When you start writing your MBA and Master’s application essay drafts, the first thing that you have to figure out is “how much writing is enough?
For a 250-500 word essay, do you have to write 700 or 1000 or even 2000 words?
What is the process of writing a Winning application essay?
It depends on three scenarios.
The first scenario is your writing experience.
Scenario 1 - Writing Experience
I was in the technology industry before starting F1GMAT and pivoting to writing, consulting, and editing services. So i empathise with engineers and bankers who are struggling to capture their authentic voice.
Even before starting F1GMAT, I used to have a popular blog. People who i didn’t even expect to read it used to read my posts. And when I entered the office, they would come personally and appreciate my observations.
Applicants with Writing Experience
Like me, if you have any writing experience, writing blogs, journals, or essays for a school magazine, you don’t have to worry about writing 2000 words for a 250 to 500-word essay.
But if you have no experience in writing, you have to seriously think about volume goals.
When clients reach out to me, the first request many have for me is to write lines for them.
I immediately share a perspective that you should be aware of.
Schools read essays in hundreds. They are aware of essays that are written by professional writers.
Editing and helping clients with essays is different from writing essays.
In F1GMAT’s editing process, I do add a few phrases and lines that improve the applicant’s expressions, but most of the writing is done by the applicant.
It is the line-by-line comments that help them understand the fundamentals of storytelling.
If you need my help, reach out to me through F1GMAT’s contact form
For applicants from a marketing background or those who have some experience writing, there are a few volume goals that you have to keep in mind.
First, for a 250-word essay, use a 2x target or a 500-word draft as your volume goal.
This is because many times, when you first start writing a school application essay, you are just exploring one thought, and it might not cover all the bases.
Even Drafts Need Word Limit
As a new writer, when you explore one thought, you will write a lot of backstory around that one event. If you go by some strict word limit while drafting your essay, you might not fully capture the emotions and motivation around that event.
For a 500-word essay, the target word count should be somewhere between 1000 to 1200 words. Now, why do you need such kind of a structure?
Isn’t it better just to write freely?
Even I have recommended writing freely, but over the years, what I have seen is that if you write freely without any word limit, you start bringing contexts and irrelevant events into the narrative.
Then, it becomes a big challenge to come back into a frame of mind where you are writing authentically from a core emotion.
Risk of One-Event Focus
I have also seen scenarios where the client felt that one childhood event was critical for the development of their worldview. So they would suggest we spend a lot of words on that one particular event.
The risk when you allocate most of your words to one event in draft essays is that what you consider to be a unique event might not be unique.
Your competitors might also quote such events.
An experienced consultant and editor like me have seen this happen quite a lot.
For example, during the pandemic, the underlying theme for all applicants was how they were useful when the world was shut down.
The narrative was fine-tuned to make themselves the hero. And to be honest, from 10-15 essays, i would say 2-3 were genuine contributions. The rest were all just trying to brand themselves as heroes in a catastrophic world event.
If you go into the writing process with such a preconceived notion of which event has better branding, you will waste your time on the wrong event.
In some applicants, there is a lack of self-awareness.
Match Essay Example with your First Impression
I worked with a client who was doing incredible cross-cultural collaboration in three time zones, and when asked to write about inclusivity, she shortlisted a college collaboration that felt too trivial. I had to be diplomatic in revealing that what she cited didn’t match the first impression the admissions team would have about her.
The example didn’t match up to her ‘image’.
All the examples in your essays should match that first impression.
Scenario 2 - Writing Style
The second scenario where you have to think about volume goals is your writing style.
I have worked with clients who are extremely careful not to express too much. They are measuring how they structure each sentence.
This is good if you have experience in writing.
This is what I do.
Power of One-Paragraph Writing and Editing
I use a one-paragraph writing, one-paragraph editing strategy, where I write one paragraph freely, read it back 2-3 times, and then ask myself – is it too revealing? Is it too emotional? Is it relevant to my audience? Once i am certain about the answers, I edit & finalize that paragraph. It works for me, but my case is different. I have been writing and editing every day for the past 15+ years. There is a certain skill set you acquire when you write for over 15 years.
If paragraph-based writing, editing, and finalizing work for you, use it as your primary strategy.
But I have also worked with clients who had the potential, but they were too self-critical to write freely.
They wanted to highlight something horrific that happened in their life to offer some context on what they overcame. And they don’t know whether to overshare with a consultant and editor like me or should they sanitize the version for the essay.
Don't Need Traumatic Events as Examples
For such applicants who are traumatized even recalling those moments, avoid writing it in your MBA or Master’s essay.
There are other ways to demonstrate vulnerability and show your resilience.
If you need help capturing the right emotions for your essays, reach out to me through F1GMAT’s contact form
Don't be a Perfectionist Before Iterating 5-10 times
Then there are applicants who are perfectionists.
I worked with a lawyer who was eager to do word-limit editing by the 3rd iteration of essay writing itself, even worrying about punctuation and transitions while missing out on capturing an interesting aspect of his childhood.
He overcame tremendous financial setbacks and became a high-value lawyer. There were so many interesting emotional elements to his story that he didn’t explore.
Whenever you work with consultants and editors, think of ways in which you can at least list out struggles from your life early on in the editing process.
Once both the applicant and consultant agree on a narrative, it is tough and costly to ask the consultant to strategize and re-edit the entire narrative.
F1GMAT's IMPACT Table
That is why in F1GMAT’s Essay Editing service, I have something called the IMPACT table where I ask all clients to write down their key life, professional, extra-curricular, and volunteering experiences in a spreadsheet.
This process helps us capture every relevant detail in one document.
If you are working with me, be open about capturing every important milestone and life event in your IMPACT table.
This is the most critical aspect of the collaboration.
Scenario 3 - Question Type
The third scenario on finding the right volume goal depends on the kind of question you are answering.
If the question is about your strengths and the word limit is 250 words, what is the process of capturing all your strengths?
Should you write just about your professional accomplishments and strengths you demonstrated, or should you go into your interpersonal skills or skills in sensing discomfort in others or your communication skills in connecting with people from different backgrounds, income groups, and cultures?
What is considered an ideal set of skills for an MBA or Master’s application?
You can’t pre-plan and then focus on the word limit in your first draft.
Include 3 Contexts
Instead of that, consider 3 contexts – professional, community, and interpersonal.
The professional strengths should be highly relevant to your post-MBA or post-master’s goals.
If you are applying to a high EQ school like Stanford, you must demonstrate empathy and a level of expertise that is not just functional but cultural as well.
Those who travel and collaborate internationally tend to have a much better way of managing a global team than, let us say, someone who works remotely and is confined to one particular location.
Every learning in our life is experiential.
There is no way around it.
The more you write about experiential learning in different contexts and cultures, the more persuasive your essay will be.
Word Count - Rule of Thumb
To summarize:
1) Target 750 to 1000 words in your draft for a 250-500-word essay if you have some writing experience
2) Target 2000 words in your draft for a 250-500-word essay if you are writing essays for the first time
For any help with brainstorming, shortlisting examples, and editing your essays, reach out to me through F1GMAT’s contact form
