{"id":35049,"date":"2016-11-15T03:04:11","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T10:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=35049"},"modified":"2016-11-15T03:04:11","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T10:04:11","slug":"wheres-the-poetry-the-secret-ingredient-in-your-graduate-application-essays-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wheres-the-poetry-the-secret-ingredient-in-your-graduate-application-essays-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s the Poetry? The Secret Ingredient in Your Graduate Application Essays"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

Strategy will necessarily guide your selection of essay topics, anecdotes\/examples<\/a>, and structure. Yet an essay built on calculation alone, even if the strategy is spot on, will often disappoint.\u00a0Logically it all makes sense.\u00a0But it doesn\u2019t take flight.<\/p>\n

Poetry can be the secret ingredient to make your\u00a0application essay sing\u00a0\u2013 right into the heart of its readers. By poetry I mean a phrase, a sentence, or a short paragraph that captures some essence of you that the expository process can\u2019t reach. Poetry reveals, and the reader \u201csees\u201d the writer anew.<\/p>\n

Poetry is NOT (unless you want it to be) flowery, ponderous, esoteric. It can be funny<\/a>; it might even be something that at first seems out of place in such an essay.<\/p>\n

To inject poetry in your essay, engage in \u201cplay;\u201d experimentation, free expression. These processes take\u00a0time<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 to maximize the potential impact of the poetic element in your essays, start them early and put them down, go back to them. You need time to play with ideas, explore experiences and thoughts, and then revisit the drafts more objectively.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, I worked with an MBA applicant who was a highly accomplished female Korean-American engineer in a defense contractor firm. One essay question for a top 5 MBA program said to describe a setback or failure<\/a> and how the applicant handled it. My client portrayed a simmering conflict with a supervisor that finally erupted. How did she deal with it? \u201cWalked out at five, got home, poured a Campari, put on my eye mask, cranked up Cyndi Lauper.\u201d I laughed out loud with pleasure on reading this; it was so\u00a0her,\u00a0<\/em>so human, so real. <\/em>Who could forget it? She then continued with something like, \u201cWhen I was ready to deal with reality, I made the following plan to rectify the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other readers of the essay urged her to remove this short section, saying it was risky, inappropriate. I saw it as real, genuine,\u00a0conveying humanity and personality<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 poetry in an application essay \u2013 and made my case for keeping it (my case included its deflating of the Asian-nerd image). She did, and she also got admitted to the program, her top choice.<\/p>\n

That raises one more point: keeping the poetry in\u00a0can\u00a0<\/em>sometimes be risky. Yet most top MBA, law, medical, and other graduate programs value qualified candidates who are gutsy,\u00a0confident<\/a>, and have a point of view. But mostly they just want to meet a real human being. When they do, it\u2019s magic. It\u2019s poetry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cindy<\/a>Cindy Tokumitsu<\/a>,\u00a0has advised hundreds of successful applicants, helping them gain acceptance to top MBA and EMBA, master, law, PhD and medical programs, with special emphasis on MBA and EMBA and other business programs in her 15+ years with Accepted. She would love to help you too. Want Cindy to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!<\/a><\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Tone Up Your Writing: Confidence vs Arrogance<\/a>
\n\u2022\u00a0Dangerous Cliches to Avoid [A Poem]<\/a>
\n\u2022\u00a0Writing Techniques From a Pro<\/a><\/p>\n

This article<\/a> originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/p>\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>get accepted<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strategy will necessarily guide your selection of essay topics, anecdotes\/examples, and structure. Yet an essay built on calculation alone, even if the strategy is spot on, will often disappoint.\u00a0Logically it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,113],"tags":[147,998,87],"class_list":["post-35049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-applications","tag-mba-application","tag-mba-application-advice","tag-personal-statement","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35049","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35049"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35050,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35049\/revisions\/35050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}