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Don’t wait to deliver the punchline

January 3, 2020 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

There’s a common tendency among novice essay-writers (which everyone applying to bschool always is) to want to have a big ending.

This happens all the time with Stanford Essay A on “what matters most” — we see BSers write a full 700 words and then, finally, they pull out the answer to the question: “Because of all that that I just bored the bejeebus out of you blathering on about, what matters most to me is…”

It may seem like the essay will have more shazam if you do it that way.

But it won’t.

What will happen is, the reader will be scratching their head, a little confused, perhaps slightly lost, following you around as you wander through these various thickets of stories that don’t seem to be related to anything.

And then for you at the end to jump out from behind the bush and say “Surprise! The answer to the question is X!”

Well…. often that’s dissatisfying at best. (Particularly so when the examples given don’t properly support the answer you’re finally announcing.)

Instead, tell the reader the answer to the question straightaway.

Lay it on ’em right off the bat.

Like, in the very first sentence! That’s an excellent place to do so, in fact.

The adcom is reading dozens and dozens of applications today. Reading essays is hard. It’s often incredibly boring.

You don’t want the reader to have to hunt for the answer to your question.

You don’t want to play Man of Mystery on them and try to be coy, or have them follow the clues to figure things out.

What that creates in your reader is not a sense of suspense, but one of frustration.

Your task is to take your reader from Spot A, which is not knowing where you’re taking them to the destination at the end of your journey, Spot B, which is where they know you better than they did before.

The best way to do that is to let them focus on the experience of learning about you through reading your essay — not having them engage half the brain in trying to simply figure out where they’re headed.

If you have a theme in mind for your essay, then announce it to the reader somehow in the opening. This might be relevant — maybe — for Harvard’s essay, which is very unstructured.

Don’t lay out a bunch of topics and then announce the way they’re connected later on.

That will force the reader to read through the whole thing again to figure out if the argument you’re proposing is sound.

This harkens back to the “your essay is an argument” advice from before.

When a lawyer is presenting a case to the jury, they state their position at the opening. They don’t deliver all of the evidence as a series of facts, and then tell you what the evidence is supposed to prove.

Leaving the critical message to the end puts too much of a burden on the reader. They have to retain all of these points you’re raising and the different offshoots and directions you’ve tossed out, and try to assemble it as they go.

Alleviate that pressure. Take it off them completely.

Use your introduction to say where you’re headed. (Just don’t do it in the three-point style of “In this essay I will tell you about…” — that technique is so common with college freshman writers, and beginning speech-givers, and it’s clunky and word-wasting.)

If you want to talk about how you grew through a personal challenge you experienced, then say it directly: “Last year I grew as a person when such-and-such happened.” That may seem overly simplistic, but it’s clearly stated and direct. The essay itself will then need to show the growth (Pro Tip: Showing growth is usually way easier with outside-in stories!). Or: “In March 2018, I discovered that I am [insert quality here] when I faced a challenge at work with blah blah blah…”

Writing essays for MBA apps is not a creative exercise. (Or, it is, but it’s not got the same goals as creative writing does.) This isn’t about being coy with the reader, and building suspense, or creating a cliffhanger. Be direct. Be concise. Be succinct. This is the key to any adcom reader’s heart.

Or at least, it’ll prevent them from reaching for the Advil when faced with your app.

Filed Under: writing essays

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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
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    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 
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