I started (and finished the first drafts) of Cornell’s essays tonight. Other than the bane-of-my-existence Wharton essays #2 & 4, those were the only ones I had yet to write a first draft of, primarily because the topics came out later than most.
Based on my cursory review of the questions, I wasn’t expecting it to be too difficult or different than the previous four schools. Wrong I was. For starters, cramming my “story” into three 400 word essays was a challenge (that I didn’t yet meet, actually, being that my first drafts left out some things). Also, the Table of Contents for your Life Story was an interesting exercise. I have to admit, I did some staring at the blinking cursor on the page before starting that one. I’m still not sure that I’m pleased with what I put together – their “note” about being creative and authentic is somewhat daunting to me – I suppose I know that I’m being authentic, but creative? Other than a small ironic joke I made towards the end, not sure I have any color in this one yet. I suppose that’s what editing is for.
That means it’s time to come back around to Wharton tomorrow. A wonderful co-worker gave me a nugget of an idea for Wharton’s #4 (complex problem), so I’m going to try to put it on paper tomorrow and see what happens.
I’ve also recently realized that I need to do some resume tweaking, being that almost all (all?) of the schools want one. Clearly, this isn’t a place to slack – nowhere on the application is a place to slack – so I’ll be spending the rest of the night researching and rewriting that.
Anyone else look at the calendar this weekend and realize we’re t-minus three weekends away from the big H and W deadlines?? Whew…time to go underground a bit, I’m afraid. I’ll still be blogging, as it seems to help organize my thoughts and saves my family and friends from endless chatter on my part about MBA admissions. It will be a flashback to GMAT time, though…not so much with the plans outside of work unless it’s 1) mandatory or 2) time sensitive.
Happy end of Labor Day weekend, everyone…enjoy the short work week!
Read the full article: Cornell Essays – Short and Unique