Monday Morning Essay Tip: Your Contribution
January 14th, 2008 | Posted in Monday Morning Essay Tips, Blogroll
Several business schools pose questions about the unique contributions that you can make to their particular programs — Kellogg Essay 2, Tuck Essay 4, Duke Long Essay 2, and MIT’s Cover Letter, all spring to mind immediately.
One of the reasons we prefer to work with candidates “From Start to Finish” is so that we can proactively prevent problems, like the following, from happening. Many candidates unwittingly make the mistake of thinking that they have expressed their contribution by offering a bland, summary statement — “…and I will bring my leadership skills to Fuqua.” Simply telling a story about a past leadership experience and then repeating the main point does not prove that you will make a contribution to the school. In a well-written essay, you will apply your experience and show true understanding of your fit with the school itself.
Example 1:
“…thus my experience as a stand-up comedian will allow me to bring humor to the Kellogg environment.”
With the conclusion above, the Adcom is left asking itself, “How will he bring humor to the environment? Does he really know what our environment is about?”
Example 2: “….thus my experience as a stand-up comic will prove particularly useful at Kellogg, a dynamic environment where I will be constantly joining new and dynamic study teams. I am hopeful that I will be able to use my sense of humor to help create relaxed team environments, where everyone will feel free contributing; still, I intend to use my sense of humor judiciously, by offering an appropriately-timed joke to diffuse moments of tension, during late night study sessions…”
In Example 2, the writer has applied his own personal experience and has shown a clear connection with the school itself, proving that he has an intimate identification with the school and true understanding of its nature
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