Should I be repeating points that would be on my application anyway in my essay?Answered
So, let's say that I'm writing an essay and I decide to talk about how several events changed my perspective/actions in a variety of ways. For the sake of word cap, can I just say " (x) inspired my work ethic, which helped me succeed academically" without giving examples of my academic successes? My reasoning is that any academic successes i may have earned would have been visible in my application anyways, so do I really have to restate them? It's like my application shows the tangible achievements, while the essay gives the story behind them. Would love to hear your thoughts on this, thanks!
It depends on the impact these activities had on you. Most times it's better to write about something your achievements or academic background wouldn't portray about you. Since you're confident your academic results are clearly stated in the rest of your application, why waste 650-words on it? However, if you feel your essay would be incomplete without explaining the relation between your academics and personal growth, I highly recommend you write about it, using 1-2 scenarios.
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3 answers
In my perspective, I think it's best you stick to about 1-2 experience, give full details, and write about their effects. I would even go as far as saying recounting a single experience is better, as you'd have lots of word space to fully explain it. Writing about to many examples would make your essay lose focus, jumbled up, and even lack a central theme.
What I'm saying is, try as much as possible to not mention too many scenarios that had an impact on your life. Unless they're connected to one another, it would seem as if you really don't have any specific thing to write and you're recounting lots of experiences to fulfill the word count. So in essence, talk about a few achievements(1-2) and expatiate fully on them.
Hope you understand.
I wouldn't write it if it's already in the application unless it's super connecting with you.
I think it altogether depends on the topic and ur interests. Personally I recommend using ur essay to describe or highlight something about ur persona and life that does not fit in other sections of the application. If ur topic is connected to academic then u have complete freedom to mention ur academic accomplishments. It’s a free space to fill up of things that u feel passionate about. For a lot of people academic is the most strong and important point about them and if that is the case for u then go for it.
Hope that helps u : ) good luck
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Also saying 'x'inspired me ........ without details makes it somewhat bogus.