{"id":18877,"date":"2013-06-01T14:16:34","date_gmt":"2013-06-01T21:16:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=18877"},"modified":"2013-07-09T14:39:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-09T21:39:06","slug":"how-should-i-choose-stories-for-essays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/how-should-i-choose-stories-for-essays\/","title":{"rendered":"How Should I Choose Stories for Essays?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0In response to my blog titled Common Mistakes You Should Avoid in Your Essays<\/em>, I received emails from applicants with some interesting queries regarding stories to be used in essays. I would like to share their questions and my responses to the questions:
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Question #1 <\/span><\/strong>Are these stories supposed to be the guiding spirit of the essay question? In other words, should they be more of a back-bone or just supporting information?
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Answer:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 <\/span>It depends on the essay prompt. \u00a0<\/span>For example, if the essay prompt asks you to describe a \u2018difficult situation\u2019 or a \u2018disagreement\u2019 where you were required to use your teamwork skills or leadership skills to \u2018resolve a conflict\u2019, or if it asks you to recall a situation in personal or professional setting where you experienced \u2018an ethical dilemma\u2019, your story\/experience would be the \u2018back bone\u2019 of the essay comprising all the four components of your experience: (the situation\/ challenge, action, outcome, and significance), your role in dealing with the situation being the most significant part of the story.<\/span>
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However, if the question asks you about your perspective about something (e.g. \u201cWhat advice would you give to a foreigner moving to your home country? \u00a0<\/span>Why?\u201d or \u201cWhat is your definition of leadership?\u201d), the purpose of your story \u00a0<\/span>would be to provide \u201cthe supporting information\u201d with a view to substantiate your perspective and views.
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Question #2 <\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Should the stories be life-altering and vivid events, or common place events of leadership and perseverance would also do?
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Answer: <\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>Again, all your responses will be customized to the essay prompts. \u00a0<\/span>If the question is about a life-altering event in your personal life, you will definitely choose an experience that changed your life in a significant way. \u00a0<\/span>On the other hand, leadership stories in your personal and professional life might not necessarily be life-changing events, but should have been \u2018meaningful\u2019 for you or should have contributed to your \u2018growth\u2019 in some or the other way.
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Furthermore, the \u2018vivid details\u2019 may be used to make the story compelling and engaging to the Ad Com; however, you need to make sure that vivid descriptions of the story do not eclipse the relevant content or the message of the story. \u00a0<\/span>Please note that we are not writing these stories for short-story competitions, but for B-schools\u2019 essay questions that are designed especially by them to get a sense \u00a0<\/span>their prospective candidates\u2019 personal and professional attributes. \u00a0<\/span>So the stories should <\/span>the ones that meet the requirement of the essay question and represent you in the best light.
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I believe that reflecting on past experiences for addressing essay questions on \u2018culture\u2019, \u2018background\u2019, \u2018setback\u2019, \u2018mistake\u2019, \u2018strengths\u2019\/ \u2018weaknesses\u2019 etc. is an exciting journey. \u00a0<\/span>But it demands your time. So embark on this journey NOW.
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If you want my help, email me at poonam @ myessayreview.com<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n



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\u00a0In response to my blog titled Common Mistakes You Should Avoid in Your Essays, I received emails from applicants with some interesting queries regarding stories to be used in essays.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-applications","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18877"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19530,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18877\/revisions\/19530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}