EssaySnark

  • about
  • contact
  • help
  • sign up
  • login
CLICK FOR MORE!
  • Essay Questions
    • Harvard
    • Stanford
    • Wharton
    • Chicago Booth
    • Kellogg
    • MIT Sloan
    • Tuck
    • NYU Stern
    • Columbia
    • Yale SOM
    • Berkeley Haas
    • UVA Darden
    • Duke Fuqua
    • Michigan Ross
    • UCLA Anderson
    • Cornell
  • Strategy Guides
    • MBA Reapplicant Guide
    • Pitching Entrepreneurship as Your Post-MBA Career
    • Applying to European Business Schools
    • School-Specific MBA Application Guides
      • Harvard 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Stanford 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Wharton 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Kellogg 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Chicago Booth 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Columbia 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • *MORE SCHOOL-SPECIFIC GUIDES HERE*
  • MBA Consulting
    • Free essay reviews
    • What stage are you in?
    • Military MBA
    • Testimonials & Reviews
  • My SnarkCenter
    • My Strategy Guides
    • My Favorite Posts

($) The need for specifics

November 30, 2017 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

As you can see from some of the posts this week, we’re moving into Round 2 mode! We’ll be talking more and more about essay execution in the coming days — and pricing is going up soon! We’re starting to get busy, which means that if you want to use us to the greatest advantage, we recommend that YOU start getting busy too!!

Today is about specifics in essays.

Understanding the advice to “show, don’t tell” is paramount in learning to write good essays, but us SAYING “you have to ‘show’ not ‘tell’ in your essays” is TELLING you — which is not helpful. Today we’ll try (again!) to SHOW you what this means in practice.

Here’s an example: You come in to work on Monday morning, and your buddy says to you, “I went on a really great trip this weekend.”

What does that tell you?

Pretty much nothing. Except that he had a good weekend and probably wishes he was still on his trip rather than telling you about it at work.

Do you know:

-Where he went?
-What he did?

So how about you ask: “Where did you go?”

And he says, “I went to Europe.”

Guess what? You still don’t know squat! Except that he’s probably jet-lagged if he’s already back in the office again. So you can probably write him off for going out for a beer later on tonight. He’s gonna be wiped.

Do you know anything more about his weekend though?

Nope.

You don’t even know where he went.

Europe is a big place.

Literally, all we get from that answer is this:

Map of Europe

It’s kind of like a BSer saying in their MBA essay: “I want to go into consulting.”

OK, well, we have a vague idea of a huge region in our mind. We know that it’s not Central America, and not Africa. (Or that it’s not investment banking, and not entrepreneurship.)

So you say, “Oh, wow, where did you go?”

And he says, “Yeah, I’ve been to Europe a bunch of times.”

(If you’re reading this and saying, “Huh?”, well, now you know the experience EssaySnark frequently has, when we see the answers BSers give to essay questions.)

So you say again, “Where did you go this time?”

And he says, “Oh, mostly Western Europe.”

Which does not narrow things down much. So you wait for him to continue.

“We went to the UK.”

“Oh cool.”

So now we’re here:

Map of United Kingdom

Which still hasn’t even narrowed it down to a place where everyone basically speaks the same.

So you say, “Dude, I totally want to hear about your trip, but I have a meeting that starts in a few minutes so I have to go pretty soon. Are you gonna tell me where you went or not?”

And he’s like, “Oh, yeah, totally, dude. I went to Tobermory.”

And he sits there, grinning at you, as if you’re supposed to know what that means.

Tobermory:

He went from totally zoomed-out, to totally zoomed-in, and now he’s lost you.

Go ahead and click on that map. See how many clicks it takes to zoom out to where you get oriented.

You need to provide the adcom reader with the just-right amount of information to get oriented.

There’s a fine art to finding this proper level of detail to include.

Almost always, we’re coaxing BSers to be more detailed. More specific. Tell us EXPLICITLY what they mean. If you want to go into consulting, what kind of consulting or what industry or what specialization? Do you know some companies you might want to work for? Where in the world do you want to go work? What are the DETAILS? What is the actual plan?

Even more important: What makes you qualified to go into consulting after the MBA? WHAT, SPECIFICALLY? Can you point to an example? How about another?

We need to know what you want to do. We need to know what you’ve done.

But we need to know it in the proper level of detail. Specific is always good – until it’s not.

Go back over your writing. Check where you’re only giving the reader vague outlines — or where you’ve zoomed in too far.

 
 

You may also be interested in:

  • Show, don’t tell
  • “I had a horrible childhood.”
  • You remember that Indiana Jones movie?

Filed Under: "show don't tell", consulting

« Previous: Why we think rankings are stupid.
Next: ($) Is Harvard good for entrepreneurship? »

So who the heck is EssaySnark, anyway?!

We're the snarky experts in MBA admissions!

Sometimes amused and often appalled by what candidates write in their MBA applications to top bschools, EssaySnark created this little blahg to share common mistakes. Learn from them and avoid making admissions directors laugh (or want to hurl) when they read your essays. If you are hoping to have your essay reviewed anonymously on the blahg for free, submit it for consideration.

Want EssaySnark's personal assistance with your MBA applications? Start with our menu of consulting services and please read the Help FAQ to learn how we operate. Still have questions after doing all that? Email Team EssaySnark at gethelpnow at essaysnark dot com.

Good luck on your apps, Brave Supplicant!

Tell us what you think. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for the 'Snark via email

Enter your address to get weekday blahg posts by email.

UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 2
    in 3 weeks
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 3
    in 2 months, 4 weeks
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 4
    in 4 months, 1 week
   
   

CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
  The 2022 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   
   
Get started now - without doing any work! The Comprehensive Profile Review will help you start your strategy for your MBA applications.


EssaySnark® is a registered trademark. All content copyright © 2010–2023 Snarkolicious Press · Privacy Policy