Long Day of Essays
I spent the entire day today - except for attending a yoga class and doing a few loads of laundry - on the Wharton essays.
Those essays are a special animal. The other schools practically beg you to tell them wonderful things about yourself. They have open ended questions, they are positively slanted, and since I happen to have a relatively good mistake/failure story, the few that include that one don't even faze me.
But alas, Wharton does no such thing. Figuring out how to answer those prompts, particularly the first and second, felt like some kind of self-therapy session. For starters, 750-1,000 words is a LOT. And as I wrote, I kept having to delete and reconsider - how did I really feel/react? Why am I really doing this or that, or what is truly my motivation here or there?
Don't get me wrong, it's a good process. I now have a much deeper grasp on my career goals, why I have them and what it will take to achieve them, but I am also mentally exhausted.
I know I've said it before, but honestly, it warrants another mention. Essay #2 is killing me. I suppose it's all relative - I have a good failure/mistake story, but I'm sure some of you are struggling with that but have a fantastic adapting perspectives story. I did manage to put a full essay down for #2 today, although I'm not entirely convinced that it's truly a good example of adapting. The problem is, I don't have anything better. This concerns me since it's clearly such an important point for them and that's my first choice school, but it is what it is, I suppose...not much to do about it now. I plan to ask everyone I know for ideas over the next couple of days to make sure there isn't some wonderful story out there that I'm not thinking of, and if not, I will go full speed ahead with what I have. Maybe multiple rounds of edits later, I'll even be happy with it. A girl can dream, can't she?
Posted in: essays on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at at 11:30 PM
Posts
Am right there with you on the prompt#2. I have in mind the particular experience I wanted to put down under promt #2 , but somehow kept thinking whether or not it was the best example from my experiences....after 2 days of thinking and introspection, I'm now convinced that the incident I had in mind is infact the best I can come up with.
Good luck with the essays.
-D-
Hi there...Wanted to tell you that I've linked your blog in my blogroll. Hope its alright..pls lemme know if its not.
Cheers
-D-
Wharton #2 I found the most challenging of all essay topics, other than possibly Stanford #1.
Wharton's just an odd bird with its questions... they all seem to take a negative or overly constrictive bent. #2 in particular frustrates me - I have had plenty of situations where I had to adapt, but none that truly merit 750 words, let alone 1000!
D - happy to be on your blogroll, thanks!
LS - you hit the nail on the head. It's that word limit that throws me, too - it's not that I don't adapt, it's that apparently I don't adapt in ways that warrant a two page narrative.
Hi there.. Glad to know you are done with soul-searching on the Wharton essays, that's quite a relief! I attended a Wharton information session yesterday and wasn't too happy. I would like to discuss with you on your perspective on Wharton if it is fine with you? In that can you send me a test mail and I will get back to you.
#1 and #2 are rocking my world! i come in at 746 words for #2 which is lower than the lower word limit.
good luck with ur submission and app!
heh you're going through all the fun I am...I'm a reapplicant too, so it's all deja vu! :-P
-the bird
Blogs are so informative where we get lots of information on any topic. Nice job keep it up!!
_____________________________
Students Resource