Yale Juniors Publish College Essay Anthology

Maybe you did not think of decorating your college application with a comic strip, or of writing a poem to fill your personal essay space.

But somebody did, and it got him into college. Now you can read about it.

"Essays that Worked," an anthology of personal statements collected by two Yale juniors, includes 50 essays from successful college applications. The book, which came out in September, is designed to "inspire students to write something really personal," said R. Boykin Curry, who edited the book with Brian J. Kasbar, his hometown friend and three-year roommate at Yale.

One young woman featured in the book wrote an essay comparing herself to a recipe for cranberry bread. Another applicant imagined that even the most famous writers had difficulty describing themselves in their college essays.

"Damn it! Why the hell are you asking my name?" is Ingrid M. Geerken's imitation of "Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger. "Phonies are always asking crap like that. I don't know why, but they get a goddamn kick out of asking people who they are and what their names are and if they have a permanent mailing address. Those phony bastards really kill me. They want to know what your goddamn address is so that they can send you a goddamn letter saying that you're not good enough for them. Things like that really depress me."

Another student appealed to Brown University with a "Wizard of Oz" parody, ending Dorothy's search with the discovery, "There's no place like Brown.... There's no place like Brown...."

Clueless

"Most kids have no concept of what they're supposed to do," Curry said. He said that the book is for students "intimidated into writing some clicheed story about being yearbook editor or student council president." He said that the most unusual essays are the most outstanding to an admissions officer.

The chapter called "Off-Beat Essays" contains an appeal to Rice from Gregg Shapiro, who begins, "I'm glad you gave this opportunity to express a personal concern. Since I'm going off to college next year, my mom says that I've got to get rid of my pet elephant. She's tired of him tracking mud into the house, and he's getting too big for the bathtub. Also, now that he's been fired from the car wash, he's not bringing in any money. But Renaldo and I have become quite attached, so I was wondering if it's possible for him to attend Rice."

But Laura G. Fisher, former dean of admissions, does not wholeheartedly believe in the off-beat essay. "The most ordinary experience often makes the best essay," she said, "especially when it says something personal about the student."

Fisher said that although the Admissions Office was contacted by the two Elis, she did not feel it was right to submit essays because of the Buckley Amendment, which gives applicants a right to keep their files private.

Only one Harvard student, Eric L. Kaplan '89, made it into the anthology. He submitted "Development of an Idea," a mystifying semiparody of philosophical jargon, to Yale's admissions office. In his essay Kaplan circumlocutiously traces an idea he first had at age 12, which developed into empathy with the Nietzschian comment, "Nobody will guess how you looked in your morning, you sudden sparks and wonders of my solitude." Kaplan closed his essay by appealing to admissions officers, "This essay is a try at letting others guess."

A Winner

The book is doing "unbelievably well," said publisher Rollin A. Riggs. "The first time I heard about the book I knew it was a winner." Twenty-five thousand copies were issued in the first printing four months ago, he said, and already he is ready for a second printing.

It was Curry who first thought of undertaking the project. "My sister was applying to schools and didn't know where to start with her essays," he said. "Also, I thought it would be interesting to see what kind of essays my friends had written."

This book is one of a long history of entrepreneurial ventures for Curry and Kasbar. The summer before they entered Yale as freshmen, the pair ran a vegetable stand in their hometown of Summit, N.J., said Kasbar. At last year's Harvard-Yale game, the two sold t-shirts with derogatory comments about Harvard in seven languages. The back of the t-shirt read, "In any language, Harvard sucks."

Now the pair is in the middle of starting a new newspaper at Yale, Kasbar said. He said that he and his friend have ideas for more projects that will have to wait until after graduation.