Many years ago we came across this interview on Knowledge @ Wharton with a speechwriter from the Obama White House who had this to say about her writing process:
(emphasis added)
Today we’re going to talk to you about outlining, and how super valuable it can be as part of your process of developing strong essays.
The main benefits of outlines before drafts are:
- It’s more efficient
- You can test out your ideas before committing to them
- You can see the structure that you’re trying to put shape to
- You can more easily step back and evaluate your argument as a whole
- It’s way less painful to throw away an outline and start over than it is a full draft
It’s much easier to redirect your essay strategy at the earliest stage, when you’re coming up with ideas — rather than discovering that you were off target later on, after you’ve sweated bullets (ha ha see what we did there?) writing out complete drafts that you have to throw away. EssaySnark’s Essay Ideas App Accelerator gives you critical input at the earliest stage of essay development, helping you define a strong scaffolding upon which you can best build out your messaging and theme. Starting with the Essay Ideas App Accelerator is the most efficient way to develop your strongest MBA essays.
The Essay Ideas App Accelerator does not tell you what your ideas should be. This isn’t about dictating your strategy. (Hint: Our school-specific essay guides can be invaluable in figuring out that part!) Instead, the Essay Ideas tutorial gives you insights on how to shape your topics into logical essays that flow. After studying the tutorial, you’ll submit your ideas (one school only, up to 500 words) for a personalized review from EssaySnark.
We always see great value in the Essay Decimator, since we get the (ahem) privilege of reading the first drafts, and then we see where the BSer gets to with revisions – and then we often later hear if they got in! The improvement from draft 1 to draft 2 and beyond is evident. Anecdotally, we’ll also share what one BSer said last season, after getting in to a Top Top School with a massive scholarship with essays that they’d gone through the Essay Decimator with us on, yet either getting an outright rejection or a waitlist from the other apps that they did on their own. So, yeah, the Essay Decimator can affect your outcomes, for sure.
However, just as much value if not more could be gained by a diligent BSer leveraging the Essay Ideas App Accelerator instead. It’s way cheaper, but the idea is the same:
What are you saying in this essay, and how are you saying it?
Today’s post is to introduce you to this App Accelerator — yet even more, it’s to suggest that you take time for outlines, before you start writing.
Outlines help you figure out what you’re trying to say, the cheap and easy* way.
*Well…… Technically there is no such thing as “easy” in this business of applying to bschool. But you already knew that. Hopefully this will make it easy-er!
Tell us what you think.