at HKS. (250 word limit)

This essay may feel overwhelming, especially if you feel like you aren’t “different,” “special,” or “diverse” enough. The key with this essay is to remember that everyone adds diversity to the class—not just people you think of as traditionally underrepresented.

The key here is to not worry about if what makes you “you” is special or different enough. It’s to become aware of the intersecting identities that make up your particular identity, and then to choose which of those aspects would benefit your classmates through the sharing of your experiences and perspectives with your classmates.

One area of diversity that may apply to you is being a member of an underrepresented group within a well-represented racial or ethnic group. For example, while Asian-American students are well represented among top universities, southeast Asians, Pacific Islanders, and low-income Asian-American students are very underrepresented . Similarly, white students are well represented, but low-income white students or white students from rural areas are underrepresented.

Another area gaining traction in the cultural zeitgeist is neurodivergence and/or neurodiversity. In fact, after a decade-plus of suspecting I might have ADHD (and being told by my friends that I have ADHD), I (Kaneisha, the founder of The Art of Applying®), got evaluated and diagnosed with ADHD-Combined Type in April 2022.

Imagine my shock—after getting two Masters from Harvard, paying off $150,000 in student loans in seven years as a writer and entrepreneur, growing a business from scratch to a million dollars in revenue, and starting a podcast—learning that I have a brain condition that is considered a disability! 

I’m learning more each day how much my life has been affected by having undiagnosed and untreated ADHD: the challenges I have overcome as well as the benefits of having a brain that works quite differently than most people’s. 

If you fall into the category of being neurodivergent (some examples are ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and OCD), you could write about the ways in which navigating your personal, professional, and academic life have been affected by having a “different” kind of brain.

If I were writing this essay, I would write about these areas of diversity that apply to me:

• Growing up in a low-income high crime neighborhood with a high teen pregnancy rate
• Having undiagnosed ADHD for most of my life, and my experiences being “twice exceptional” (both gifted and challenged)
• Being one of few Black students in my college graduating class
• Coming from an extended family that is heavily affected by the prison-industrial complex

Don’t let my list intimidate you; just use it as a list to help you reflect on what makes you different and/or special. 

Here are examples of areas of diversity and/or adversity you could write about in your diversity statement and/or personal history statement:

• Being physically challenged or disabled
• Being a queer person
• Being trans or having a non-conforming gender identity
• Being a person of color
• Having experienced homelessness or food insecurity during your lifetime
• Growing up low-income
• Growing up very wealthy
• Growing up closely related to a person of prominence, fame, or a public figure
• Having served in public office
• Having achieved outstanding business accomplishments
• Having competed in athletics, chess, or related activities on a national or global level
• Having a neurodivergence such as ADHD, autism, epilepsy, Tourette Syndrome (TS), or OCD—whether diagnosed in childhood, adolescence, or adulthood
• Growing up in a single-parent household
• Growing up as an adopted child or foster child
• Growing up with adopted siblings or foster siblings
• Growing up with siblings with special needs
• Growing up with a parent who is an addict 
• Growing up with a parent who has serious mental health issues
• Acknowledging and overcoming addiction
• Discovering and navigating mental health issues
• Growing up across different states and/or countries
• Being a conservative person who plans to attend a liberal- and progressive-leaning school—or vice versa
• Navigating grief after the loss of a loved one
• Being a survivor of trauma (you don’t have to share in detail about your trauma unless you feel comfortable doing so. Be sure to include a content warning.) Table of Contents

If you have any concerns about your prior academic, professional, or personal background that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee, please provide an explanation. (250 word limit) 

Who should write the Harvard Kennedy School Optional Statement?

Even though this essay is titled as an optional statement, I recommend that most applicants to Harvard Kennedy School write the optional essay. The optional statement is your opportunity to raise your hand and say, “Well, actually…” when one of the readers is raising doubts about the strength of your applicant profile and whether you should be given one of the seats in the class.

Since HKS doesn’t have interviews, you don’t have a chance to clarify anything that may be confusing or concerning to the AdCom. The optional statement is your opportunity to stand up for yourself, clarify anything that looks confusing, and reassure the admissions committee that any challenges that held you back in the past won’t keep you from being successful at HKS.

You should write the Harvard Kennedy School Optional Statement if:

• You have C’s, D’s, F’s, W’s, or I’s on your transcript that you want to explain to the AdCom.
• You are applying to the Harvard Kennedy School MC/MPA with 7-9 years of work experience.
• You are applying to the MPP, MPA-ID, or MPA2 with fewer than two years of work experience.
• You are applying to Harvard Kennedy School without a traditional undergraduate degree.
• You are applying to Harvard Kennedy School with a GPA below 3.4.
• You have a gap on your resume of longer than six months.
• You don’t show a clear demonstrated interest in public service from your work experiences and/or volunteer work.

What should your Harvard Kennedy School Optional Statement include?

Your HKS optional essay should answer the following questions:

• What areas of your profile might the admissions committee be concerned about?
• Why did those issues occur?
• How have you since resolved those issues?
• What did you learn about yourself as a result of navigating those issues?
• What will you do if those issues arise while you are at Harvard Kennedy School?

Since you only have 250 words, you can aim to answer each of the above questions in one sentence. That will give your optional essay structure and communicate the essential information the HKS admissions committee members need.

Harvard Kennedy School’s mission is to improve public policy and leadership across the United States and around the world, so people can lead safer, freer, and more prosperous lives. How will a joint/concurrent degree enhance your pursuit of this mission? (400 word limit)

Here is the catch with this essay. According to my understanding, this essay will only be read by Harvard Kennedy School admissions committee—not the other school to which you are applying. (Someone contact me and correct me with written proof or a screenshot if I’m mistaken. I want to make sure I’m providing the most accurate information.) So the key to this essay is to focus on how your Harvard Kennedy School degree will complement your other degree .

What do I mean by that? Well, contrary to what you may think, this essay is not supposed to be where you gush about HBS, HLS, Tuck, or Sloan. Don’t spend a lot of time talking about how amazing the non-HKS school is. The joint/concurrent degree essay is where you talk about how you won’t get everything you need from just a degree from Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, Dartmouth Tuck, or MIT Sloan for your personal and professional goals.

The most effective joint/concurrent degree essays will be written the opposite of how most people will write this essay. Most people will write this essay focusing on how amazing the resources, classes, and clubs are at the other school. But you want to focus on, say, 4-6 specific things you will get from your non-HKS school, and then write in just as much detail how your HKS degree will complement and supplement those 4-6 specific things. 

Questions to help you write your Harvard Kennedy School joint / current degree essay:

• What will you learn in the classroom at HKS that you won’t learn at all or as much in the other classroom?
• What clubs are specific to HKS that you are eager to join that don’t exist at the other school?
• What will the HKS alumni network provide you that you can’t get if you only do just the one degree at the other school?
• What personal experiences might you have, and what kinds of people might you meet as a joint / concurrent degree student that you wouldn’t meet if you only did the other school’s degree?

Make sure to not write this essay as if going to HKS alone is not enough of an education. This essay is about showing how going to the other school alone would not be enough of an education for your personal, professional, and academic goals.

The Harvard Kennedy School motto, echoing the President for whom the School is named, is “Ask what you can do.” Please share with the Admissions Committee your plans to create positive change through your public leadership and service. (500 word limit)  

Okay, y’all for this essay, I’m just going to dump a list of the biggest mistakes I see with this essay, and then give you a bunch of questions that you should make sure your JFK essay answers as specifically as possible. 

In general, this is a “career goals” essay. The HKS AdCom wants to know what your ultimate career goal is, and the career journey you could imagine yourself embarking upon to get there.

The biggest mistakes I see with the Harvard Kennedy School JFK essay are:

• Do not bury your career goal several paragraphs in or wait until the last paragraph to clearly answer the question. Do not make the AdCom guess what your plans are. Answer the question upfront in the first 1-2 sentences.
• Do not state a career goal that is too vague.
• Do not state a career goal that is too ambitious with no clear plan to get there. It is not too ambitious to say you want to be the Head of State, but you need to clearly map out the short-term, medium term, and long-term career path to get there.
• Do not state a career goal with no explanation of why that career is driven by your values.
• Do not overly use words like “hope” when discussing your plans: “I hope to take on a career in management consulting at a firm like BCG, Bain, or McKinsey.” No. Use clear, confident words like “plan,” “will,” and “intend to.” Because you totally got this! You don’t have to hope.

If you answer all of the following questions, you’ll be well on your way to writing this essay better than half of the people applying to HKS (who aren’t our clients or didn’t find this blog post in time).

Sample Outline for the Harvard Kennedy School JFK essay:

• Opening sentence: What is your ultimate long-term career goal? Be as specific as possible and state this upfront. Do not make your essay a scavenger hunt where the AdCom has to sift through several paragraphs to figure out the answer to the question they have posed to you.
• When it comes to your career goal, what specific 1-3 issues will you work to have a positive impact? On what specific geographic area and/or specific population do you plan to have a positive impact? Access to water in South Asia, equity in education in the Southern US, trans rights in Latin America, voting rights and access in sub-Saharan Africa, the US childcare epidemic, etc. Notice how I’m not just saying vague things like “sustainability,” “microenterprise,” “venture philanthropy,” or “impact investing.” I am listing specific issues, geographies, and populations. This makes your goal realistic, measurable, and ambitious at the same time rather than wishy-washy wishful thinking.
• What is your immediate career goal after HKS? What role do you want to have? What will you learn in that role? What will you contribute to the organization in that role?
• What is your mid-term career goal after HKS, such as 10 years after graduation? What will you learn in that role? What will you contribute to the organization in that role?
• Concluding sentence: Reiterate your enthusiasm to attend HKS and contribute your particular public service and leadership to the world.

The MPP curriculum is designed to broaden students’ perspective and sharpen skills necessary for a successful career in public service through a rigorous set of courses that draw on the social sciences but are adapted for action. Please describe how the MPP curriculum at HKS would leverage your distinctive abilities and/or fill gaps in your skill set as you equip yourself to achieve your career goals. (500 word limit)

The HKS MPP Essay can feel tricky, because it’s asking you to cover so many different elements. I prefer to answer the question directly within the first sentence, and then to provide more details throughout the essay. 

Within the first 1-2 sentences of this essay, briefly restate your career goal. Restating your career goal provides a clear context for the reader for the rest of your essay. You can even restate your career goal as a part of a sentence that is mostly about something else. 

Here is a sample starting sentence for the HKS MPP Essay that clearly answers the question while restating the career goal and providing clear context for the rest of the essay:

In order to pursue my career goal of being Head of Communications for an equity-focused education nonprofit such as Teach for America, I will need to improve my existing skills in persuasion, public speaking, and written communication. I will also need to gain skills in negotiation, managing and developing team members, budgeting, and quantitative analysis.

Sample Outline for the Harvard Kennedy School MPP Essay:

• Briefly remind the HKS Admissions Committee of your career goal.
• List 2-3 relevant skills that you already have that you’d like to strengthen at HKS.
• List 2-3 relevant skills you’d like to gain as an MPP student at Harvard Kennedy School.
• Discuss 2-3 specific classes you would take that would enhance your skills. State the specific skills and/or subject matter learnings you would gain in those classes.
• Discuss 2-3 classes in which you would be a strong contributor to your classmates’ learnings and for which you already have strong skills.
• Discuss 1-3 student clubs that would play to your strengths and/or fill in gaps.
• Discuss 1-3 Resource Centers at HKS that would enhance your strengths and/or help you improve in developmental areas.
• Conclude your essay 

Additional tips for the HKS MPP Essay:

• Make sure that you aren’t only listing classes taught by men. This is a common oversight among applicants.
• The classes you mention don’t have to be currently taught or scheduled to be taught in the upcoming year. As long as the class has been offered at some point in the last five years, it’s fine.
• When discussing classes that will fill in your skills gaps, list at least one required course and at least one elective.
• When discussing classes that will play to your strengths, it is okay to primarily focus on electives.
• If you are short on space, you can list fewer classes related to your strengths. Focus more on the specific classes you’ll take that will fill in your gaps.
• If you are short on space, you can eliminate discussing student clubs and resource centers.

Describe a time when you did not meet expectations and elaborate on how the experience changed you. (250 word limit) 

I love this question! Even though it can be tough to figure out what to write about, if you choose a genuine topic, and write this essay well, you will easily stand out in the applicant pool. The most straightforward way to respond to this prompt is to write about a time when you did not meet someone’s reasonable expectations. 

However, you can also write about a time when you did not meet what you believe were unreasonable expectations . It’s much more difficult to successfully tackle the second type of essay without coming off as trying to turn an essay discussing a weakness into a strength. If you write about a time when you did not meet unreasonable expectations, then you will need to discuss why you did not speak up about the expectations being unreasonable; you can’t just simply say that someone burdened you with unreasonable expectations. You have to take some responsibility for those unreasonable expectations existing and for you being accountable for meeting them.

You can write about a time when you did not meet expectations in your personal, professional, or academic life.

Outline for HKS Expectations Essay:

• Who had the expectation of you?
• (optional) How was the expectation communicated to you?
• What were the internal obstacles to meeting the expectation? 
• What were the external obstacles to meeting the expectation?
• What did you learn about how to manage the expectations of the person who you let down?
• What did you learn about yourself in not meeting this expectation?
• What lessons can you apply to the future when faced with similar expectations?

Examples of what you could write about for the HKS Expectations Essay:

• Letting your boss, team, or a direct report down at work
• Letting down your partner, family member, or friend in your personal life
• Not meeting your own expectations at work, school, or toward a personal goal

Describe a time when interactions with others and/or an experience caused you to change your mind or expanded your point of view. (250 word limit)  

This essay shows that you are open to influence, open-minded, able to change your mind in the face of new information, and/or willing to admit when you were wrong.

Sample Outline for HKS Perspectives Essay:

• What was your opinion or perspective on the issue at hand at first?
• What made you realize that your opinion or perspective might have been limited or outright wrong?
• What about the interaction or experience in particular helped you be open to changing your mind or expanding your perspective?
• What did your opinion change to or what did it expand to include?
• What did you learn about yourself from this experience?
• What did you learn about the other person from this experience?
• What lessons can you apply to the future when faced with similar experiences, interactions, or opportunities?

There are many pathways one can pursue in order to make a difference in the world. Why is the MPA Program at HKS an appropriate pathway to achieving your goals? (500 word limit)  

Sample Outline for the Harvard Kennedy School Two-Year MPA Essay:

• Briefly remind the HKS Admissions Committee of your career goals within the first two sentences of your essay.
• Discuss 3-4 specific classes you would take that would enhance your skills. State the specific skills and/or subject matter learnings you would gain in those classes that would help you achieve your career goals.
• Are there any treks you could attend or help plan that would help you achieve your career goals?
• Discuss 1-3 Resource Centers at HKS that would help you achieve your career goals.
• What is it about the HKS culture that will help you achieve your career goals?
• What elements of the HKS alumni experience and network will help you achieve your career goals?
• Conclude your essay restating your enthusiasm to attend HKS for the MPA2.

Additional tips for the HKS Two-Year MPA Essay:

Submit a statement that discusses your career goals, as well as the factors that led you to select the Mid-Career MPA program as a means of furthering your personal and professional goals. Be as specific as possible in describing how your expected course of study will enable you to build on your prior professional experience and achieve those goals. (500 word limit)  

Sample Outline for the Harvard Kennedy School Career Goals Essay:

• Spend 1-3 sentences discussing each of the factors that led you to HKS.
• What kind of organization would you like to work at?
• What will you learn here?
• What will you contribute here?
• State the specific skills and/or subject matter learnings you would gain in those classes that would help you achieve your career goals.

Additional tips for the HKS Career Goals Essay:

The prompts for these two short answer questions are so similar that I think there may have actually been a mistake in the Harvard Kennedy School application to ask them both.

In prior years, the MPP application asked for the Biographical Profile, and the MPA/MC application asked for the Background Summary Statement. This year, the MC/MPA application (and perhaps for other degrees) is asking for both of these extremely similar statements.

I’m here to provide as much clarification as I can. Understand that this is my guidance as an admissions consultant, but I am not a member of the HKS Admissions / Enrollment team. I would suggest some of you write to HKS admissions to clarify this requirement, because it really seems like a mistake to me to require both.

I think that what happened is that one question or the other should show up based on which degree you choose (this is called a “conditional form element”), but that for some reason, the condition wasn’t input into the system correctly, so both questions are showing.

What is the prompt for the Biographical Profile?

In 150 words or fewer, provide a biographical profile. Your résumé will contain detailed information on your academic history, professional/internship/volunteer positions held and specific accomplishments. What we seek here is a concise description of your academic/professional journey, career exploration, and areas of interest. Please type your biographical statement in the paragraph box below .

In this statement, focus on answering the exact things they have asked for:

• What was your schooling like from high school, to university, to now? Since they will know where you went to school from your resume, you could focus on what type of school(s) you attended (public, private, elite, prestigious, underfunded, under-resourced, etc.) and how that impacted your career.
• Quickly walk the reader through your career from start to mid-point to present day.
• State 1-3 areas of career and academic interests.

In the Biographical Profile, spend half the essay discussing your academic and professional past, and half the essay discussing your career and academic future interests you plan to explore at HKS and after HKS.

What is the prompt for the Background Summary Statement?

In 300 words or less, summarize your professional profile/background. Your résumé will contain information on titles, positions held, and specific accomplishments, what we seek here is a concise description of your professional journey, career progression and areas of expertise/experience. Specific information on the level of responsibility and impact/scale of work performed to provide context is encouraged.

Think of the Background Summary Statement as a narration of your resume in an easy-to-understand way for someone who may not be familiar with your industry.

Another way to think of the Background Summary Statement is the short introduction that would be given about you before giving a TED talk or graduation speech. It helps the reader / listener contextualize everything else they are going to learn about you.

You can write the Background Summary Statement in the first person (I have worked…) or the third person (Kaneisha Grayson has worked…)

• Once again, walk the reader through your professional journey. Don’t just say where you worked. Tell the reader what you learned and accomplished in your career so far. Think of this as the interview question, “Walk me through your resume.”
• HKS also wants to know about your career progression. How does one job lead into the next? How are your responsibilities increasing and building upon one another? This is especially helpful if career progression and promotions aren’t evident from the job titles on your resume.
• Discuss your areas of expertise and experience, both academically and professionally. You can focus on hard skills, soft skills, and domain expertise. If you aren’t sure what hard skills are versus soft skills, a quick online search for those phrases will give you lots of examples. If you aren’t sure what I mean by “domain expertise,” think of a domain as a subject area, a topic that one can study or research at HKS or in the real world.

The Background Summary Statement should be completely focused on the past, whereas the Biographical Profile is a blend of the past and the future.

But I still think this is actually an error in the HKS application.

Please explain what has changed since your last application . (250) 

What is the Harvard Kennedy School Reapplication Essay supposed to convey?

The HKS Reapplication Essay is supposed to convey that you as an applicant understand that it’s not helpful to simply resubmit the exact sample application as the exact same candidate you were last time. They want you to succinctly tell them what has changed about you personally, professionally, and/or academically since your prior application.

The Harvard Kennedy School Reapplication Essay is your opportunity to help the HKS admissions committee understand that, while you were not previously admitted, you are now even more prepared for the HKS classroom, and even more of a fit for the HKS degree program to which you are applying.

How should I start my Harvard Kennedy School Reapplication Essay?

You only have 250 words for this essay, so you need to get directly to the point. I would start this essay out with a simple sentence that lists the changes in your applicant profile since your prior HKS application. Here is an example:

Since my prior application in 2018, I have taken supplementary coursework, received a higher score on the GRE, gained further clarity on my career goals, and engaged in more volunteer work.

How should I structure the HKS Reapplication Essay? What content should I include?

Here is an outline you can use for your Harvard Kennedy School Reapplication Essay:

• Introductory Sentence
• Discuss any supplementary coursework you have taken.
• Discuss any improved test scores you have to share.
• Discuss any accomplishments, promotions, or changes in your professional experience.
• Discuss any personal accomplishments and/or updates.
• Concluding Sentence

On what note should I end the Harvard Kennedy School Reapplication Essay?

You have so few words for this essay that you can consider not including a concluding sentence. If you have room for a concluding sentence, you can reiterate your enthusiasm for attending Harvard Kennedy School or your hope that the updates you’ve provided are helpful.

Here is a sample concluding sentence for your HKS Reapplication Essay:

I hope that these updates will help the Admissions Committee in the reconsideration of my application.

The Harvard Kennedy School motto, echoing the President for whom the School is named, is “Ask what you can do.” Please share with the Admissions Committee how you have created positive change thus far in your most substantial professional leadership and/or public service role. (500 word limit)

Most applicants will mess up this essay by trying to cram too many stories and roles into this essay. You will write a much stronger essay if you focus on one overarching role in which you were able to create positive change in one big way or multiple smaller, interconnected ways . What I don’t suggest you try and do is write about multiple roles. The prompt is asking for your most substantial professional leadership and/or public service role. That means you should choose one role .

Sample Outline for the Harvard Kennedy School Professional Contribution Essay:

• What were the requirements of you in this role?
• What were the 1-4 positive impacts you were able to have in this role?
• Clearly state the positive impact you were hoping to achieve.
• What challenges, obstacles, and limitations did you and your team face when trying to achieve your goals?
• How did you and your team overcome the obstacles that you faced?
• Clearly state the positive impact you were able to achieve.
• Conclude the essay reiterating your enthusiasm to attend HKS and continue creating positive change.

Discuss your decision to choose international development as your professional career. Also, explain how developing your analytic skills relates to your career in development. (750 word limit) 

For the MPA-ID International Development Essay, you can use the outline and tips I gave for the Career Goals Essay . However, you need to make sure that you also discuss the importance of having strong analytical skills relates to your career in development.

Examples of how analytical skills relates to a career in development:

• Financing 
• Managing limited resources
• Optimizing processes to maximize limited resources
• Decreasing costs
• Increasing output
• Decreasing negative externalities
• Increasing positive externalities

Describe a public policy or public management problem related to international development and analyze a range of solutions. (750 word limit) 

The Harvard Kennedy School Public Policy Essay is similar to the Princeton SPIA Policy Memo, except that you get 750 words rather than four double-spaced pages (about 1000 words).

Sample Outline for the Harvard Kennedy School Public Policy Essay or Princeton SPIA Policy Memo:

Introductory Paragraph: Tell the reader what specific issue you are going to explore, and 3-4 solutions you will analyze.

Background Information: Provide 2-4 sentences providing background information on the issue at hand. What would the reader need to know about the issue you are going to discuss in order to understand your analysis of the possible solutions?

Discuss 3-4 possible solutions. For each of your 3-4 proposed solutions, answer the following questions:

• Clearly state the proposed solution.
• Where, if anywhere, is this solution already being implemented? How is it working?
• What are the hoped for and actual benefits of this solution?
• What are the challenges, obstacles, and limitations of this solution?

Concluding Paragraph: Here is where you can make a recommendation on what should be done now to address the issue (based on your analysis above), and where you can make a recommendation on what could be explored in the future. You should state the solution that has the most potential to address the issue at hand. Propose possible further areas of inquiry. 

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JFK's Teenage 'Harvard Man' Entrance Essay Goes Viral on Twitter 87 Years Later

The 17-year-old future president wrote in his Harvard entrance essay, "To be a 'Harvard man' is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain"

A 1935 Harvard University entrance essay written by a then 17-year-old John F. Kennedy is again making the rounds online, this time going viral on social media for what critics say is an underwhelming piece of writing considering the teen who wrote it would go on to be president.

The short essay — written on April 23, 1935 and now housed at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library — was written in response to the prompt: "Why do you wish to come to Harvard?"

In his five-sentence response, Kennedy extols the benefits of being a "Harvard man" and attending the same college as his father.

"The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several," he wrote. "I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university."

Kennedy continued: "I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a 'Harvard man' is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain."

Social media users recently re-shared the essay (which periodically makes headlines ), with some reinterpreting it for 2022.

" 'Harvard is a whole vibe. And I'm tryna catch the wave. Lemme in.' - JFK," wrote one Twitter user in response to the essay.

Others noted that the entrance essay Kennedy submitted to Princeton — in which he noted the "enviable distinction" of being a "Princeton man" — was strikingly similar .

Others noted that it was a different time — one in which entrance essays weren't as important a part as the overall application — and the teenager who wrote the essay did go on to achieve some notable things: "You understand that this was 85 years ago, and that he did in fact go on to fairly high office and some acclaim, right?"

Kennedy ultimately attended Harvard, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in government in 1940.

He again wrote of what it meant to attend the prestigious university in a 1956 article for the Harvard Alumni Bulletin titled " Why Harvard Men Go Into Politics ."

"But more important than its reputation, Harvard offers the potential politician an atmosphere conducive to the furtherances of such a career," Kennedy — then serving as a Massachusetts senator — wrote. "His interest in national affairs is quickened, and his comprehension of political issues is increased."

He continued elsewhere in the essay: "This gentle though constant pressure has resulted in Harvard men on all levels of community and national affairs contributing immensely to the improvement of our public life. I have no doubt that Harvard men will continue to utilize this splendid background by continuing to enter the political arena in large numbers. Few other professions are so demanding _ but few, I must add, are so satisfying to the heart and soul."

Also that year, Kennedy published his 1956 book Profiles in Courage — co-written by his adviser, Ted Sorensen — for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1957.

He would be elected president in 1960 and serve until Nov. 22, 1963, when he was assassinated in Dallas.

Kennedy, then 46, was struck by two bullets while riding through the streets of Dallas in an open-topped motorcade with wife Jacqueline Kennedy by his side.

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Old News, Vintage News, Historical News, Retro News

Jfk’s harvard entrance essay resurfaced online and people are underwhelmed.

John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States. While many aspects of his short life have made news over the years, one thing we didn’t expect to be brought to our attention was his Harvard entrance essay. It resurfaced online some 87 years after it was written and people have a lot of thoughts about it.

The short essay was posted to Twitter by a user who shared it along with the caption, “YALL IM CRYING PLEASE LOOK AT THIS!!!!” The tweet has since gone on to be retweeted over 5,500 times and has received more than 68,000 “likes.”

The essay was written on April 23, 1935 as part of Kennedy’s college admission package and was prompted by a single question: “Why do you wish to come to Harvard?” As we’re used to hearing his spectacular speeches from his time in politics, the then-17-year-old Kennedy’s response is a little underwhelming.

“The reason that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several. I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university.

“I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a ‘Harvard man’ is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain.”

Kennedy was accepted to Harvard and graduated in 1940 cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in government.

The essay has received a lot of attention, with many Twitter users sharing their thoughts on the few-sentence piece. One user wrote that they’ll “never cringe or feel ashamed about my mission/research statements,” while another said it was “the worst college essay I’ve ever read.”

There’s also been discussion over how different standards were back then, due to the fact that college essays were largely handwritten and had a low word count, with others bringing up what they feel was Kennedy trying to use his father’s position in society to get accepted into the school.

Some even called the former President out for how similar this essay was to the one he wrote for Princeton .

More from us:  How Did JFK Get So Rich? The Story Behind the Kennedy Fortune

Those wishing to view the physical document can do so by visiting the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library in Boston, Massachusetts.

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JFK's Harvard application essay goes viral on Twitter as his grandson earns dual degrees from the university

Kennedy's grandson, jack schlossberg, recently celebrated degrees from both harvard business school and harvard law school.

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John F. Kennedy's college application essay for Harvard University is attracting attention on Twitter nearly 90 years after it was written.

Words from the essay were shared on Feb. 1 by a Twitter user who describes herself in her bio as a UCLA PhD student. 

Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, wrote the short essay in 1935, according to the JFK Library’s website, where the document is preserved.

The application’s 10th question asks, "Why do you wish to come to Harvard?"

MILWAUKEE POLICE OFFICER SHOT IN THE LINE OF DUTY GIFTED TICKETS TO THE BIG GAME

"The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several," Kennedy responded. "I feel that Harvard can give me a better background and a better liberal education than any other university."

He continued, "I have always wanted to go there, as I have felt that it is not just another college, but is a university with something definite to offer. Then too, I would like to go to the same college as my father. To be a 'Harvard man' is an enviable distinction, and one that I sincerely hope I shall attain."

The tweet garnered more than 68,000 likes and thousands of retweets. 

One user commented how back then, the college essay was handwritten and had a low word count, as seen on the JFK Library’s website. Others brought up how JFK's Harvard essay has made headlines in the past as it was written similarly to his application essay for Princeton.

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John F. Kennedy wrote that he wanted to attend Harvard for a variety of reasons, including wanting to go to the same college his father attended. (iStock)

The Kennedy family still have a connection to Harvard to this very day. Kennedy's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, recently celebrated graduating from the university, Fox News previously reported . Schlossberg has earned his degrees from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. 

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Jack Schlossberg, JFK's grandson, graduated from Harvard with two degrees, keeping the family tradition alive. ( Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images))

Schlossberg is the youngest child of Caroline Kennedy. He received his undergraduate degree from Yale. Caroline Kennedy also graduated from Harvard, along with Schlossberg’s great-grandfather, Joseph Kennedy, Sr. 

Fox News' Andrew Mark Millar contributed to this report .

Michael Hollan is an associate lifestyle editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent on Twitter: @M_Hollan

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Our application is now live

Our master’s degree application for the 2024-2025 academic year is now available.

Today’s most compelling global issues—entrenched poverty to climate change to security threats—are complex, interrelated, and urgent. They require a new generation of public leaders—bold and passionate thinkers with the courage and the tools to turn ideas into action. 

If you're ready to develop the skills and network to improve public policy, pursue powerful ideas, and advance your capacity to lead, we hope you will apply to join us at Harvard Kennedy School . 

Applications and all required documentation must be submitted by Friday, December 1, 2023 at 12 p.m. ET. 

There are a few updates to this year’s application we’d like to highlight:   

This year, the application fee may be waived for participants or alumni of certain programs, as well as applicants who require a waiver in order to apply. If you are affiliated with one of these programs or need a fee waiver for any reason, you will be asked to submit a fee waiver form found on the application status page after you submit your application. Please keep in mind that receiving a fee waiver does not guarantee your ability to receive financial assistance to attend HKS. Please review our financial aid website for detailed information on the funding opportunities available through HKS and outside entities.

We have removed the Analytical and Quantitative Résumé or Statement requirement from the application. The Admissions Committee will use other components of your application—including your academic transcripts, professional résumé/CV, and standardized test scores (if applicable)—to evaluate your quantitative ability. 

The Personal History Essay prompt has been changed slightly, to: Harvard Kennedy School believes that academic excellence and personal growth rely on engaging with varied perspectives, embracing our unique differences, and relishing healthy debate. Please share how you would contribute to the vibrant and diverse learning environment that is HKS.

The Expectations Essay has been renamed the Adversity Essay. The prompt is now: Describe a time when you faced adversity or a significant challenge to achieving your goals, and how navigating through this shaped your educational or career trajectory.

We encourage you to review the How to Apply section of our website for more details and then begin your application. Be sure to visit this blog often throughout the application process, as we’ll share helpful information about the application process and answer applicants’ most frequently asked questions. 

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November 19, 2021

Harvard Kennedy School MPP and MPA2 Application Essay Tips [2021 – 2022]

The essays discussed below are for the  MPP and the two-year MPA  applications. (The MPA/ID and the MC/MPA and Mason’s program have different prompts.)

HKS seeks accomplished, well-rounded master’s students – people with proven academic success, strong leadership and career potential, and “commitment to advancing the public interest.” The school also wants the student body to be diverse. Your application overall will address these factors; the essays provide a valuable opportunity to underscore through specific detail how you meet these criteria and will be a significant contributor during the program and later in your career. Most important, use the essays to weave together these elements into a coherent story and presentation – one that clarifies your path to your public interest goals.

Further, HKS seeks students who embrace change. The website notes, “Our programs will change you. They are changing the world through the outstanding leaders and dynamic ideas that come out of HKS.” This “change” theme is echoed in the mandatory essay questions. Keep this emphasis on change on your radar as you work through your essays. Showing you can change and grow strengthens your credibility for goals that involve driving change externally – i.e., you are not just talking the talk, but walking the walk.

Harvard Kennedy School 2021-2022 MPP & MPA application essay questions

Mpp and mpa mandatory personal history essay.

Diversity of all kinds (race and ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, physical abilities, political philosophy, intellectual focus, socioeconomic status, geographic and many others) is important to enriching the educational experience at the Kennedy School. Please share with us anything in your background or life experience that has shaped your perspectives and how that would contribute to the classroom and community at HKS.  (250 word limit)

This essay is a lovely opportunity to round out your profile and to show unique and distinctive aspects of your life experience – approach this essay with pride and passion. It has potential to give deeper color to the whole application.

I’ll start with some don’ts: Don’t write a mini autobiography. Don’t talk about your love of travel. Don’t fear to present topics that are often considered no-no’s, like religion and politics (there is of course a right way and a wrong way to discuss such things). Don’t drench the discussion in buzz words and abstractions (the topic of “diversity” has a tendency to bring these out).

Select your topics – anywhere from one to three, as more than that will be too many for meaningful discussion – and root each one in anecdote and example. Consider topics that will  both   expand and enhance your profile  and   support (directly or indirectly) your “case” for admission delivered in the other essays. Add a brief reflection about the contribution, as it’s not the fact that you have a certain type of diversity; it’s the insight and perspective you’ve gained from it that ultimately make it meaningful to the adcom and future classmates.

MPP and MPA expectations essay

Describe a time when you did not meet expectations and elaborate on how the experience changed you. (250 word limit)

The adcom is clearly seeking out people who are able to grow and change – in this case, in response to a failure of some sort. That requires understanding one’s shortcomings related to not meeting expectations. Choose a specific example/story (if well in the past, make sure it’s weighty to justify the distance) and tell the story. And, whose expectations? It could be someone from any realm: a friend, a colleague or work superior, a professor, etc. – or you. “How it changed you” can be part of the story – ideally include some action taken as a result of the change, not just “realized” or “understood” or “broadened perspective.” 

MPP and MPA perspectives essay

Describe a time when interactions with others and/or an experience caused you to change your mind or expanded your point of view.  (250 Word limit)

There’s that word again – change. This time, it’s about a time you changed in response to an experience or interactions (expanding your point of view is also a form of change). And, again, approach the essay straightforwardly, as a story, narrating what happened and your growth as a result of it. If possible, include some action taken as a result of the change, beyond “merely” increasing your understanding in some way. 

MPP and MPA JFK essay

The Harvard Kennedy School motto, echoing the President for whom the School is named, is “Ask what you can do.” Please share with the Admissions Committee your plans to create positive change through your public leadership and service.  (500 word limit)

This is essentially a vision-and-goals question. I suggest a professional focus, though in some cases it could also include non-work plans. Three keys to making this essay work:

• In describing your plans/goals, clarify what “positive change” means to you – it’s easy to forget that it means different things to different people. (I see a lot of drafts of these and other essays talking about making change without any clear idea of what constructive change means to that person.) And cite specific impacts you intend to deliver through your service.  Make it concrete.  These results need not be comprehensive, “save the world” level changes – it’s more realistic, more credible, and probably more interesting to the reader to discuss changes to a given corner of the world, or segment of population, or issue. Show your engagement with and knowledge of the region or issue by employing anecdote and detail.
• Discuss practical aspects – how you envision executing those plans in real terms, focusing on your anticipated leadership and sense of service. Of course, you needn’t have all the answers – that’s part of what the program will help you with.
• Since the question asks you to portray how you’ll do the above “through your public leadership and service,” root the plans in your experience to lend credibility to what you say you will do in the future. Weave in brief examples of public leadership and/or service as a basis for your future efforts.

Essay for MPP applicants

The MPP curriculum is designed to broaden students’ perspective and sharpen skills necessary for a successful career in public service through a rigorous set of courses that draw on the social sciences but are adapted for action. Please describe how the MPP curriculum at HKS would leverage your distinctive abilities and/or fill gaps in your skill set as you equip yourself to achieve your career goals. (500 word limit)  

You’ve delineated your career vision and plant in the JFK essay. Based on these goals, what are your relevant distinctive abilities and your skills gaps? Don’t just cite these facts; provide brief examples or anecdotes of at least some and make specific how they relate to your goals. It’s an opportunity to strategically showcase some of your experience. Finally, describe how the MPP program will enhance your existing abilities and fill in the gaps – always in the context of your goals, keeping in mind the practical nature of the program: how it will help you leverage your strengths and gain requisite skills/knowledge to effect desired change.

Essay for two-year MPA applicants

There are many pathways one can pursue in order to make a difference in the world. Why is the MPA Program at HKS an appropriate pathway to achieving your goals?  (500 word limit)

Here too, your goals cited in the JFK essay will be the starting point: they create the need to learn certain things and the conditions to benefit from certain opportunities. So, first, identify the gaps in learning that you must fill to realize your goals and also the opportunities that would be helpful in realizing your goals (such as access to certain types of people or challenge to move past reflexive thinking). Then  detail how the HKS program meets these needs and offers these opportunities . This “how” can include all manner of things about the program, depending on your needs: curriculum structure and/or content, professors, special programs, classmates, extracurricular clubs/programs, partner groups/programs, etc. The key is to be specific and to link the elements you cite to your goals, learning needs, and/or broader professional growth and development.

Optional essay question (MPP & MPA)

If you have any concerns about your prior academic, professional, or personal background that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee, please provide an explanation.  (250 word limit)

This optional essay question specifically instructs you to write the essay only if there are concerns about your background. If you do need to use it, write a succinct, straightforward explanation. If you have evidence that academic under-performance does not reflect your true ability, add a sentence stating that point with the evidence (e.g., maybe you did poorly overall in college, but in your last semester earned straight A’s).

Harvard Kennedy School 2021-2022 MPP & MPA2 application deadline

Source: Harvard Kennedy School website

***Disclaimer: Information is subject to change. Please check with individual programs to verify the essay questions, instructions and deadlines.***

Related Resources:

• 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Grad School Statement of Purpose , a free guide
• Harvard Kennedy School: An Interview with Admissions Director Matt Clemons , a podcast episode
• Different Dimensions of Diversity , a podcast episode

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In Sudden Reversal, Harvard To Require Standardized Testing for Next Admissions Cycle

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Updated April 11, 2024, at 3:25 p.m.

Harvard College will reinstate its standardized testing requirement in admissions beginning with the Class of 2029, a surprise reversal that could leave some students scrambling to take SAT or ACT tests ahead of application deadlines in the fall.

The decision comes in the face of Harvard’s previous commitments to remain test-optional through the admitted Class of 2030, a policy that was first instituted during the pandemic.

Harvard had faced mounting criticism from both academics and admissions experts for continuing its test-optional policies, even as its peer institutions returned to requiring standardized tests . In recent weeks, Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown have announced returns to required testing.

All applicants to the Class of 2029 — due to apply in the fall and winter of 2024 — will be required to submit SAT or ACT scores, barring specific cases in which they may be unable to access such exams, according to the College’s announcement. In such cases, scores from exams such as Advanced Placement or the International Baccalaureate will be accepted as substitutes.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Hopi E. Hoekstra wrote in a statement that “standardized tests are a means for all students, regardless of their background and life experience, to provide information that is predictive of success in college and beyond.”

“More information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range,” she added. “With this change, we hope to strengthen our ability to identify these promising students.”

The majority of undergraduates entering Harvard in the past four years have submitted standardized test scores, according to the release, which did not specify an exact percentage.

Harvard officials have recently hedged on whether the College would reinstate its testing requirement. In early March, Hoekstra told The Crimson that Harvard was “in the midst of analyzing” its policy .

Harvard College Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid William R. Fitzsimmons ’67 said in an interview in late March that the College had “nothing new to report” on whether its testing policy through the admitted Class of 2030 would be changing.

In its press release, Harvard referenced a study from Harvard-affiliated initiative Opportunity Insights, led by Brown University economist John N. Friedman ’02 and Harvard economists Raj Chetty ’00 and David J. Deming, which found that SAT scores are a particularly strong predictor of college success – much more so than a student’s high school grade point average.

Some experts also said that a return to requiring standardized test scores could help universities like Harvard increase the racial and socioeconomic diversity of its student body.

Deming, a finalist to serve as dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, wrote in a statement that the requirement of standardized test scores provides the “fairest admissions policy for disadvantaged applicants.”

“Not everyone can hire an expensive college coach to help them craft a personal essay. But everyone has the chance to ace the SAT or the ACT,” Deming wrote.

When Yale and Dartmouth reinstated their testing policies, both institutions referenced the predictive power of standardized testing as a key incentive for its return as a mandatory component of the admissions process.

Still, the College’s announcement — made exactly two weeks after it released admissions decisions for the incoming Class of 2028 — has exposed it to criticism.

The Generational African American Students Association, a student organization at Harvard, posted a statement on Instagram Thursday afternoon blasting the College’s return to required testing.

The policy change “strikes at the very heart of the progress made toward achieving true equal opportunity within higher education institutions such as Harvard,” the group wrote.

“This decision also compounds the challenges already faced by low-income and minority students in the wake of affirmative action being overruled,” they added.

A College spokesperson declined to comment on the criticism of the policy reversal.

Harvard’s reversal of its commitment to stay test-optional through the next two admissions cycles came with little warning to applicants for the Class of 2029, who have six sittings of the ACT and the SAT left before Harvard’s regular decision application deadline on Jan. 1 — and even fewer before its early action deadline of Nov. 1.

—Staff writer Elyse C. Goncalves can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on X @e1ysegoncalves or on Threads @elyse.goncalves .

—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached [email protected] . Follow him on X @matanjosephy .

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Harvard announces return to required testing

Leading researchers cite strong evidence that testing expands opportunity

Students applying to Harvard College for fall 2025 admission will be required to submit standardized test scores, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced on Thursday. This new policy will be applied to the Class of 2029 admissions cycle and will be formally assessed at regular intervals.

For the Class of 2029 admissions cycle, Harvard will require submission of scores for the SAT or ACT. In exceptional cases in which applicants are unable to access SAT or ACT testing, other eligible tests will be accepted.

In a message to the FAS community on Thursday, Edgerley Family Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Hopi Hoekstra foregrounded “a number of factors” that underscored the decision.

“Standardized tests are a means for all students, regardless of their background and life experience, to provide information that is predictive of success in college and beyond,” she said. “Indeed, when students have the option of not submitting their test scores, they may choose to withhold information that, when interpreted by the admissions committee in the context of the local norms of their school, could have potentially helped their application. In short, more information, especially such strongly predictive information, is valuable for identifying talent from across the socioeconomic range.”

In research published last year, Harvard Professors Raj Chetty and David J. Deming and co-author John N. Friedman used data from more than 400 institutions and about 3.5 million undergrads per year to better understand socioeconomic diversity and admissions. Standardized tests emerged as an important tool to identify promising students at less-well-resourced high schools, particularly when paired with other academic credentials.

“Critics correctly note that standardized tests are not an unbiased measure of students’ qualifications, as students from higher-income families often have greater access to test prep and other resources,” said Chetty, the William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics and director of Opportunity Insights . “But the data reveal that other measures — recommendation letters, extracurriculars, essays — are even more prone to such biases. Considering standardized test scores is likely to make the admissions process at Harvard more meritocratic while increasing socioeconomic diversity.”

Deming, the Kennedy School’s Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy and a professor of education and economics at the Ed School, pointed to access as a key issue.

“The virtue of standardized tests is their universality,” he said. “Not everyone can hire an expensive college coach to help them craft a personal essay. But everyone has the chance to ace the SAT or the ACT. While some barriers do exist, the widespread availability of the test provides, in my view, the fairest admissions policy for disadvantaged applicants.”

In June 2020, as the pandemic severely limited access to standardized testing, Harvard began a test-optional policy under which students could apply to the College without submitting scores. The admissions cycle for the Class of 2028 was the fourth for which students were able to apply without submitting test scores. However, admissions has welcomed applicants to submit test scores, and the majority of those who matriculated during the past four years did so.

“Test scores can provide important information about a student’s application,” said William R. Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions and financial aid. “However, they representonly one factor among many as our admissions committee considers the whole person in making its decisions. Admissions officers understand that not all students attend well-resourced schools, and those who come from modest economic backgrounds or first-generation college families may have had fewer opportunities to prepare for standardized tests.”

In recent years, nonprofits such as Khan Academy have offered robust test-prep tools at no charge. In her message, Hoekstra said that access to testing should never prevent a student from applying to Harvard, and included information for those who may not be able to access the SAT or ACT, as well as tools such as Schoolhouse.world and other sources for no-cost tutoring and no-cost test preparation.

“We recognize that in parts of the United States there may be fewer students than in the past taking SAT or ACT for their state universities — and international applicants can also face barriers to testing,” said Joy St. John, director of admissions. “We hope that promising students faced with such challenges will still apply, using alternative forms of testing.”

Said Hoekstra: “Fundamentally, we know that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. With this change, we hope to strengthen our ability to identify these promising students, and to give Harvard the opportunity to support their development as thinkers and leaders who will contribute to shaping our world.”

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About folder.

Harvard reinstates standardized testing requirement for class of 2029

H arvard College will once again require applicants to submit standardized test scores, joining a handful of elite colleges that have reinstated testing requirements nixed during the pandemic.

In announcing the policy change Thursday, Harvard cited a growing body of research showing standardized tests can help colleges spot talented students from less- affluent high schools. Yale University, Dartmouth College, and Brown University used the same rationale to restore testing requirements earlier this year; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revived its standardized testing requirement two years ago.

The move comes as the nation’s top colleges search for ways to maintain racial and socioeconomic diversity on campus without using race as a factor in admissions, which the US Supreme Court prohibited in its landmark affirmative action ruling against last summer.

Hopi Hoekstra, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Harvard, said standardized tests help colleges predict student success regardless of a student’s background. Students who did not submit test scores, she said, may have unintentionally withheld information that could have strengthened their overall application.

“Fundamentally, we know that talent is universal, but opportunity is not,” Hoekstra said in a statement Thursday. “With this change, we hope to strengthen our ability to identify these promising students, and to give Harvard the opportunity to support their development as thinkers and leaders who will contribute to shaping our world.”

The college dropped its standardized testing requirement in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic limited some students’ access to the tests. Applicants had the option of submitting ACT and SAT scores to supplement their applications. The majority of students who matriculated at Harvard in past four years did so, even though it wasn’t required, according to the university.

Critics have long asserted standardized tests are biased toward students from wealthier families, who are more likely to take expensive test prep classes and have better educational opportunities overall.

Earlier this year, however, research by the Harvard-affiliated Opportunity Insights group found that standardized exams can help identify standout applicants from low-income backgrounds whose raw scores might not be as high as upper income students’, but who outperform their classmates. That lined up with some earlier studies, including one from a committee at the University of California system , which found tests like the SAT were more likely to predict student achievement than high school GPAs.

Opportunity Insights also found that preferences toward legacy admissions and student athletes do more to restrict diversity than requiring standardized tests.

Raj Chetty, a Harvard professor of economics and the director of Opportunity Insights, said in a statement that it’s true standardized tests are biased toward students from higher-income families, who may have greater access to test prep resources.

“But the data reveal that other measures — recommendation letters, extracurriculars, essays — are even more prone to such biases,” Chetty said. “Considering standardized test scores is likely to make the admissions process at Harvard more meritocratic while increasing socioeconomic diversity.”

David J. Deming, academic dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, said the widespread availability and the universality of the tests help ensure fairness, though some barriers still exist.

“Not everyone can hire an expensive college coach to help them craft a personal essay. But everyone has the chance to ace the SAT or the ACT,” Deming said in a statement.

Phillip Levine, a Wellesley College economics professor and expert in the business of higher education, said Harvard’s move is more evidence that elite colleges are moving back toward the SAT requirement.

“Clearly, this is going to start filtering down to other institutions as well,” he said.

But Levine said it was too early to say whether less-exclusive schools would follow Harvard and the other Ivies’ lead.

“You get more applications if you don’t require the SAT. So in a world in which you’re seeking more applications, reinstituting the requirement may not be advantageous for you,” he said. “At the top end of the market, where you’re less worried about applications, that is less of a problem.”

Bob Schaeffer, director of public education at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a nonprofit that tracks and critiques standardized exams and testing companies, said he did not anticipate Harvard’s policy change would create waves among colleges nationwide.

“The Ivy League and the other super-selective schools are exceptions to the general rule,” he said.

Schaeffer said other schools will likely closely monitor diversity and student success data at Harvard and elsewhere throughout the next academic year before determining whether to revive their own testing requirements.

In a survey of more than 200 of the nation’s top test-optional liberal arts colleges and universities conducted by education services company Kaplan Inc., which offers test preparation courses for the ACT, SAT, and others, around 15 percent said they were considering reinstating standardized testing requirements, according to Kaplan. Around two-thirds of surveyed schools said submitting an ACT or SAT score helps students’ applications.

For applicants without access to the SAT or ACT, Harvard said it will accept a handful of alternative tests , including Advanced Placement exam results and International Baccalaureate scores.

Joy St. John, Harvard’s director of admissions, said there may be fewer students taking the SAT or ACT than in the past, and accessing those tests can create barriers for international applicants.

“We hope that promising students faced with such challenges will still apply, using alternative forms of testing,” St. John said in a statement Thursday.

Levine said having a wider scope of application materials allows admissions counselors to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of different metrics, which is overall beneficial to the system.

“Regardless of how you think about it, there’s no such thing as a perfect measure of who you should accept,” Levine said.

Kennedy Family to Endorse Biden

April 18, 2024 at 6:12 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“Members of the Kennedy family will appear en masse and in force to endorse President Biden at a campaign event in Philadelphia on Thursday,” Axios reports.

“It’s a public display of support that reveals a weakness Democrats privately acknowledge: Biden is likely more at risk from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s third-party challenge than former President Trump is.”

Bloomberg : “Biden will be introduced by Kerry Kennedy — the sister of the third-party candidate — and joined by fellow siblings including Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a former Maryland lieutenant governor; filmmaker Rory Kennedy; former Congressman Joe Kennedy II, Christopher Kennedy, and Maxwell Kennedy Sr.”

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Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC .

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Harvard Is Bringing Back Standardized Tests. Other Schools Should, Too.

Emi nietfeld didn’t have access to lacrosse or advanced placement classes, but she did have standardized tests..

This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email [email protected] with any questions. [MUSIC PLAYING]

My name is Emi Nietfeld, and I am a journalist and the author of Acceptance, a memoir. For the last 15 years of my life, I have thought back to studying for standardized tests with this warm affection. I think that it’s important that standardized tests remain an option for students to submit, because it is one path to college when some of the other paths fail.

The Ivy League universities — they are now changing their tune on standardized testing.

During the pandemic, many colleges dropped the requirement to submit SAT or ACT scores. Then Dartmouth required standardized tests following an analysis that they did that showed that the same students coming from a lower income background who were supposed to benefit from test optional policies were actually being harmed by it.

Harvard University is planning to reinstate standardized test scores for admissions requirements, and it follows some of its peers after a pause caused by the pandemic.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When I saw the news, I was pretty surprised at first. Because I feel like the zeitgeist has been so anti-standardized tests. For example, students generally do not like taking them, parents complain about how stressful they are, and there are concerns about equity and whether these tests are really fair to students who are coming from different backgrounds, especially because a high score is associated with wealth and with racial privilege.

At the same time, I really liked these tests as a college applicant. I did not have access to a consistent school life, to teachers who could recommend me to extracurriculars that were going to impress colleges. So, really, the one thing that I did have was these standardized tests. And because of that, they were my hope for the future.

When I was nine years old, my parents separated, and that triggered pretty severe mental health issues for both of them. And it also meant that I went into therapy. And pretty quickly, I was diagnosed, I was medicated, and my life fell apart.

I had been a straight-A student. But, suddenly, I was switching between schools, in between these treatment programs. And when I was 14, I was sent to a locked facility, where we didn’t go to school, except for the classroom that was staffed by the Special Education Department.

And every afternoon, we had hours and hours of quiet time where we just had to sit alone in our rooms unless we had earned the privilege to go outside. And on one of those afternoons, I was still stuck in my room. I hadn’t been outside in weeks. And the staff went on an outing to the library.

And so I asked them, hey, could you get me a standardized test prep book? And I was so shocked when they came back, and somebody was like, here, and handed me Barron’s guide to the ACT. I just felt like this beam of light was shining down from heaven on me because, finally, I had something to do. I had a way to pass all that time. And I didn’t have to just feel like, oh, I’m stuck here, falling behind, while all these other people who are richer, and healthier, and get to live in the real world, are taking advanced placement classes and playing field hockey.

For me, and for a lot of people who are in difficult situations, having this objective score to show colleges is something that is available to us. You look at the other parts of the college application like the essay, or teacher recommendations, or even GPA. And all of that stuff is also shaped by what kind of background you’re coming from. And I did not have control over where I went to school or if I could finish out the year at a certain school, but I did have control over being able to study for and take this test.

When I was writing my personal statement, I felt like I would have to show my trauma in order to get in. I worked on drafts of my application while I was sleeping in the back seat of my rusty Toyota Corolla. I was brainstorming it from a homeless shelter, and it was just this incredible emotional weight to have to make myself so vulnerable for colleges. And at least when I was studying for standardized tests, I was able to focus on academics, and I was able to imagine myself as a scholar instead of another vulnerable teenager.

Part of why I really wanted to attend an elite university was that they offered really incredible financial aid, and that was what I got when I went to Harvard. I don’t think standardized tests should be the only metric that colleges use to evaluate applicants — not at all. But I do think that it can be a really important objective metric that can compare different students from different contexts against each other, and I would hate to see that disappear.

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By Emi Nietfeld

Produced by Kristina Samulewski

Harvard University is among the latest institutions to announce it is reversing its test-optional policy and requiring students to submit test scores in their applications. For the writer Emi Nietfeld, it’s a positive sign. Growing up homeless and in the foster care system, she didn’t have a lot of control over her education or resources that would bolster her college applications. But one thing she did have control over was studying for standardized tests. In this audio essay, Nietfeld explains how Scantron sheets helped her unlock a better life.

(A full transcript of this audio essay will be available on Monday in the audio player above.)

This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Kristina Samulewski. It was edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Original music by Isaac Jones and Pat McCusker. Fact-checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Harvard reinstates standardized testing requirement for class of 2029

Harvard College will once again require applicants to submit standardized test scores, joining a handful of elite colleges that have reinstated testing requirements nixed during the pandemic.

In announcing the policy change Thursday, Harvard cited a growing body of research showing standardized tests can help colleges spot talented students from less- affluent high schools. Yale University, Dartmouth College, and Brown University used the same rationale to restore testing requirements earlier this year; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revived its standardized testing requirement two years ago.

The move comes as the nation’s top colleges search for ways to maintain racial and socioeconomic diversity on campus without using race as a factor in admissions, which the US Supreme Court prohibited in its landmark affirmative action ruling against last summer.

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Hopi Hoekstra, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Harvard, said standardized tests help colleges predict student success regardless of a student’s background. Students who did not submit test scores, she said, may have unintentionally withheld information that could have strengthened their overall application.

“Fundamentally, we know that talent is universal, but opportunity is not,” Hoekstra said in a statement Thursday. “With this change, we hope to strengthen our ability to identify these promising students, and to give Harvard the opportunity to support their development as thinkers and leaders who will contribute to shaping our world.”

The college dropped its standardized testing requirement in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic limited some students’ access to the tests. Applicants had the option of submitting ACT and SAT scores to supplement their applications. The majority of students who matriculated at Harvard in past four years did so, even though it wasn’t required, according to the university.

Critics have long asserted standardized tests are biased toward students from wealthier families, who are more likely to take expensive test prep classes and have better educational opportunities overall.

Earlier this year, however, research by the Harvard-affiliated Opportunity Insights group found that standardized exams can help identify standout applicants from low-income backgrounds whose raw scores might not be as high as upper income students’, but who outperform their classmates. That lined up with some earlier studies, including one from a committee at the University of California system , which found tests like the SAT were more likely to predict student achievement than high school GPAs.

Opportunity Insights also found that preferences toward legacy admissions and student athletes do more to restrict diversity than requiring standardized tests.

Raj Chetty, a Harvard professor of economics and the director of Opportunity Insights, said in a statement that it’s true standardized tests are biased toward students from higher-income families, who may have greater access to test prep resources.

“But the data reveal that other measures — recommendation letters, extracurriculars, essays — are even more prone to such biases,” Chetty said. “Considering standardized test scores is likely to make the admissions process at Harvard more meritocratic while increasing socioeconomic diversity.”

David J. Deming, academic dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, said the widespread availability and the universality of the tests help ensure fairness, though some barriers still exist.

“Not everyone can hire an expensive college coach to help them craft a personal essay. But everyone has the chance to ace the SAT or the ACT,” Deming said in a statement.

Phillip Levine, a Wellesley College economics professor and expert in the business of higher education, said Harvard’s move is more evidence that elite colleges are moving back toward the SAT requirement.

“Clearly, this is going to start filtering down to other institutions as well,” he said.

But Levine said it was too early to say whether less-exclusive schools would follow Harvard and the other Ivies’ lead.

“You get more applications if you don’t require the SAT. So in a world in which you’re seeking more applications, reinstituting the requirement may not be advantageous for you,” he said. “At the top end of the market, where you’re less worried about applications, that is less of a problem.”

Bob Schaeffer, director of public education at the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, a nonprofit that tracks and critiques standardized exams and testing companies, said he did not anticipate Harvard’s policy change would create waves among colleges nationwide.

“The Ivy League and the other super-selective schools are exceptions to the general rule,” he said.

Schaeffer said other schools will likely closely monitor diversity and student success data at Harvard and elsewhere throughout the next academic year before determining whether to revive their own testing requirements.

In a survey of more than 200 of the nation’s top test-optional liberal arts colleges and universities conducted by education services company Kaplan Inc., which offers test preparation courses for the ACT, SAT, and others, around 15 percent said they were considering reinstating standardized testing requirements, according to Kaplan. Around two-thirds of surveyed schools said submitting an ACT or SAT score helps students’ applications.

For applicants without access to the SAT or ACT, Harvard said it will accept a handful of alternative tests , including Advanced Placement exam results and International Baccalaureate scores.

Joy St. John, Harvard’s director of admissions, said there may be fewer students taking the SAT or ACT than in the past, and accessing those tests can create barriers for international applicants.

“We hope that promising students faced with such challenges will still apply, using alternative forms of testing,” St. John said in a statement Thursday.

Levine said having a wider scope of application materials allows admissions counselors to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of different metrics, which is overall beneficial to the system.

“Regardless of how you think about it, there’s no such thing as a perfect measure of who you should accept,” Levine said.

Daniel Kool can be reached at [email protected] . Follow him @dekool01 .