I am not sure I have seen a more creative use of essay competitions this year, but if I have, it couldn’t have been much better than this attempt to sell off a US$100,000 flower shop through an essay competition.

Anyway, the concept is simple. Each participant is to pay a US$100 entry fee, which will then entitle the participant to submit one essay to the owners of the flower shop. If your essay is selected as a winner, you will then be the new owner of the Dial-A-Flower shop - valued at around US$100,000.

The owners of the flower shop hope to attract at least 1,000 participants, which will then net them the value of the flower shop, i.e. US$100 x 1000 = US$100,000. So far, they have managed to get 50 participants.

Oh, yes. The title of the essay is: Why I want to own a flower shop.

[News via The Mercury News]

(more…)

In Part 1, we discussed the need to write Personal Statements as essays, and not as mere activity and achievement lists. We also talked about the need for originality and substance, rather than over-polished style, in writing a good Personal Statement. In this post, we will be looking at a couple of additional characteristics of (most) strong Personal Statements. Of course, there is really no set way of writing a Personal Statement, and thus, there are no fixed characteristics of good Personal Statements either. But there are certain patterns that occur among a large part of highly regarded Personal Statements, and two of them are:

1. Takeaways (What You Learnt)

   The people who will actually read your Personal Statement (e.g. admissions officers, Human Resource Dept. officers) are those that probably have a detailed listing of all your personal information, the activities you participated in and your achievements. So, repeating all this - in any form whatsoever - will not gain any points with them. What they will be looking for is what you learnt from your experiences. Through this, they believe that they will be able to judge your character, e.g. whether you are flexible and adaptable, or rigid and closed-minded.

   Generally, there are ways to fake these takeaways, but more often than not, they will be spotted as it is truly difficult to write about something you did not really experience or believe in.

2. Contributions (What You Gave)

   On the surface, many activities you will participate in will seem like one-sided affairs, where you are supposed to be the one receiving the benefits, e.g. school and competitions. Indeed, you are supposed to be learning from school, and gaining experience, reputation and prizes from competitions. But it is actually possible for you to contribute towards the success of these activities, thus advancing the arrangement into a two-way one. In fact, many of us do, but never bother writing about them in our Personal Statements. Consider the time when you debated on behalf of college and won. You would have brought prestige to your school and some measure of pride to your teachers and fellow students.

   Of course, you could fake your contributions. In fact, it should be easier than faking your takeaways since there are less people that write about their contributions to presumedly one-sided activities. But again, faked contributions tend to sound overly hackneyed, e.g. brought prestige, made someone happy, etc.

So, these are the two characteristics that, in my experience, are most often highlighted by guides on writing good Personal Statements. However, this does not mean that the rest of the characteristics are not as important. In fact, they could even be more important, but I will leave those for Part 3.

At EssayRep, we aim to discuss all about essay writing, no matter the type or length. So, it really should not be surprising that we’re talking about the Personal Statement - one of the most important essays you will probably write in your life. But shockingly, there are quite a number of students or ex-students that do not consider the Personal Statement as an essay. Instead, they consider it as a compilation of sorts - a compilation of your personal details, activities or achievements. This mentality can only hamper the overall feel of your Personal Statement.

By first treating the Personal Statement as an essay, you will be taking the first step in “transcending” the general listing format of mediocre Personal Statements. As an essay, the Personal Statement then becomes a vehicle through which you can actually express you think and what you feel. But treating the Personal Statement as an essay alone is insufficient today. There are many other factors that can contribute towards a good Personal Statement.

In the early years, much could be gained by adding the “ooomph” factor to your Personal Statements - style, elegance and deep insight. However, today, too much style and too polished an essay could end up causing readers to dismiss the essay as an aided one - especially if the writer’s educational background does not seem to match the quality of the essay. And they probably would not be wrong given the large number of consultants and pay-per-essay repositories available on the internet.

So, what is the solution? Honing your essay writing skills naturally, spending substantial time on the Personal Statement, sticking to real experiences, keeping to essay writing techniques that you have mastered and adhering to common essay writing rules are among the steps you can take. Selecting the right type of Personal Statement is equally, if not more important. Not everybody has the necessary background and ability to write a deeply reflective or highly insightful essay after all.

There is nothing to fear though if you cannot write what people call the ideal Personal Statement. Do not forget that all your prospective readers want from your Personal Statement is a good look at your character and your potential. You do not need a perfect Personal Statement to do that.

With all the admissions consultants and pay-for-essay websites floating around these days, it is not surprising to hear that university admissions officers are paying more attention on substance rather than style. What they want from a personal essay is deep insight into the character of the writer. Today, too slick a package, and admissions officers start getting suspicious.

Of course, this is the same whether we are talking about undergraduate or graduate admissions, but it seems we’re seeing more of such “unnecessary” resources being used in graduate admissions - a stage where applicants generally have more money at their disposal.

So, their (admissions officers) advice is to stick to your own writing skills, spend lots of time on the essay, and get someone close to proofread it for you. In my humble opinion, that kind of generalised advice is precisely why so many well-to-do applicants turn to admissions consultants, but I suppose there is really no way around the problem. Worse still, as universities become more discriminating (academically and essay-wise), more and more students will turn to “help” - no matter where they have to get it from.

[News via The Ticker]