America is in a shambles but EssaySnark wants to put the focus on YOU.
No matter what happens from here: You have done something incredible.
If you got any applications submitted this season, you are a success story.
Honestly. We’re not just blowing smoke.
You went through A LOT in 2020.
No matter who you are, no matter what your circumstances, no matter where you live or what your employment situation is or what your family is like, you went through a lot.
Many people had trouble just keeping it together and showing up in the face of the incredible demands placed on them. You not only managed to survive it, you also took steps to work towards your life goals, to not let yourself get blown totally off the course you had set for yourself earlier.
Maybe you tackled the GMAT or GRE or TOEFL, either in a stressful testing center locked in a closed room with a bunch of strangers for hours, wearing a mask while you took the test.
Maybe you did it in your bedroom under a weird proctor situation where someone was literally watching you sweat your way through the challenging questions.
Maybe you did it with a little brother in the other room screaming because he too was so stressed out. Or your upstairs neighbor arguing with someone on the phone, and the walls too thin to keep out the noise.
Many of you managed to adapt to a very different work situation where suddenly your work is in your home, and the only interactions with coworkers are through video squares on the computer, and you miss out on having that basic human connection of being with the team that you know. Maybe you had trouble getting motivated, and you felt guilty and ashamed for the poor quality of work you were producing. Or maybe you had trouble even getting out of bed some mornings.
Maybe it was tough to have those regular one-on-ones with your boss because you knew she knew, and you were both not really talking about it, and you wanted to apologize but it was too hard to face, and you kept trying to do better but just couldn’t. More guilt, more regret.
And then you had to find someone to write letters of recommendation for, and you didn’t even want to ask your manager, not only because you felt like you’d let her down, but you knew that she was homeschooling her two young children and she just seemed so stressed out too. And here you were, having to ask for this other big favor, and you hardly felt you deserved it.
Or whatever it was.
Maybe you work in one of those industries that saw incredible demand, like a delivery service or ecommerce company, and you put more hours in than you ever had before, and you could not get to the end of the workload. You were completely exhausted all the time because all you could do was keep working, because there were no boundaries between “home” and “work” and there was nothing left to do anyway. But then you kind of lost it and flew off the handle at that neighbor who was always yelling on the phone upstairs, and didn’t he know the walls are so thin and couldn’t he just STFU for chrissakes!
And then you felt bad again.
Maybe you put on weight. The covid-19 crept up slowly but now your pants don’t really fit the way that they should.
Maybe you actually were affected by covid-19, where someone you knew – or you yourself – got really sick.
Maybe you lost your job, or your partner did.
Maybe you have been drinking more than you should.
Whatever your personal means of coping has been, you did that, and still, you managed to also get some MBA applications done.
Or maybe you didn’t actually manage to submit any, and now all of this is making you feel even worse.
We’re here to say: WHATEVER YOU ACCOMPLISHED IN 2020 IS AMAZING.
You are here, trying to get to the next stage in your career, trying for an education to improve yourself. To get smarter. To learn stuff so that you can be of more value. To go solve some new kinds of problems than the ones you’ve been paid to solve so far in your life.
You are striving.
It may have felt more like you were flailing or spinning out or floundering or barely making it, but you did more than that — or you did that, and you also pulled it together in a major way.
No matter what happens with those applications, you deserve to be seriously proud of yourself.
Everyone here is proud of you. Everyone we’ve worked with this season has impressed us so much.
Seeing the determination, perseverance, and commitment from you has given us hope for the future.
You’ve shown us that you have what it takes to make the world a better place — as cheesy and cliched as that saying is.
Thank you for being you, and we fervently wish that your greatest dreams come true in 2021.
Tell us what you think.