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Breaking news, 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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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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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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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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http://www.businessinsider.com/personal-essay-application-jfk-get-into-harvard-2013-11 Thu, 11/21/2013 - 19:00 Business Insider Here's The 5-Sentence Personal Essay That Helped JFK Get Into Harvard

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."

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Here's The Five Sentence Personal Essay That Helped JFK Get Into Harvard

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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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

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 .

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Sunshine girl laura, sunshine girl kristy, pc candidates sweep provincial byelections for ford government, furey: olivia chow backs push to decriminalize hard drugs for kids and teens, 'better liberal education': jfk's entrance essay to harvard goes viral.

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A short essay former U.S. President John F. Kennedy wrote as a 17-year-old applying to Harvard is being mocked by some after making the rounds on social media this week.

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It was written April 23, 1935 and is housed at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Library . In it, JFK answers the question: “Why do you wish to come to Harvard?”

'BETTER LIBERAL EDUCATION': JFK's entrance essay to Harvard goes viral Back to video

“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.”

“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,” Kennedy added. “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.”

One Twitter user compared JFK’s application to Harvard with the one he submitted to Princeton.

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“When ‘do you know who my father is’ plays out in real life. And JFK’s Princeton application essay was basically the same.”

When “do you know who my father is” plays out in real life. And JFK’s Princeton application essay was basically the same. pic.twitter.com/Vp7auiqXn2 — KD (@Fly_Sistah) February 2, 2022

The official Velveeta Twitter account also jumped at the chance to give JFK the gears.

“LOL our product description from our website is 28 words longer than JFK’s Harvard College essay,” the spreadable cheese product exclaimed.

Chester Scoville, associate professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Department of English & Drama, pointed out how ridiculously easy university entrance applications were in the 1930s.

“Academic standards of all sorts are *much much much* higher now than they used to be, and it’s kind of a scandal what past generations got away with.”

People on this app are just now discovering the farce that was JFK’s Harvard entrance essay and, yeah. Academic standards of all sorts are *much much much* higher now than they used to be, and it’s kind of a scandal what past generations got away with. — Chester Scoville (@ChesterScoville) February 3, 2022

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A story of a Harvard student going through IVF

My Harvard Application Essay

The Atlantic has recently published JFK’s 1935 Harvard application . It is fascinating to see how the school’s application process has evolved in the past 8 decades. Though JFK’s essay revealed that social status and personal connection were primarily the keys to Harvard admission, which might still be the case in today’s world, I think it is (nearly) fair to say that our school is now valuing more about prospective students’ appetite on solving the world’s problems and their EQs.

The essay Qs I was given during my admission was the following:

” Write an essay describing a challenging situation or interaction you faced. In this essay, please tell us the background on the situation or interaction, who was involved, your role, and the end result. Please note that positive outcomes do not always make the most compelling essays.” (2 pages MAX)

I am not here to prove to you that my application essay was the model answer. Rather, I want to share with you my personal story, in which it has sharpened who I am today.

My Choice Reflects My Hopes, Not My Fears

At the age of 18, I left Hong Kong and came to a small town in Alabama. I was told that the upcoming year would be adventurous and joyful because Guin High School was ready for an exchange student like me.

I arrived at midnight to a cold and empty airport and was greeted by my host mom, Kristin. During the long and quiet ride home, Kristin’s only conversation was to tell me that she had an 8 year old daughter. To this day, Kristin’s background is still a mystery. I don’t understand why she applied to be a host family. She was never interested in my culture or education.

Little did I know my whole world would change again overnight. Kristin told me she was unemployed, broke and needed to move in with her father, who lived in Niceville, Florida. My suitcases were not yet unpacked, but I had to move again. Facing an unknown future, I was scared. No one in Alabama knew I had left and no one in Florida was expecting me. It was not the exchange program experience I had foreseen.

After a 6-hour road trip, we arrived at Kristin’s father’s home. My new host grandfather was a Vietnam War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. He was shocked and unprepared to ‘adopt’ me. I was no longer the exchange student on a mission to experience American life; I was now a foreigner in a mental health patient’s home. My only hope was to survive.

There were days when the house was empty and so was the kitchen pantry. Even though I had a mailing address, the life I was experiencing was that of a homeless person. Starvation became a daily routine. The only access to basic necessities was through school. I grabbed extra food from the school lunch program and signed up for culinary class because making meals was  part of the curriculum. To fight hunger, I even ate my classmate’s leftovers. Just when I thought I could be self-sufficient, my experience took a dangerous turn.

One night, when the grandfather returned home from work, we were alone in the house. He came to the kitchen where I was doing homework and stood extremely close to me. His nose was less than an inch from my neck and I could feel his breath. He kept shouting, “I hate you woman! I have guns in this house!” I tried to escape the kitchen but he blocked me. I asked myself, “Do I have to fight for my life?” I burst into tears. When the grandfather spit in my face, I turned around and threatened him with a kitchen knife screaming, “Stay away from me!” I do not recall how long I held the knife, but he eventually stepped back and left the kitchen. I knew if I did not leave that house, I would not survive.

My plan to escape without alarming the grandfather was to use the school bus. My bus driver never disappointed me. He picked me up every morning at 6 a.m., rain or shine. The night was long and lonely. I put my arms around my suitcase, sat in my room and prayed. The bus arrived and my driver made a joking comment about my suitcase. I choked out, “Get me out of here, please!” The moment the doors of the bus closed, I knew I would be safe. I had overcome fear by taking a leap of faith.

In the end, my year did turn out to be adventurous and joyful. I found a family and friends with whom I have stayed connected to this day. I had empowering experiences traveling and competing with the high school forensics team. I was able to sleep, study and assuage my literal as well as emotional hunger. At the end of the year I received a scholarship to study at the University of Nebraska. Through this experience I learned that I could overcome powerful negative situations, a formative lesson that continues to shape the person I am.

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• Resume and Essays

In This Section

• Degree Program Prerequisites
• Application Fee
• Letters of Recommendation
• Academic Transcripts
• Standardized Test Scores
• Reapplying to HKS

All of our master’s degree programs require that you submit your résumé and at least four essays, which vary by program.

A résumé is required of all applicants. This document should highlight the following information: employment, including titles and dates (months and years) for each position, job responsibilities, reason for any gaps in employment history; academic degrees, achievements, and honors; volunteer, public service, and political work; recent leadership experiences; extracurricular activities (months and years) and interests.   

MASTER IN PUBLIC POLICY

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)  

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) 

Personal History Essay  

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. (250 word limit) 

adversity Essay 

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. (250 word limit) 

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)  

Optional Statement 

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) 

MASTER IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

International development essay.

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) 

Leadership Experience Essay

Describe an event or experience in which you exercised a significant decision-making, management, or leadership role. (750 word limit) 

Public Policy Essay

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

Personal History Essay

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. (250 word limit)

MASTER IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Two-year mpa essay.

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) 

MID-CAREER MASTER IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

Career goals 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)  

Professional Contribution 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 how you have created positive change thus far in your most substantial professional leadership and/or public service role. (500 word limit)   

JOINT DEGREE AND CONCURRENT DEGREE

An essay response in addition to the program essay prompts is required for those submitting a separate admission application to a joint or combined partner program. If an applicant is applying to both a joint degree program partner school (HBS or HLS) and a combined degree partner school, the text of the essay prompt is the same. 

Applicants should note that only MPP and MPA/ID applicants are eligible to apply to the HBS and HLS joint programs. 

If an applicant is applying to varied joint/concurrent professional programs (e.g. law and business) the prompt will only be displayed once and it is up to the applicant to determine how best to respond. For those applying to different programs, for example law and business, it is wise to address both types of programs, but it would not be necessary to address each individual school.  

Joint or concurrent degree program essay  

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)

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.

“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.

“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 .

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.”

• Utility Menu

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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Congressman John Fitzgerald Kennedy (circa 1946-47) in his Congressional Office.

Courtesy of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston

A portrait of JFK, in full

Brett Milano

Harvard Correspondent

New biography aims to chronicle a complex life amid a pivotal time for a nation

One of the revelations about John F. Kennedy in Fredrik Logevall’s new biography, “JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917‒1956,” is that the man was an excellent letter-writer and diarist. The Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School and professor of history makes effective use of the collection at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, part of which has become available only recently.

“He always had a knack for the English language, even if he was an indifferent student in prep school and in his first years at Harvard,” Logevall says. “His teachers, frustrated by his lack of application overall, were always impressed by his way with words. It is an interesting contrast with his older brother, Joe Jr., the family’s supposed golden child, whose writings had a more dutiful, less imaginative quality.”

The first of a two-volume set, “JFK” aims to give the clearest picture yet available of the 35th president set against the historical, political, and cultural context of a pivotal age. The book begins with great-grandfather Patrick Kennedy’s arrival in Boston during the Irish potato famine and runs through Jack’s childhood, studies at Harvard, and military duty, and finally his rise in politics in 1956, when he almost became the Democrats’ vice presidential pick. Logevall spoke with the Gazette recently about the man and the book.

Fredrik Logevall

GAZETTE: There have certainly been many books written about JFK. What were you able to find that hadn’t been found before?

LOGEVALL: You’re quite right. There are a lot of excellent books out there on various aspects of his life and career, and especially the presidency — one thinks, for example, about the many studies of the Cuban missile crisis, Civil Rights, the Bay of Pigs disaster, the marriage with Jackie, and the assassination in Dallas. But we don’t have many true biographies, even one that is a full-scale examination of the entire life and that looks closely at his early life, in particular his teens and 20s, which I believe were key years for him (as they are for most of us). Mine is a “life and times” biography that places Kennedy in his own context, that of a rising American power in world affairs. I guess the conceit of the book is that I can tell two stories together: the story of John F. Kennedy’s rise and the story of America’s rise. I believe we can better understand the first half of the so-called American Century through the lens of Kennedy’s life.

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (from left), Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., and John F. Kennedy in Southampton, England, July 2, 1938.

Courtesy of John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

GAZETTE: What did you find that people have missed about JFK in the past?

LOGEVALL: One thing that people have underplayed is the degree to which he was a serious student of democracy and world affairs at an earlier point than we imagine. We tend to think of him as a callow playboy, not serious about public policy or his career until quite late, until he runs for Congress in 1946, and maybe not even then. But you can look at the papers he wrote as an undergraduate at Harvard, some of which are available, and you can look at his senior thesis which became a best-selling book [“Why England Slept”] and see a young man already thinking deeply and in sustained fashion about important issues. A second finding is that the young Jack Kennedy was in important respects his own master. Though his father was a towering force in his life and those of his eight siblings, Jack proved willing and able, to a degree I did not expect, to chart his own course. The Harvard years are interesting in this regard: In 1939‒40, as World War II began and debate raged in the U.S. about how to respond, Jack showed himself willing in a way his older brother, Joe Jr., never was to separate himself from his father. Long before Pearl Harbor, Jack had become an interventionist while his father adhered throughout to a staunch isolationist position. Later, during his political campaigns, Jack always kept the key decision-making role for himself, notwithstanding the common misconception that his father called the shots. [gz_soundcloud title=”John F. Kennedy recording for public speaking class at Harvard, 1937″ track_id=”321147626″ playlists=”” height=”350″ show_artwork=”false”] [/gz_soundcloud]

GAZETTE:   Another family relationship we learn more about is with his brother Bobby, and how this became increasingly important.

LOGEVALL:  Yes, the age difference between the two brothers was such — 8½ years — that in the early years, when Jack was at prep school and then at Harvard, they weren’t particularly close. But what we see especially in 1951, when they traveled together along with their sister Patricia on an extended tour of the Middle East and Asia, is that they developed a strong bond. Bobby admired his brother to no end, and Jack could now see Bobby’s intelligence and loyalty and good cheer. Then in 1952 Bobby, all of 26 at the time, came aboard to take charge of Jack’s floundering Senate campaign against Henry Cabot Lodge and helped to turn the thing around. Jack could now see just how important Bobby could be to his career, could see the powerful combination of doggedness, shrewdness, and ruthlessness that his brother possessed.

The Kennedy family at Hyannisport, Mass., 1931. Robert (from left), John, Eunice, Jean (on lap of) Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (behind) Patricia, Kathleen, Joseph, Rosemary.

Photo by Richard Sears, courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

GAZETTE: He was quite a complex character. He did have his playboy side, but some of his war actions can be called heroic.

LOGEVALL:  Yeah, I think that is right. There is a seriousness of purpose which you see in his letters home from the South Pacific, and more dramatically in the actions he took to help save his crew after his boat, the PT-109, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Was there heroism there? I believe so, even if he deserves no accolades for allowing his boat to be rammed. The efforts he made in the succeeding days to try to save his crew were really quite extraordinary. We might note here as well that he came back from the war, as many of the servicemen did, with a seriousness of purpose evinced to some degree before but deepened as a result of seeing combat. He was convinced that the U.S. would need to play a leading role in world affairs, even as he also had a skepticism about the use of the military’s power that he would carry with him for the rest of his days.

GAZETTE: His coming out against Joseph McCarthy seems to be a bit of a political turning point.

LOGEVALL: Well, he never fully came out in stark opposition, which was a problem. The relationship with McCarthy was complicated, partly because of family ties. He never felt the kind of personal connection to McCarthy that Joe Sr. felt and that Bobby felt. And there were a lot of aspects of McCarthy’s political persona that he found off-putting — the disdain for senatorial good manners, the disregard for facts, for reasoning from evidence. That said, liberals at the time had good reason to be frustrated by JFK’s reluctance to really condemn McCarthy. Even in 1954, when McCarthy’s influence was in decline and the Senate held a censure vote, JFK, recovering in the hospital following a serious surgery, did not instruct his aide Ted Sorensen to register his position on the vote. He could have done so, but he didn’t, and that caused a lot of grief for him with liberals later on. He preferred to sidestep the issue, aware that there were an awful lot of Irish Catholic voters in Massachusetts who still backed McCarthy. He didn’t want to get on their bad side.

A page in Kennedy’s diary from fall 1951. The first part reads: “Oct. 3 — Paris — I talked with General Eisenhower Biddle and MacArthur at SHAEF Headquarters. Eisenhower looking very fit — seemed disturbed at news of last few days.” Lt. Kennedy on board PT 109, July 1943.

Photo by Joel Benjamin (left), courtesy of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

GAZETTE: The book deals a lot with the influence of World War II on his character development. Do you think he took a lot from other aspects of American life at the time, including popular culture?

LOGEVALL: To a degree, certainly. When he returned from the war and was figuring out what he wanted to do, he had a fascinating stint as a journalist. He showed good reporting instincts and could have made it a career. In this period he also liked to pal around in Hollywood, where his father had been a movie mogul in the 1920s and still had connections. Jack dated actresses like Gene Tierney and liked to be on the set, liked to go to movies. Popular music I think interested him less, and until Jackie came along he evinced little interest in art. He did like poetry, and he memorized a lot of it starting already in prep school at Choate. But the Hollywood connection is interesting to me, and probably plays some role in his later skill at using images and film to advance his political career. He was among the first politicians to see that images matter, that the right use of film can make a powerful difference. Television was a huge emerging thing as his career builds, and he had that savvy understanding of the medium and how he could use it to his advantage, kind of like FDR used radio so effectively.

GAZETTE: Many of the reviews I’ve read have focused on his womanizing, which we already knew about. Do you think that’s ultimately that important a part of his character?

LOGEVALL:  Yes, the womanizing is an important part of who he is. His father led by example, carrying on with innumerable women in the 1920s and 1930s, and the older kids knew very well what was going on. Joe Sr. made clear he expected his sons to follow his ways. But I can’t have it both ways: If I’m going to argue that JFK was able to resist his father’s pressure and be his own man when it came to politics and career choices, I have to maintain that he could have broken with him on this issue too. Here he was his father’s son, with a tendency to see women as objects to be conquered. But there are paradoxes here, among them the fact that his administration took important progressive steps, establishing, for example, the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, with Eleanor Roosevelt as chair. In 1962, at the urging of the commission, Kennedy ordered federal agencies to cease sex discrimination in hiring.

Sen. John Kennedy and his then-fiancée Jacqueline Bouvier in Hyannis Port, Mass.

Photo courtesy of Harvard Fine Arts Library, Digital Images & Slides Collection

GAZETTE: In the second volume you’ll have to unravel the mystery around the assassination. Do you have a sense of how you will approach that?

LOGEVALL: There is certainly a fascination, and it shows few signs of fading. It is a vexing issue to any biographer of JFK, and it has spawned a whole cottage industry of its own. I haven’t yet written Volume 2 so I haven’t fully decided how I will proceed on this. But certainly I will talk about Lee Harvey Oswald’s background, about what led him to take this action, and will give the reader a full sense of how it all culminated in this terrible moment. And I think I will owe the reader my assessment of what I believe happened. So I will provide it. I don’t think I will get heavily into the deliberations of the Warren Commission or the various conspiracy theories that have sprouted up over the years. That’s another book, not to mention a potential morass.

GAZETTE: What do you think happened?

LOGEVALL: My reading of the evidence we have indicates pretty clearly to me that Oswald was the lone gunman. Claims to the contrary all come up short. Oswald’s associations and meetings in the weeks leading up to the assassination are worthy of investigation, however, and have been examined in recent studies. I will delve into that material and be interested to see what I find.

Interview was lightly edited for clarity and length.

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Profile in Courage Essay Contest

Getting started.

The 2024 Profile in Courage Essay Contest opens for submissions on September 1, 2023. The contest deadline is January 12, 2024.

Contest Topic and Information

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation invites U.S. high school students to describe and analyze an act of political courage by a U.S. elected official who served during or after 1917, the year John F. Kennedy was born.

Eligibility and Requirements

The contest is open to United States high school students in grades nine through twelve attending public, private, parochial, or home schools; US students under the age of twenty enrolled in a high school correspondence/GED program; and US citizens attending schools overseas.

Recognition and Awards

The first-place winner receives $10,000. Second-place receives $3,000. Five finalists receive $1,000 each. Ten semifinalists receive $100 each. Eight students receive honorable mention.

Past Winning Essays

Read past winning essays to see examples of excellent submissions.

Criteria for Judging

Submissions are evaluated on content (demonstrated understanding of political courage, originality, supporting evidence, source material) and presentation (quality of writing, organization, conventions.) Includes information about disqualifications.

Prepare Your Essay

Resources to help you prepare an excellent essay: Elements of a Strong Essay, Helpful Tips for Writing, Guidelines for Citations and Bibliography, and Criteria for Judging.

Submit Your Essay

The contest opens for submission on September 1st.

Teacher Information and Curriculum Ideas

Frequently asked questions (faq).

Answers to frequently asked questions about the contest topic and requirements, citations and bibliography, the role of the nominating teacher, and more.

Essay Contest Partner: The Boeing Company

The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation gratefully acknowledges Boeing for its generous support of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest.