ESSAYS
ESSAYS
Let me explain one thing right away – I do not write essays. This is not because it’s challenging or time consuming to do so, it’s because the most effective essays are those, which have a strong personal element. My key deliverable is much more complex than that – it’s working very closely with you to figure out how we can help you to break through the clutter of thousands of other applications and become truly memorable for the Admissions Committee. This can only be achieved through me spending some time with you to understand your background, identifying your strengths and in some ways, defining your “brand.” The strategy is to bring your personal touch together with my writing skills for a compelling application that can help you break through, what we know well can only be defined as, fierce competition.
Undergraduate Applicants
My first step will be chatting with you to understand your academic background, extracurricular profile, hobbies and general quirks – we need to find a way to define which aspect of your candidacy is strongest and then how to position that most effectively. Next will be putting down drafts, and then exchanging notes and edits, till we’re happy with the essay we have – the idea is to keep going till we can say we’re fully satisfied with the document we have at hand. Before each essay, we will have a quick chat, discuss the broad premise of the essay, so we’re on the same page in terms of what you’re going to put down, and then we get going.
I prefer not to limit the number of times we have to rework a document or the amount of time we spend on a particular document, we have to just keep going till we can both say, this is the best possible version of the essay.
What we need to do is showcase to the Admissions Committee that you’re an interesting applicant, who will make a consequential addition to the incoming cohort, but at the same time, we need to make sure they know you’ve spent the last few years meaningfully. My role is finding a way to make that happen.
My general feedback for undergraduate applicants is that this essay road is a long one but it’s one that’s worth dedicating a few months of your life to, because the pay off can be transformational.
Get in touch to figure out the next steps for you.
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MBA Applicants
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The MBA application is what I like to call deceptively simple. It all seems very straightforward – essay questions and responses to provide. But that’s where it gets tricky because the applicant pool is fiercely competitive. That means you have to use every opportunity you can to create an edge – from an open-ended question in the application to your resume to of course, your essays. My job is to help you find that edge. I prefer not to limit the number of times we have to rework a document or the amount of time we spend on an application, we have to just keep going till we can both say, we’re happy with what we’ve created.
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The thing is – your grades in college, how many and which extracurriculars you’ve done, the nature of your work experience, all these are set, there’s not a lot of change we can create with regarding these, so what we’re left with is your essays. Quite frankly – this involves a fair amount of strategy. At our end, the endeavor has to be use the essay space to put forth the best possible version of you.
How I can help is by getting involved with the writing components of your application: essays, support with your recommendations, resume and online application. Connect with me on a call or e-mail to figure out what the best approach for you is and how we can take things forward.
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Other Masters’ Applicants
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The good news for Masters’ applicants is that all you will need is one solid essay. That means our work will have to be concentrated in creating what I call a ‘Master SoP’ – then, based on school, we can tweak it to make changes, but in terms of content, a major part of it will stay the same (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!) Our focus will be on showcasing your background, goals for the future and as a result of these two aspects, your interest in and fit for the specific course/school; that’s where I come in.
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The Masters’ SoP is all about structure and planning, so the idea is to build a strong framework and then build on that. Each applicant requires an individual approach based on the nature of their profile and the course they’re applying for – so reach out with your relevant details and we can figure the best way forward from there.
