The first sentence of any graduate school application essay should never be a direct answer to the question posed. Let’s take this year’s Harvard Business School essay questions as an example.<\/p>\n
EXAMPLES:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Something I did well was…”<\/em><\/p>\n “One mistake or failure that I made was…” <\/em>Next sentence would painfully read something like this: “The thing I learned from this mistake was…”<\/em><\/p>\n Nothing says “immature writer” quicker than these unimaginative responses. Remember, the adcoms are looking for insightful people who take the time to really consider issues thoughtfully and from different perspectives. Answering a question by just rearranging the order in which the words originally appeared not only shows a lack of imagination, but it also screams laziness. No bueno.<\/p>\n A better approach is to think of your reply as having three different components: the setup, the challenge and the takeaway.<\/p>\n The setup should only take 100 words and should, in some oblique way, set the stage for the crux of your story\/message. Don’t “pay the reader off” in the first few sentences, it will leave little incentive for them to read on. \u00a0Application essays, unlike newspaper articles, are one place where you actually do want to “bury the lead”.<\/p>\n EXAMPLE<\/strong> (actual sample from former client after revisions):<\/p>\n Tell us about something you did well.<\/p>\n “I never knew what it was like to have a traditional nuclear family. My mother struggled with alcoholism and my father died when I was a young teenager. As a result, I didn’t get the lessons that most kids typically learn in the home. Instead, I learned them by inviting people to lunch. Between the ages of 17 and 23, I had invited\u00a0<\/em>no less than 100 people–bosses, mentors, guides, industry professionals–to lunch in order to pick their brain about everything from values to politics to music.”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>Aaaand scene! Pretty intriguing, huh? Betcha want to know more about this gal, right? And keep in mind, she hasn’t even scratched the surface of actually answering the question! She just set it up well, letting you in on what she’s about to develop, but withheld the payoff–what is it really that she did so well?–until later in the story.<\/p>\n Next is the challenge. The challenge, which is the body of the story, should focus not on what was done, but rather on which of your various mental and physical faculties it challenged the most and what you learned. There is a pretty easy litmus test for determining whether or not your essay errs too far on the side of what you did vs. how you were challenged: emotional details vs. tangible details. Are you bragging about what<\/em> was accomplished or are you detailing what you felt and how you handled it? The former reads like an arrogant boast, the latter like a privileged peek into a stranger’s diary entry. If your essay fails the litmus test, resend it to the cleaners for another revision.<\/p>\n Finally, the payoff. This is the component that most amateur essays lack. It can also be the most hard-hitting. If done well, by the time the reader gets to the end of the essay, they’ve completely forgotten what the original question was. Reminding them that you haven’t, well, now that’s impressive. For the same reason, great books and movies often bring you back to the beginning of the story in order to somehow remind you of where it all started, how far you’ve come and why your investment paid off (Curious Case of Benjamin Button, anyone?). Anyway, that’s why it’s called the payoff. So, towards the end of the essay, reward the reader by answering the original question. By this time, they will have already figured it out but will nonetheless be grateful for you tying it all together for them.<\/p>\n In summary:<\/p>\n If you have any questions about this, or previous articles, please\u00a0contact us<\/a>\u00a0and we will get back to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first sentence of any graduate school application essay should never be a direct answer to the question posed. Let’s take this year’s Harvard Business School essay questions as an example. EXAMPLES: Describe something you did well. “Something I did well was…” Tell us about a mistake or failure and what you learned from it. …<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n