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essays - how're they going?

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Raabend
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 07:59
Good luck with that!

rca215 wrote:
I'm about 80% of the way to full 1st drafts for MIT. About 15% for HBS.

The most nerve-racking thing - appointment in 3.5 hours to break the B school news to recommenders.
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Raabend
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 08:00
Finished first drafts of 3 of the 4 Tuck essays. I am finding it hard to drill them down to about 500 words. Ugh.
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isa
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 09:41
I just finished first drafts of the Kellogg essays. I had a couple of friends look them over and got the same feedback from all of them: they read more like academic essays than statements of purpose. I reread them yesterday and realized that they all have sentences that are too long (4-6 lines, size 11) and the general writing style is more academic. Oye. Back to the drawing board!

The plan for this week: finish a first draft of all Chicago essays. Next week: Wharton!
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 10:02
yikes - I've only just wrapped my Columbia goals essay so far. I think I'm going to have a pretty hard time trying to apply to more than 4 schools.
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Raabend
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 12:48
People who have gone through the process have told me that the first few essays are the most time consuming, then everything starts flowing much faster as you get more used to it (and can reuse material). Dont stress yet!

solaris1 wrote:
yikes - I've only just wrapped my Columbia goals essay so far. I think I'm going to have a pretty hard time trying to apply to more than 4 schools.
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 12:57
still over 2 months for R1 so we have some time guys. Once we hit the 1 month mark, then its time to sweat !
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 13:08
Yeah I'm not even half-way done with the first draft of my goals essay yet :(

I need to do some serious work this week.
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 13:53
I really hope the essays will get easier as I go because my first (Ross) is killing me. I think I have the content for all the essays done, but the quality of the writing is absolute **** right now.

I find it really difficult to say everything you want in 500 words (the description of my non-traditional background takes up quite of a few of those words).

I guess the good thing is, the progress seems slow, but I do notice a drastic improvement every time I do a serious edit.

RF
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 13:58
refurb wrote:
I really hope the essays will get easier as I go because my first (Ross) is killing me. I think I have the content for all the essays done, but the quality of the writing is absolute **** right now.

I'm in the same boat, refurb. I'm aiming for Ross R1 and the essays are kicking my ass. I keep going into way more detail than I have space for. They can't all be this painful, can they?!
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 15:16
I've decided on the strategy of first keeping a 2000 words "complete" goal essay.
Trim down accordingly depending on the recommended words count.
I hope this strategy will work...

Came up with this new method after 2 bad drafts of Columbia goal essay.....
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sonibubu
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 15:21
Kellogg essays are complete...I think. I may go back and change them here and there before submitting but all in all it's time to move on to Columbia.
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 15:22
fatb wrote:
I've decided on the strategy of first keeping a 2000 words "complete" goal essay.
Trim down accordingly depending on the recommended words count.
I hope this strategy will work...

Came up with this new method after 2 bad drafts of Columbia goal essay.....


2000 words?? That is going to be a lot of trimming!
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msday
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 15:24
I am just starting essays and hoping to apply to 5 schools R1. See you all again around October 22nd lol.
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refurb
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 16:35
YihWei wrote:
refurb wrote:
I really hope the essays will get easier as I go because my first (Ross) is killing me. I think I have the content for all the essays done, but the quality of the writing is absolute **** right now.

I'm in the same boat, refurb. I'm aiming for Ross R1 and the essays are kicking my ass. I keep going into way more detail than I have space for. They can't all be this painful, can they?!


I hope not. I started with the Ross essays because they appeared to be the easiest (I knew what I wanted to say for each question pretty quickly).

I think the hardest part is to make the essays "flow". With the limited word count you can't use a lot of "intro" and "segue" sentences. Each sentence has to count.

I've got a copy of Montauk's book and it has a bunch of essays at the back, it helps to read those to give you an idea of what a good and a great essay are.

Good luck to everyone,

RF
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refurb
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 16:38
msday86 wrote:
I am just starting essays and hoping to apply to 5 schools R1. See you all again around October 22nd lol.


You sure sent your goals high! I've been working on my first essay for a few weeks and I hope to get 3 out of 5 in by R1!

RF
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IHateTheGMAT
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 17:02
I just finished my Columbia essays. But I'm already sick of essay writing and have no motivation to move onto the next school.
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refurb
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 18:23
IHateTheGMAT wrote:
I just finished my Columbia essays. But I'm already sick of essay writing and have no motivation to move onto the next school.


How many hours do you think your first set of essays took?

I agree, essay writing is not easy to get into. However, I need to take the energy I'm using complaining about it and just get it done.

RF
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IHateTheGMAT
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 18:31
refurb wrote:
IHateTheGMAT wrote:
I just finished my Columbia essays. But I'm already sick of essay writing and have no motivation to move onto the next school.


How many hours do you think your first set of essays took?

I agree, essay writing is not easy to get into. However, I need to take the energy I'm using complaining about it and just get it done.

RF


Well, I won't be giving up my complaining! Hopefully, I have energy for both. haha

Not sure how many hours. Let's see... I worked on them for 2 months, maybe 2.5. I probably spent 5-10 hours a week. So probably 75-100 hours. Wow, that seems like a lot. But clearly defining my career goals and reasons for an mba, finding my best stories and accomplishments and key strengths and weaknesses and all that stuff took some time because it was my first set of essays. I also did an average of about 7 drafts per essay.
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 18:38
terp26 wrote:
2000 words?? That is going to be a lot of trimming!

I didn't say it would be a good, concise 2000 words...
just pack in all the details and trim down as I see fit.
Should be easy to trim, and hopefully will work...
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refurb
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink] New post   04 Aug 2008, 18:47
IHateTheGMAT wrote:
refurb wrote:
How many hours do you think your first set of essays took?

RF


Not sure how many hours. Let's see... I worked on them for 2 months, maybe 2.5. I probably spent 5-10 hours a week. So probably 75-100 hours.


OK, you're making me feel a lot better. I've put maybe 20 hours into my Ross essays and right now they suck. I'm close to getting all the info in there than I need, but the flow and readability are crap.

I've ramped up my efforts, I'll be putting in probably 15-20 hours a week from now on, so hopefully I'll see some more rapid progress.

RF
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Re: essays - how're they going? [#permalink]
04 Aug 2008, 18:47
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