My Stanford Essay A journey : what matters most and why?
Each essay written over the last 3 months was a lot of fun, insightful and allowed me to discover more about myself. Perhaps the most difficult/revealing/introspective was the Stanford Essay A. Ofcourse, I am still in the Stanford appplication cycle and I have not yet been invited for an interview, so these are my thougts, without any associated "success".
I read the essay topic, 3 days before going to Africa on a holiday. This was the best thing that happened to me. In Africa in the midst of the wildlife and the stunning setting with my wife, I started to distill and piece together elements of my life with a view to understand "What matters most and why?"
Now here are my thoughts
1) Reaction 1: My wife edits and provides me feedback on my essays. So obviously I was inclined to write that she matters most to me, to ensure the continuity of my marriage. However, one thing became obvious, I am not sure that I could get into Stanford professing my love for my wife (though surprisingly, later I did figure out how she fits into the cosmic sense of things of what matters to me).
2) My first drafts were based on what I thought I wanted Stanford to hear, a bloke, grew up in one part of the world, studied in another, working in all the other parts of the world. Sounds good right? Well the answer was NO ! When my wife read that essay, she said, "THATS NOT YOUR TONE AND VOICE" (so heed to the advice of asking your friends and relatives, does that sound like me)
3) I wrote 4 different drafts, with a new (slightly modified theme) each time. Eventually it happened. What matters most was always clear to me. However, when I started penning it, I was overwhelmed by an urge to please the adcom, I felt the need to be literally profuse and I felt the urge to sound "unique". That was the problem. And I knew it was a problem because after each draft I was uncomfortable with "voice" of the esssay.
4) I then scarpped all my drafts and wrote the most interesting events(note not SIGNIFICANT or ACHIEVEMENTS)in my life to date, including my family, friends, studies and work. Put them on yellow stickies on a wall. And then I could see the thread, because deep down inside I am driven by certain beliefs (which I will post once Stanford tells me whether Im in or not), and these beliefs drive me personally and professionally.
5) I put this belief down in an essay, without trying to impress the adcom or myself even. It was more like "Hi ! Im Ash. This is what I have done and what I like because....Do you think I'll fit into your community?"
It took me 3 months to reach my final draft, but when I read it, the tone was me and I felt truly honest about everything that I wrote.
Any comments on what you did for essay A?
cheers
ash
I read the essay topic, 3 days before going to Africa on a holiday. This was the best thing that happened to me. In Africa in the midst of the wildlife and the stunning setting with my wife, I started to distill and piece together elements of my life with a view to understand "What matters most and why?"
Now here are my thoughts
1) Reaction 1: My wife edits and provides me feedback on my essays. So obviously I was inclined to write that she matters most to me, to ensure the continuity of my marriage. However, one thing became obvious, I am not sure that I could get into Stanford professing my love for my wife (though surprisingly, later I did figure out how she fits into the cosmic sense of things of what matters to me).
2) My first drafts were based on what I thought I wanted Stanford to hear, a bloke, grew up in one part of the world, studied in another, working in all the other parts of the world. Sounds good right? Well the answer was NO ! When my wife read that essay, she said, "THATS NOT YOUR TONE AND VOICE" (so heed to the advice of asking your friends and relatives, does that sound like me)
3) I wrote 4 different drafts, with a new (slightly modified theme) each time. Eventually it happened. What matters most was always clear to me. However, when I started penning it, I was overwhelmed by an urge to please the adcom, I felt the need to be literally profuse and I felt the urge to sound "unique". That was the problem. And I knew it was a problem because after each draft I was uncomfortable with "voice" of the esssay.
4) I then scarpped all my drafts and wrote the most interesting events(note not SIGNIFICANT or ACHIEVEMENTS)in my life to date, including my family, friends, studies and work. Put them on yellow stickies on a wall. And then I could see the thread, because deep down inside I am driven by certain beliefs (which I will post once Stanford tells me whether Im in or not), and these beliefs drive me personally and professionally.
5) I put this belief down in an essay, without trying to impress the adcom or myself even. It was more like "Hi ! Im Ash. This is what I have done and what I like because....Do you think I'll fit into your community?"
It took me 3 months to reach my final draft, but when I read it, the tone was me and I felt truly honest about everything that I wrote.
Any comments on what you did for essay A?
cheers
ash
posted by Ash at 11:57 AM
6 Comments:
Thanks for the comment on sticking post it notes and hoping to weave a story around it... I have been struggling to write this essay, each time I think, I am convinced that the current thought is the one thing I value most, yet a few days later I feel like - "hey! that isn't honestly me!"
So what happened? did you get in?
two years later and I am struggling with this question
I think that he did get in because it says that he lives in Stanford, CA... I looked at his profile and saw his more recent posts which include Stanford experiences.
Here is a newer blog of his:
http://gsb2008.blogspot.com/
There may be newer ones, as you can see this 'new' one says "2008".
:o)
this is an intriguing post, I liked your thoughts, I think that it's like when you will go on a first date with a girl, you have to be yourself, that's the same when you write, you have to be yourself and not to try to impress anyone of being somebody else.
sir how can i connect to you ? needed some help!
it is really nice work.it's pretty amazing and i think it's easy to do it. Keep posting such an awesome blog post, Thanks for the share....
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