Essays and Adcoms

Question

Hi All,

I had a couple of questions about the essays:

1) Does the same person read all of a candidate's essays?
2) Does it make sense to refer another essay for details within an essay?
3) Admission consultants --- are they preferable over close friends for essay reviews? 

Thanks all..
-roli

rhyme · Answer

(1) Multiple people will read your essays, and all of them. In the case of Chicago, for instance, just to even get an interview, THREE people will read your essay.

(2) It can, but I think it just makes for poor writing. That is, who wants to read, "I am really passionate about clown sex. (See Essay #2)" ?

(3) Largely depends on who you ask. I think that friends can be invaluable from one perspective - that is, they know your story and may say "hey why dont you talk about X? Thats really interesting" - maybe something you never thought of. The downside to friends is that they know your story well, so they may be able to read an essay and "fill in the blanks" subconciously, while someone unfamiliar with your background may read the same essay and have questions or have trouble following. The downside of an adcom is that they dont know you - so they can't say "hey what about X!!". The upside, as you might have guessed, is that they can tell if you your story makes sense to someone who doesn't know you.

mylady · Answer

thanks rhyme..

I guess what I wanted to know about 2) was that is it ok to mention something in a passing in one easy, but use another essay to elaborate the whole incident.

Which ties back to my first question...if the every reviewer reads all my essays then i will not have to worry about making everything clear in the same essay.

comments?

aaudetat · Answer

I am definitely referring to other essays as needed. I wouldn't say, 'I am passionate about providing alternatives to Refund Anticipation Loans to unbanked households (see essay 2)' cause that's annoying and causes a big break. And I haven't explained what the story is with unbanked households who want RALs, so the essay doesn't stand on its own.

But I will do it in order to 1) not seem like a redundant moron and 2) remind readers that there is a larger story in case they read my first essay yesterday and need a bit of a reminder (god, I hope not...that would make me boring...)

So I might say something like, "As I mentioned in the first essay, I took over the tax program after a tumultuous first year." The reader can find out more about the circumstances if they want, or she can keep reading with the understanding that it was tumultuos. Each essay stands on its own, but I have provided a road map for someone who wants more detail.

So yeah, that's just my plan. I can't swear that it works, but there you go.

rhyme · Answer

I mention lots of things in passing that are further highlighted elsewhere.

aaudetat · Answer

Right, but do you write in the "bridge" or do you just let the reader figure out that it's discussed in detail somewhere else?

rhyme · Answer

I don't bridge. I let them figure it out. They read the entire app, so if they get curious, they'll see it at some point anyway.

pelihu · Answer

I wouldn't specifically reference another essay, like "see Essay #2". If you write quality essays, then you can assume the reader will know what has been said earlier.

mylady · Answer

The problem could be if what I am referencing is said in a follow-up essay. This brings me to another question....does the order of the essays matters? Like in MIT...there are four specific situation questions, instead of any grand essay. Does it matter how the essays are submitted? Referenced?

I had one more question ....do the essays have to be a plain text document or formatting / bullets/ hyperlinks are acceptable?

rhyme · Answer

I dont pay (much) attention to what order I mention things in. They could be read in any order. Who knows. Generally I follow the order they appear in.

As for bullets and hyperlinks, I've seen bullets work sometimes, but rarely. Hyperlinks? Never. URLS? Never. Keep in mind that most people are going to be reading printed copies of this stuff. Hundreds of them. Very few if any I think will take the time to look up some url you gave them.

lepium · Answer

I agree on URLs. The only place you could include URLs is your resume, for eg, when referring to your startup or something like that.

Hope it helps. L.

mylady · Answer

sounds good. 

thanks guys!!

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