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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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John F. Kennedy’s Harvard entrance essay resurfaces online 87 years later

A 17-year-old John F. Kennedy wrote a five-sentence college admissions essay to Harvard University — and got in, of course!

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.”

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http://www.businessinsider.com/personal-essay-application-jfk-get-into-harvard-2013-11 Thu, 11/21/2013 - 19:00 Business Insider

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 essay.

When future President John F. Kennedy applied to Harvard College in 1935, he faced the following essay question, which he answered in the following way:

Why do you wish to come to Harvard? 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. April 23, 1935 John F. Kennedy

What did JFK do in his essay?

• He establishes his interest in getting a liberal education, and established Harvard as the school strongest position to deliver this service.
• He flatters Harvard and differentiates it by saying that it's not "just another college".
• He states his long held desire to go to Harvard.
• He mentions his legacy status.

How do we at Ivy Admissions Group evaluate his essay.

• The writing is crafted, but the story is bad.
• He does establish the uniqueness of Harvard, which is key to arguing that he should be admitted here, but he never explains why that point of differentiation is important to his future journey.
• His family connection and desire to attend (which are the heart of his essay) are esoteric; third parties like the Adcom don't really care about personal desires. Afterall, if the Adcom ran a hardware store with a limited inventory, why would would they deny someone aching to drive a nail by giving their last hammer to another who just really likes hammers? (but my dad had the same hammer brand!)
• JFK never talks about what he wants to do with his Harvard education or what journey he is on. When you offer a "quest" in your application, the Adcom's offer of admission is a vote for that cause, not just for you as a person. If you want to argue why they should just choose you as a person, you better be one compelling person!
• He never explains how he will give back to the school (unless it is implied by his wealthy father).

What lessons can we draw from this essay?

• When you have a rich famous father, make sure you mention him in your essay.
• Harvard's admissions have gotten a LOT more rigorous over the past century.
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Here's The Five Sentence Personal Essay That Helped JFK Get Into Harvard

Peter jacobs   .

However, the former POTUS was not the best applicant when he decided he wanted to take up residence in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He had poor grades from high school, and while he had spent two months at Princeton University before leaving due to an illness, even his own father called him "careless."

In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of JFK's assassination, The Washington Post has highlighted many of his school records , including a handwritten Harvard application. You can check out the digitalized originals at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

As part of the Harvard application - which at the time was a mere three pages - students were asked to give a "careful answer" to the question "Why do you wish to come to Harvard?" Here's what a young JFK had to say:

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. April 23, 1935 John F. Kennedy

From the JFK library, here's the original:

Via JFK Library and Museum

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Analyzing JFK's Successful Harvard Essay

Kate Sliunkova

AdmitYogi, Stanford MBA & MA in Education

The Prompt: Why do you wish to come to Harvard?

JFK's response: 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.

Our Thoughts on JFK's Essay

What he accomplishes.

He outlines his desire for a liberal education and identifies Harvard as the school in the best position to provide this service.

He flatters Harvard and separates it by claiming that it's not "just another college".

He expresses his long-held intention to attend Harvard.

He brings up his legacy status.

Where his essay falls short

While the writing is technically solid, this essay lacks a compelling story.

He never specifically identifies Harvard’s unique qualities, nor does he explain why those unique qualities would be a good match for him.

His family ties and desire to attend (which is really the heart of his application essay) are irrelevant; the admissions committee is uninterested in what its applicant wants. It’s far more interested in how an applicant might fit in and what that applicant might offer the college. JFK fails to consider both his fit and his potential contributions to Harvard.

Concluding thoughts

It’s quite clear that applying to college in the 1930s was quite different. JFK’s essay today likely wouldn’t slide at a less-selective state institution – and definitely wouldn’t be accepted at an enviable institution like Harvard.

This isn’t a reflection of JFK’s talents—clearly, he is a deeply intelligent man—but it does show how much applying to college has changed over the past few decades.

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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?"

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"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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JFK’s Harvard essay resurfaces, to mockery, after Supreme Court strikes down affirmative action

John F. Kennedy endeavored to be a “Harvard Man,” just like his father.

He wrote as much as a 17-year-old in 1935 in his rather succinct essay to Harvard College, a copy of which resurfaced on social media and quickly became a target of derision after the Supreme Court struck down race-based affirmative action in college admissions on Thursday.

In Kennedy’s response to the essay prompt — fewer than 100 words — some saw hypocrisy in the court’s decision to overrule nearly half a century of legal precedent. While the Supreme Court ruled that race can no longer be a factor in college admissions, many on social media noted that at some elite universities, the children of graduates, known as “legacies,” are given preference in admissions.

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“A casual reminder of JFK’s college essay,” Rebecca Brenner Graham , who teaches history at the Madeira School in Washington, D.C., tweeted after the ruling.

a casual reminder of JFK’s college essay (this is real https://t.co/VmNgvs4V9n ) pic.twitter.com/IStQDQg6QC — Rebecca Brenner Graham, PhD (@TheOtherRBG) June 29, 2023

“The reasons that I have for wishing to go to Harvard are several,” Kennedy wrote in the essay. “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.”

“To be a ‘Harvard man’ is an enviable distinction,” he added.

With the Supreme Court’s ruling, the nation’s most prestigious schools are likely to see a significant decline in the number of Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous students admitted, according to research and analyses presented to the court last year.

The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has a digitized version of Kennedy’s application materials to Harvard, which includes his transcript from The Choate School — his grades were less than spectacular — along with a letter his father, Joseph Kennedy, wrote to the freshman dean explaining that while his son “has a very brilliant mind for the things in which he is interested,” he is “careless and lacks application in those in which he is not interested.”

While the admissions process was far less rigorous when Kennedy was applying, many online noted the surefire advantage the future president had as the son of a well-known and wealthy businessman who had graduated from Harvard himself.

“He’d still get in today. Because donor and legacy,” one person tweeted .

“No one benefits from affirmative action more than <checks notes> Kennedy Americans,” another wrote. “Nepo babies politics version in Ivy,” a commenter chimed in.

Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 1940 and was elected president in 1960.

The bar for admission to Harvard is now incredibly high — just 3.2 percent of undergraduate applicants were accepted to the class of 2026 — and whether Kennedy would be admitted now, even with his wealthy, privileged background, is debatable.

But many said that it’s historically underrepresented students who will be affected by the court’s ruling, while the legacy system — a century-old practice that overwhelmingly benefits white and wealthy students — will remain intact for now.

In the remarks about the decision Thursday, President Biden said the legacy system expands “privilege instead of opportunity.”

On campus, students at Harvard reacted to the decision with shock and disappointment, calling it a “step in the wrong direction.” In a video that incoming president Claudine Gay posted on Thursday, she acknowledged the school lacks “all of the answers about what’s next,” but would “continue opening doors.”

Shannon Larson can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @shannonlarson98 .

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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Automatic Essay Multi-dimensional Scoring with Fine-tuning and Multiple Regression

Automated essay scoring (AES) involves predicting a score that reflects the writing quality of an essay. Most existing AES systems produce only a single overall score. However, users and L2 learners expect scores across different dimensions (e.g., vocabulary, grammar, coherence) for English essays in real-world applications. To address this need, we have developed two models that automatically score English essays across multiple dimensions by employing fine-tuning and other strategies on two large datasets. The results demonstrate that our systems achieve impressive performance in evaluation using three criteria: precision, F1 score, and Quadratic Weighted Kappa. Furthermore, our system outperforms existing methods in overall scoring.

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Guest Essay

Harvard Should Say Less. Maybe All Schools Should.

By Noah Feldman and Alison Simmons

Dr. Feldman is a law professor and Dr. Simmons is a professor of philosophy, both at Harvard.

Last fall, Harvard University’s leadership found itself at the center of a highly public, highly charged fight about taking an official institutional position in connection with the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the war in Gaza.

First, critics denounced the school for being too slow to issue a statement on the matter. Then, after a statement was released by Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, and 17 other senior Harvard officials, some critics attacked it for being insufficiently forceful in condemning the Hamas attack, while others criticized it for being insufficiently forceful in condemning Israel’s retaliation.

One of the many sources of confusion at the time was that Harvard, like many other universities, did not have a formal policy on when and whether to issue official statements. In the absence of a policy, Harvard not only had to figure out what to say or not say; it also had to deal with the perception that not issuing a statement, or not issuing one fast enough, would in effect be a statement, too.

Fortunately, Harvard now does have official guidance for a policy on university statements, in the form of a report issued on Tuesday by a faculty working group on which we served together as chairs, and endorsed by the president, provost and deans. The report recommends a policy based on both principle and pragmatism, one that we hope can enable Harvard — and any other school that might consider adopting a similar policy — to flourish in our highly polarized political era.

In brief, the report says that university leaders can and should speak out publicly to promote and protect the core function of the university, which is to create an environment suitable for pursuing truth through research, scholarship and teaching. If, for example, Donald Trump presses forward with his announced plan to take “billions and billions of dollars” from large university endowments to create an “American Academy” — a free, online school that would provide an “alternative” to current institutions — Harvard’s leadership can and should express its objections to this terrible idea.

It makes sense for university leaders to speak out on matters concerning the core function of the institution: That is their area of expertise as presidents, provosts and deans. But they should not, the report says, take official stands on other matters. They should not, for instance, issue statements of solidarity with Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, no matter how morally attractive or even correct that sentiment might be.

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The Museum will close early on Sunday, June 9, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. and will reopen for regular admission on Monday, June 10, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.

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