Many writers tend to confuse adjectives and adverbs (“describing” words) with details. When adjectives and adverbs are used to emphasize an emotion or emotional state, they can add very little to the description of an experience and can even undermine it. However, when that emotion or emotional state is described properly, it can bring a story to life.
Example 1: “With the award in hand, I felt extremely proud of my accomplishment.”
In the case above, the word “extremely” does not help create or enhance the reader’s mental picture, but merely states the obvious. After all, the difference between being “extremely proud” and “proud” is very little, considering that pride is naturally an “extreme” emotion. This just doesn’t effectively convey how the writer actually felt.
Example 2: “Approaching the podium to receive the award, I admittedly felt faint. Even though my hands were shaking, I managed to give our company president a firm handshake when she passed me the award. As I began speaking to a crowd of my colleagues, I finally understood what it meant to be proud of myself.”
In this second example, the details of the story (“felt faint,” “my hands were shaking”) create an image in the reader’s mind. The reader is not relating to the simple adjectives that reinforce existing impressions, but experiencing details that bring color to the story. In the first example, the story does not change if the word “extremely” is removed, but in the second, real emotion is conveyed.
We encourage our candidates to avoid adjectives that reinforce an existing emotion and to write descriptively to capture a spirit.
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As you head into application season, what strategy do you have in mind? More than a few candidates, having likely read about the supposed advantages of applying in Round 1 on various Web sites and discussion boards, plan to submit all their applications in that first round, with the idea that if no acceptances are forthcoming, they’ll just submit another set of applications in Round 2. If this is your plan, we ask that you step away from your stack of applications for a moment while we explain why this is probably not your best course of action.
Most Round 1 deadlines are in October, and even though often applicants may receive a kind of “progress report” in the form of an interview invitation in November, this is no guarantee of eventual acceptance. Ultimately, then, applicants will not know for sure whether they have won a spot at any of their target schools until mid- to late December. So let’s imagine the worst-case scenario: You submit all your applications in Round 1 but are not accepted at any of your target schools. Now, feeling discouraged and unsure of your application strategy—not to mention dealing with the hustle and bustle of the holidays—you must quickly research and select new schools, rethink your approach and crank out still more applications in the space of just a few weeks to be able to submit in Round 2—to schools that you may not even be that enthusiastic about. And don’t forget that you will also need to pressure your recommenders during this busy time of year to produce more documents on your behalf on a very tight deadline!
Are you rethinking your strategy yet?
We recommend that instead, you change your mindset from “If I don’t get into schools in R1, I will apply in R2″ to “I am applying to some schools in R1 and some in R2, and hopefully I won’t have to finish my R2 applications.” With luck, you will not need to complete the applications you have slated for Round 2, but if you plan ahead, don’t overload yourself with too many applications in the first round and work steadily on your applications over several months, you will be in a much better place both mentally and with your required workload if you should have to move ahead with your Round 2 submissions. And if, in the end, you get accepted early or receive multiple offers of admissions from your first-round applications, you will have lost nothing more than a little time!
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