The Wharton application Story
For those of you applying to the H/S/W trio, I would definitely recommend beginning with the Wharton essays. They should serve well to help you structure your thoughts and accomplishments.
The problem that I found with the Stanford essays was that there were just two of them, without any word limits. So there was no end to my ramblings (and yes I do ramble a lot when not controlled). So I rambled for 10 pages in my Stanford Essays, talking about everything from my wife to my dog and ended up by writing something about my MBA aspirations. The issue with the HBS essays is that 400 words is too short (or so I thought to begin with, 3-4 drafts later, 400 words seemed to be the right length).
I stopped working on the H/S essays and focused on the Wharton essays because the topics helped me focus better and the wordcount of 500 was somewhere inbetween the two limits. This helped me a lot.
Common things that I learned while writing in the essays
1) Slot in the metrics. Don't talk about your projects, etc in intangible terms. Write the project value, mention the cost saving or increase in revenue due to you. USE those METRICS to highlight your achievements.
2) The focus is on you. Ill give an example for the HBS "undergrad education" essay1. Initially I wrote, Prof. XYZ organised alot of lectures from leading industrialists to ensure that we learned about the experiences of setting up industries in an emerging economies ======NOW READ AS======> I learned a lot from lectures organised by Prof. XYZ from leading industrialists on key traits of entr.....
notice...the focus on the apps is on you...not the situations around you...but on more on how you reacted/imbibed from them
3) Use the active voice if possible. eg. I was selected for the diversity team ===NO READ AS====> I volunteered for the diversity team. (both these are true), but the active voice sounds better
4) Dont just mention facts and events. Try to weave them together into an interesting story.
5) HAVE A THEME/RED THREAD through all your essays: make sure that your essays are not disconnected from each other, but they are well linked.
Eg. in my case, I want to bring changes to the oil business in its approach to a few technical and management practices, that forms the basis of my MBA aspiration (read older entry on why I want an MBA), and that was my red thread coupled with my international experience (in 28 countries).
6) Do not use company/professional jargon: Assume that the person reading your essays knows nothing about your job and try to get that message across. All people do not know what MS&E and PE means.
7) be yourself, be honest (do not misrepresent) and ensure that your essays have your flair. eg. a feedback from a friend of mine was that initially my essays were stiff (much like my posts here), and they lacked the "ash touch", the ash who likes to party with mates, watch B rated Hollywood movies (like big trouble in little china), is intensely passionate about his work for its social ramifications, who has travelled 28 countries, and i made sure that my essays represented my "voice"
any comments ?
cheers
Ash
The problem that I found with the Stanford essays was that there were just two of them, without any word limits. So there was no end to my ramblings (and yes I do ramble a lot when not controlled). So I rambled for 10 pages in my Stanford Essays, talking about everything from my wife to my dog and ended up by writing something about my MBA aspirations. The issue with the HBS essays is that 400 words is too short (or so I thought to begin with, 3-4 drafts later, 400 words seemed to be the right length).
I stopped working on the H/S essays and focused on the Wharton essays because the topics helped me focus better and the wordcount of 500 was somewhere inbetween the two limits. This helped me a lot.
Common things that I learned while writing in the essays
1) Slot in the metrics. Don't talk about your projects, etc in intangible terms. Write the project value, mention the cost saving or increase in revenue due to you. USE those METRICS to highlight your achievements.
2) The focus is on you. Ill give an example for the HBS "undergrad education" essay1. Initially I wrote, Prof. XYZ organised alot of lectures from leading industrialists to ensure that we learned about the experiences of setting up industries in an emerging economies ======NOW READ AS======> I learned a lot from lectures organised by Prof. XYZ from leading industrialists on key traits of entr.....
notice...the focus on the apps is on you...not the situations around you...but on more on how you reacted/imbibed from them
3) Use the active voice if possible. eg. I was selected for the diversity team ===NO READ AS====> I volunteered for the diversity team. (both these are true), but the active voice sounds better
4) Dont just mention facts and events. Try to weave them together into an interesting story.
5) HAVE A THEME/RED THREAD through all your essays: make sure that your essays are not disconnected from each other, but they are well linked.
Eg. in my case, I want to bring changes to the oil business in its approach to a few technical and management practices, that forms the basis of my MBA aspiration (read older entry on why I want an MBA), and that was my red thread coupled with my international experience (in 28 countries).
6) Do not use company/professional jargon: Assume that the person reading your essays knows nothing about your job and try to get that message across. All people do not know what MS&E and PE means.
7) be yourself, be honest (do not misrepresent) and ensure that your essays have your flair. eg. a feedback from a friend of mine was that initially my essays were stiff (much like my posts here), and they lacked the "ash touch", the ash who likes to party with mates, watch B rated Hollywood movies (like big trouble in little china), is intensely passionate about his work for its social ramifications, who has travelled 28 countries, and i made sure that my essays represented my "voice"
any comments ?
cheers
Ash
posted by Ash at 1:49 PM
2 Comments:
perhaps this would be good material for our wiki
Hey Ash I just read what you wrote, and as a high school senior applying to Stanford, Upenn, and Harvard, I wholeheartedly agree with your advice. I think these 7 tips are exactly what colleges want to hear from you: an individualized voice that is not afraid to explain. Thanks for the great advice, and if you actually do somehow come around to read this, I do actually need some advice about getting into college. It would be bomb if you could drop me an email at lolitsnicksemail@gmail.com . Its probably a slim chance, seeing this is a 2006 blog post. You're probably over applications. Haha, anyways, hope your enjoying stanford too!
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