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 Interviewing Guide
    • Getting Off the Waitlist
    • Applying in Round 3 mini-guide
    • Applying to European Business Schools
    • School-Specific MBA Application Guides
      • Columbia 2020 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Harvard 2020 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Kellogg 2020 MBA Strategy Guide
      • MIT Sloan 2020 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Chicago Booth 2020 MBA Strategy Guide
      • *MORE SCHOOL-SPECIFIC GUIDES HERE*
  • MBA Consulting
    • Free essay reviews
    • What stage are you in?
    • Military MBA
    • BIPOC Program
    • Testimonials & Reviews
    • Guest Posts
  • My SnarkCenter
    • My Strategy Guides
    • My Favorite Posts
    • Discounts & Offers

Good first drafts aren’t written. They’re assembled.

August 29, 2019 by EssaySnark - Discusses Columbia 5 Comments

Reblahgging this from a few years ago because it’s RELEVANT! The comments are preserved including our “Huh??” exchange with a BSer which probably explains why so few of you ever post questions to us here lol – were we too harsh on that dude? maybe. Sorry, Mr JackStack BSer Man. Hope you’re enjoying your MBA!!

and OH YEAH THIS POST HAS A MAP TO COLUMBIA ESSAY 1 ON CAREER GOALS!!!

 
 

Wanna know the longest route to a solid first draft?

Open MS Word and start typing.

That’s guaranteed to end up making this process rocky and difficult.

When you begin the task of answering the question that a particular school is asking, there is NO WAY you will know what you want to say.

Sure, you can start typing, and see what comes out. If you keep typing — and keep referring back to the question, as a reminder of what you’re supposed to be talking about — you may, eventually, come around to something worth saying.

But there will be a lot of useless words spit out onto your screen before you get there.

It’s just how things go.

Any good writer in the world will tell you, first drafts suck. That’s what they’re designed for. You don’t know what you’re saying or how you want to say it. The task of a first draft is to get the ideas captured on the page, and then you can start the real work of figuring out what it means and what actually belongs.

Most good writers don’t even harbor any fantasies that their first drafts will be usable. They KNOW that they’ll need to come back for revision. They EXPECT to do massive rewriting, and then are ready to throw writing away. Whole chunks of it. Sentences. Paragraphs. Sometimes the full draft.

You can do your MBA essays that way if you want.

Or, you can just write out a draft, and run spellcheck, and submit it.

Both methods are pretty much guaranteed to be doomed. If you submit a first draft, then we have a confidence level approaching the value of 0 that the essay will invite an adcom reviewer to look twice at you. That’ll put you on a fast path to rejection. If you start your first draft by just writing-writing-writing, then we also guarantee that that draft will be near-useless as a final document that appropriately answers the question and demonstrates who you are as an applicant. That first draft will need to be rewritten. Probably from scratch. As in, a start-over File->New clean-slate rewrite.

So what other options are there? How else would you do it, if you’re not writing a first draft of your essay?

The other method of building your MBA apps is to construct your essays.

You take the first question you’re answering.

You parse it out to its separate components.

You tackle each one of them individually — through a process of research and discovery and self-reflection.

Take Columbia’s Essay 1 on career goals:

This special nugget of advice is offered to our blahg members. If you’re seeing this message and you have an active blahg membership then please log in to view the Columbia essay question breakdown. Otherwise consider becoming a member!

(end special nugget o’ Columbia essay 1 dissection)
 

Really what we’re saying here, Brave Supplicant, is break down the question, examine each piece individually, and then go off and think about it for awhile.

Taking each prompt apart and answering each element separately is super important. If you don’t do that, then you’re nearly guaranteed to be writing an essay that is half-baked and unfinished.

Each part that you answer needs significant attention, and brainstorming, and planning. It’s not a matter of dividing the page into sections and blah-blah-blahhing for each part of the question for a couple hundreds words, and you’re done.

Crafting out the nuggets from your background, and polishing up each individual item you will be presenting, will let you have these bite-sized chunks of material that you can then ASSEMBLE into a meaningful whole for your reader.

If you do the groundwork and lay the foundation in this manner, you will have significantly more ammunition at your disposal to apply to all the different essay questions that will be thrown at you this season.

(And oh yeah, shameless plug: The Complete Essay Package guides you through this whole process! Start to finish! We help you with the exercises for brainstorming and the techniques for examining your ideas in separate contexts, so that you have the building blocks you need to tackle all of the essays you’re trying to write assemble this season.)

When you have your first drafts assembled, then they will still need some revision. They are not going to be “done” just because you built them up from those nuggets. But they’re much more likely to be much closer to your target than if you’d just freewheeled it with randomness. Then, you’ll have a shot at making that multidimensional presentation to the adcom we’ve been advocating.

 
 
You may also be interested in:

  • Remember, your first drafts are going to suck
  • “How long is all of this gonna take?”
  • No multi-tasking. At least, not at first.
  • If you really want to do a good job on those essays, do this

Filed Under: writing essays Bschools: Columbia

« Previous: ($) How to mention a personal or “convenience factor” reason for choosing a school
Next: A very impotent post! »

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!

Here's what others have said about this:

  1. Jackstack says

    July 22, 2017 at 7:48 am

    This is only tangentially related, but I am curious as to EssaySnark’s opinion on how to avoid plagiarism. Having read the blahg for a while, I’m sure the obvious knee-jerk reaction is to say “just don’t do it!”. What I have been concerned as I build outlines and write first drafts is how unoriginal content, be it from a school website or Bloomberg, can become unintentionally woven into an essay by virtue of “copy-paste” into an outline when brainstorming, and then left unchanged when incorporated into the essay. There are some services out there that evaluate essays for plagiarism, but all are less powerful than the almighty Turnitin used by universities.

    Anyway, just curious if you have any thoughts on the matter.

    -JD

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      July 24, 2017 at 3:54 am

      @Jackstack, we’re a bit puzzled by what else you expect us to say beyond “Don’t do it.” We simply don’t understand why a copy-paste would ever be part of the process of developing outlines and essays. If you’re brainstorming then how in heck are you even on a website? Brainstorming is YOUR BRAIN. By itself. Thinking up stuff. We simply cannot imagine how content from ANY source could possibly be useful when you’re capturing YOUR IDEAS in answer to an essay question.

      There’s a fundamental disconnect in what has been stated here.

      Other thoughts on plagiarism are available through a search on the blahg:

      https://essaysnark.com/?s=plagiarism

      EssaySnark

      Reply
      • Jackstack says

        July 24, 2017 at 5:10 am

        This post answered my question: https://essaysnark.com/2012/02/more-on-plagiarism/

        I’ll scour past posts next time before asking a question. Apologies.

        Reply
  2. arkanian86 says

    July 26, 2017 at 12:59 pm

    Question on the “assembling” part of the essay above: what is your opinion on paragraphs? Basically, is 3 too few? Is 5 too many? How long should they be?

    Obviously this is based on the total length of the essay and how the ideas fit together, but I am writing what seem like normal length paragraphs and can only fit 3 into a 450-word essay. I just feel like that means my essay is too simple. Intro-body-conclusion seems like a 6th grade essay or something.

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      July 27, 2017 at 4:00 am

      @arkanian86, it’s interesting that you’re looking at everything at all these levels! Paragraph length is a tough thing as, with writing any type of content, there are no set rules. With a 450 word essay then yeah, we’d expect to see 3 at minimum, but sometimes there could be cause for a single-line intro (and/or conclusion) so you end up with 4 paragraphs or 5. Paragraph breaks depend on flow of content and what you’re progressing through. One way to do a rough-pass evaluation is, how many individual questions does the essay prompt have? It’s going to be that number + 1 in most cases (again, not exact, there’s lots of variation) — and that analysis is not just how many question marks are in the prompt, but how many individual queries are embedded in it (e.g., “What are your short-term and long-term goals?” is two queries).

      What totally does not work is big blocks of content so it’s great that you’re noticing the importance of this. It’s also something that only can be actually managed fully in the last phase of writing. Before then, it’s likely that the content is under too much flux to be definitive.

      Cool question!

      EssaySnark

      ETA: To avoid confusion: Even though “short-term and long-term goals” is two queries, that does not mean that you MUST have two separate paragraphs for it; sometimes a full discussion of both can be done in a single paragraph. But both need to be answered individually, which may mean that separate paragraphs works best.

      Reply

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 '22 Intake Rd 2
    in 1 month, 2 weeks, 1 day, 0 hours
  • (expected) HBS Class of 2024 app requirements released
    in 1 month, 4 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour
  • (expected) Columbia J-Term/ED app to open
    in 2 months, 3 weeks, 6 days, 1 hour
  • INSEAD Jan '22 Intake Rd 3
    in 3 months, 1 week, 3 days, 0 hours
   
From a BSer January 2020:
"love the guide books!"


CLASS OF 2023 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

     
    The 2020 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2023 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2020-2021 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the main essay, the EQ Endorsement and Pick Six!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2023 essays!
   
    The 2020-2021 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2020-2021 applications
   
    The 2020 Harvard MBA Application Guide - completely overhauled and updated for the coronavirus era!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
    The 2020-2021 Duke Essay Guide - covers the 25 Random Things essay and all the rest too!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Duke Fuqua - up to date for the current season!
   
    The 2020-2021 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the contacts for two references, and additional tips for the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2023!
   
    The 2020-2021 Tuck Essay Guide has been refreshed with latest insights and advice for your essays about "investing generously" and "why Tuck"!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Dartmouth Tuck MBA - completely overhauled for 2020, to help you demonstrate how you are nice, aware, etc stuff!
   
    The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2023 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2020-2021
   
    The 2020-2021 Chicago Booth MBA Application Guide - ready to go to support your Class of 2023 essay strategy!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Chicago Booth for this year's MBA app!
   
    The 2020 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with new tips for 2020!
   
    The 2020 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values' -- plus tips on 2020 world events and applicability to your essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - updated and revised for the new realities of 2020!    
      The 2020 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2023
   
    The 2020-2021 UCLA Anderson MBA Application Guide - updated for Class of 2023 on "impact"!
SnarkStrategies Guide for 
UCLA
   
   

Brave Supplicants' latest reviews on The 'Snark


Feb 11, 2021
by hopeful on MBA Interview Prep: Custom Practice Questions
Helpful

Just wanted to say thank you for these questions! A lot of them were really tailored to my profile, ... Read more

Apr 10, 2020
by George on EssaySnark
Great Starting Point

I thought getting over the GRE/GMAT hurdle was fairly straightforward--disciplined study then test execution... Read more

Apr 10, 2020
by George on Single Shot Express MBA Essay Review
Worth Every Penny

I used the Single Shot Express to decimate essay #1 at my first-choice school. Paired with the school... Read more






Not sure where to begin with EssaySnark?
Our Snark Selector
will tell you!



What were we snarking about at this time in past years?

  • 2020: "What should I do with my summer?"
  • 2019: ($) Got a glitch with your grades? TAKE ACTION NOW!
  • 2018: Should you care who the dean is?
  • 2018: Does it matter who the dean is? 2018 edition
  • 2017: Prediction: Which schools will change their essay questions for Class of 2020?
  • 2016: Another little quiz
  • 2016: ($) When your safety school is actually a stretch school.
  • 2015: ($) Deciding on a school: Does location matter?
  • 2013: Success Story! "It's complicated..."
  • 2012: "School X, or School Y with $$$?" (Part who knows)
My Tweets

See the Top U.S. Business Schools on a Map!


EssaySnark is currently available! We're accepting new clients! Standard turnarounds apply. If you're in a hurry, Speedy Review is available!

EssaySnark® is a registered trademark. All content copyright © 2010–2021 Snarkolicious Press · Privacy Policy

Where should you start with EssaySnark?

Which EssaySnark service is right for you? Answer a few questions to find out!

This field must be set to Everyone - then in the Settings -> HTML -> After Fields screen there's JavaScript to hide it.
Sending