I recently read "Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays" by Gen and Kelly Tanabe.

I give this book 2 and 1/2 stars out of 5.

"Accepted!" has a few small chapters at the beginning with some explanation of what the college essay is about, how to brainstorm ideas, and some mistakes to avoid. Most of the book is taken up by the 57 sample college essays, which includes the essay and a description of why it was successful. I doubt any reader would really read all 57 essays and explanations, but the ones I read were solid, but didn't tell a lot about the students' personality.