Sense of humour in essays

Question

How does one get this across in essays?

I mean, smiley faces don't seem appropriate, I guess I would use exclamation marks, but anyone do any thing else? 

The reason I ask is, I was reviewing a colleague's essays last year and he seemed to have one too many exclamation marks, and while he was just getting his cheerful self across, I wasn't sure how adcoms would view it. 

But he did get in - so may be I'm over thinking this - I might have the odd funny thing to say which I should be able to handle with exclamations. Anyway, would like to see if others are handling this differently.

sangoman · Answer

personally am steering clear of the whole "I am a funny guy" thing. The minor upside is offset by a huge downside of them not getting/appreciating your brand of humor......you can get that facet of your personality through in the interview.

jjanders · Answer

I inject humor into a lot of what I write, it's just my writing style. It's not overly done - and everyone who has read my essay "gets" it, so I'm not too worried about that.

I don't put any of it the in "goals" essay though, since that's more "serious". Most of the other ones have a little humor in them.

dabots · Answer

i tell a knock knock joke at the beginning of each essay

jjanders · Answer

haha. I've heard that can get you automatic acceptance to Harvard, if it's good enough!

shmegs · Answer

I think that injecting a humouros situation may make an essay standout but only if it fits into the fabric of the essay. Personally, I've cited one semi funny instance but used standard language to describe the situation.

aviroop · Answer

Depends - occassional use of humor in the right places puts a breath of relief in the essays.
I use one of 2 humorous lines in my essays (not in my goals one though, cant find any appropriate place to interject them), but others..why not

Or you can use some amusing anecdote while talking about ur skills...

Hjort · Answer

This is largely a matter of personal style and I have seen it employed effectively by applicants. The one useful observation I can add here is this- applicants are often pretty bad (or just optimistic) judges of their own humor. It is a good idea to test it out on others before headlining with it in one's essays.

mbagal1 · Answer

Thanks everyone! 

Yes, Hjort, that is so right, I will definitely get my brand of humour tested before I submit my essays. Agree it might be difficult to put it into a goals essay, unless maybe you want to try something self deprecating, but I can see how that might back fire if not done right on this essay. 

The reason I want to show it in my essays rather than during the interview, if I get a call, is that it takes me a while to show that aspect of me to people. At least a couple of times Ive been told, after four five months of knowing someone that they never knew I was that witty - well that's because I am usually formal at work, till I get to know people well.

mNeo · Answer

I do try humor in the essays once in a while .. but I make sure that it is subtle and pleasant. I am keeping a good distance from "joke-like" humor (I hope that makes sense) and am ensuring that I am not over-doing humor. No humor in essays is okay .. but over-use of humor is going to be a big negative, IMHO

rhyme · Answer

If it plays, it plays. For instance, I referred to the lack of a club at one school as "egregious"....

ncp · Answer

I have been told that I have a VERY dry sense of humour. If people didn't know me they probably wont get my brand of humour. So, I am planning to stay from any smart-ass quips in my essays and be very matter of fact.

mbagal1 · Answer

I did not get this at first. I had to look up the dictionary to see if there were other meanings of the word.

bsd_lover · Answer

I didn't know that this word existed ..

ishcabibble · Answer

People laugh at me because I tend to use words like "egregious" and "usurp" in conversation when I'm drunk. And I even use them properly!

kryzak · Answer

I still don't get it... other than the archaic use of "distinguished", the other meanings of egregious are all very bad, and your usage is correct in that sense rhyme... am I missing the funny part?

dabots · Answer

i assume rhyme wrote something like "i am troubled by the gsb's egregious lack of a badminton club, which i am eager to address..."

ishcabibble · Answer

I thought it was kind of funny because it is such an extreme word to use to describe something somewhat trivial. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

mbagal1 · Answer

I thought he used an extreme word the first time I read it, but what if the adcom doesnt get the humour(like me) and thinks that a person is just using the word incorrectly? Anyway, it seemed to be funny to me when I found the other meaning (distinguished)..so this seemed a double entendre. Now thats enough analysis on rhyme's sense of humour. Rhyme, we know you are busy and all, but you've got to clarify this for us now

ishcabibble · Answer

I don't believe that he used the word incorrectly. I figure that if the adcom didn't get that he was being facetious, then they probably thought that he just felt very strongly about the lack of that club!

Sense of humour in essays

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